Let's Talk about Fishing!
Making a sport loved by both kids & adults a foundational experience in scouting Pt. 1
The Unsuccessful Fishing Career of my Youth.
Fishing is probably in my favorite hobby, but it wasn’t always the case. In my youth, I didn’t like to fish; and in retrospect, as a parent now, my Dad should have taken me pan fishing more to get those easier catches to build an appreciation for the sport of angling. Dad loved to Bass fish, a kind of angling where many days you come back empty handed for the day.
I remember a particular day with my Dad where we had permission to go to a small pond owned by a fellow parishioner. Dad set me up with a basic rigging with a bobber and night crawlers. I caught that day a total of 25 fish (22 Bluegill & 3 Channel Catfish), my only hugely successful day of fishing in my memory as a kid—see those pan fish are key! I remember Dad coming up empty handed all day. I was gloating over my catch like Smaug sitting on his treasure. And then it happened, Dad finally caught that Bass, I remember the look on his face of satisfaction with a day’s work with only catching that one fish compared to my 25—I was ten and I’ve never forgotten the look on his face.
The rest of the fishing in my youth wasn’t glorious. I somewhat envy the kids fishing in the parks today with all their experience and success. I would continue to go fishing with Dad and my brother (15 years my senior). They landed some nice sized Bass with me usually left empty-handed on the trip. I believe Shakespeare had a fishing commercial during the time of an angler just having an awful day fishing. The angler starts throwing his tackle and rods in the water out of frustration. Dad and my brother would quip, “Well, that’s Phillip.”
Yeah, I didn’t like fishing—at that time. And maybe I should have pressed them for worms and a bobber, but for them—the Bass was royalty; it was king in our parts.
A Return to Fishing?
I am certain the natural thing for Scout leaders putting on any scouting program is to go back to the treasury trove of their own great Scouting memories. There’s a twist because the treasure trove doesn’t exist regarding fishing and scouting for me. I look at my merit badge sash today, I am reminded in my early days of scouting, I was a naturalist at heart. My first set of merit badges I earned at summer camp: Nature, Forestry, and Environmental Science. I loved to explore the outdoors. What shouldn’t be a surprise after my introduction is I have no fishing merit badges and I think now, “Wow, I am an Eagle Scout with not one of the three fishing related merit badges on my sash.” When I think back to those days of ole’ I remember the perception that it wasn’t easy fishing at Camp Saukenauk. And, of course, one of the requirements for the Fishing Merit Badge is to catch a fish. How many times have I came up empty handed in the past? I didn’t want the embarrassment.
In 2010, Dad died unexpectedly in a car accident. I think prior to Dad’s death I could probably could count on one hand the times I went fishing since I was a kid. After 2010, I can pinpoint the approximate time of when I started to kindle a love for fishing. My friend Chris wanted someone to go fishing, I knew the basics from being a kid, so I reluctantly went with him. We never caught a thing, but I loved it! I loved being out there with Chris just talking about our lives while casting and pulling back empty lines. I do have a good story from fishing with Chris. One day we were fishing near a local pond’s back water in basically a ditch on a road near the pond. Chris swears to this day he witnessed a guy pulling a bounty of fish out of this hole. A car drives slowly by us, you know the type, and coincidentally a Conservation police officer shows up 15-20 minutes later. The officer came up chatted with us about fishing this ditch, Chris is telling him all about the guy he witnessed hauling out all these fish from this ditch. And finally, the Officer, perfectly polite, asks to see our fishing licenses which Chris and I provided to him. More or less the officer let us know that he was called to come check us out. I presume the slow moving car didn’t want the rift-raft in their neighborhood.
I began to like fishing enough after this period, my wife, who didn’t know my unsuccessful angling career of my youth, but hearing stories from Chris and me when looking for a house pointed out, “hey this has pond with fish!” Sure, I liked just hanging out with Chris, but I also went a handful of times with myself too. Why? You see I loved my Dad. I love him, I miss him. When I am out fishing now, in some sense, I feel like I am hanging out with Dad. And it never matters how many fish I catch now. And now, I do fish our pond now with my kids, I love every minute of it.
There’s nothing quite like fishing. I don’t think I can give an explanation that will give it justice. You are out there on the water, the sun warms your neck, you can feel the breeze on your face. The tree leaves are rustling in the distance with the dawn chorus playing a symphony for your ears. There is a mystery in the water, it takes a bit of skill, a bit of luck, and a lot of faith when it comes to fishing. And today might be your day, but likely, depending on what you’re fishing for it will not be—but that’s okay.
Stay-tuned for my next part detailing my exploration into fly-fishing, signing up to become a BSA Certified Angling Instructor, and how I am hoping to make fishing a vital component and central focus of our scouting units.