Fishing with Cody, My Youngest

Special moments sometimes come out of nowhere.  Sure, sometimes you can see them coming like a wedding or a birthday party, but then there are other times.  You never see them coming and maybe it is the unexpectedness that helps to magnify the moments.  I had one of these moments last Friday, but first I had to deliver some bad news to a little boy.

Cody is my youngest son.  He's full of energy, laughs a lot, and seems to live with one singular goal: to have fun.  He also loves his big brother.  He imitates him and looks up to him like a little brother does.  He also looks at my girlfriend's son Collin in a similar way.  He wants to be a big boy and play video games like Mason.  He wants to make three pointers in the driveway with Collin.  His drive to feel older, to have fun, and be included was what made it hard to tell him that he would not be joining his older brother and I for a turkey hunt that weekend.  He protested some but overall, he took it pretty well.

To me, relationships are like bank accounts.  You don't ever want to take more out of the account than what you put in.  I try to always have a positive balance and keep my withdraws to a minimum.  Out of sympathy and fairness, I felt like I needed to deposit something back into that account with Cody so I asked him if he wanted to go fishing, just the two of us.  Slightly to my surprise, he said yes...quickly...and with enthusiasm.  I think in that little five year old brain of his, he saw a chance to get something his brother wasn't getting.  As a result, I think he had a little more eagerness on this outing than he usually does.

So we get to the HOA pond just down the street and the fish are active.  The bite was a little slow at first but the vigor of the fish made me optimistic about our chances to catch a few.  We only brought a fly rod and a few flies because I wanted the little guy to be introduced to fly fishing and its (occasional) simplicity.  I kneeled down on the ground with him in front of me and I helped him with hand placement and motion of casting and retrieving.  It was a pretty good little system and before you knew it, we were hooking fish.  From there, he could reel them in on his own.  Here's where I could say that he was a chip off the old block but let's be honest, it's not that hard to reel in a fish.  We ended up catching a few different species (see below) and one hybrid bluegill that went close to a pound (13 ounces unofficial).  But that wasn't the special moment.

The special moment was the fire that I saw in my son.  He reeled in fish with giggles and smiles.  He talked trash to the fish while he was fighting them.  He posed for pictures and enjoyed watching them swim away.  And as the sun started to set and darkness made fishing more difficult, he didn't want to leave. He begged me to stay.  He pleaded for one more fish.  He acted like, well, me.  I don't mean that in a self-inflated ego way, I mean that in a "I have a fever and the only cure is more fishing" kind of way.  THAT was a special moment and THAT was not expected.  Nobody knows what the future holds for this little guy, but I bet he will lip a few more fish in his day!