It is near the end of April and Easter is finally here.

It probably has been this late in the past, but I can’t remember a time lately that it has. It is after Easter that our weather will begin to stabilize and we can almost predict what it will be in a few days. This past winter was not a normal one and the first month of spring hasn’t been that much better.

Now that the first third of spring has gone by, we should be able to predict the weather every few days and be able to enjoy a fishing trip without all the wind.

We can’t say that a good wind will not interfere with our next fishing trip, but the chance that it will not is much better than it was a month ago. With the general weather getting good compared to what we have had during the winter and early spring, folks will get back to fishing soon. My son took 4-year-old Kaylee down to the river in one of the clean spots and let her fish with her Sponge Bob rod and reel. She has loved Sponge Bob since she was one year old, so it is a good choice for her. Her grandfather has enough fishing stuff that she could have almost anything she wants to fish with. Still she prefers Sponge Bob.

A hook, lead and float with a cricket was taking small bank running bream by the multitudes. Of course, they went right back into the water from whence they came, hopefully teaching her to toss back what she catches, unless she is going to eat them.

She loves catfish to eat, although she has never caught them for that particular reason. The bream were large enough to keep if there had been a need to keep them for food. Knowing her, she would have cried, calling them babies and causing everyone at the table to get up and not eat a thing. It would have been a little late once they were fried, so it is a good thing she doesn’t cry when David tosses back what they catch. David casts the cricket and then Kaylee says, “Kaylee’s turn.” She is just not the best in setting the hook at the right time, so they donate plenty of crickets to the cause.

It is almost as much fun for me to watch her as it used to be to catch them myself. Getting old and not feeling all that well most days is certainly not conducive to enjoying anything, but listening to her having a great amount of fun is worth it. My dad taught us to fish and I taught David and now he is teaching his child to fish. It is a good safe thing for them to be involved in and something that they will be able to carry with the rest of their lives.

I have a friend that retired from the Army; he grew up in New York and never learned to fish and is now to old to be taught. Just set in his ways. His wife did like to fish and rather than let her go alone and sit by the river, he would go with her. Most times he would not have a pole or rod and reel and if he did, there would be no bait on the hook. On one particular day, the game warden came by, stopped his boat and asked for their license. She produced hers and Robert told him he wasn’t fishing and didn’t need one. The game warden felt he did and gave him a ticket and a summons to court. The judge listened to him plead his case, believed him and threw the case out of court.

Turkey season is rapidly coming to a close so if you haven’t gotten your bird, try harder. In a few days, you will have to wait until next year.