From time to time, I have listened to various medias regarding how to make kids grow up to have the same love for fishing that most of us have. One professional fisherman suggested, "Once a youngster has been exposed to fishing, leave him/her home once in a while to fire the hunger." Well, I don't know about that, but I have learned a few things regarding my two boys.
Younger kids have short attention spans. If you want to turn a youngster "off" to fishing, take him/her out in the boat and fish from dawn till dusk on a cold miserable day. Kids want to catch fish and they want to enjoy the experience.
It doesn't matter what species of fish you target as long as the kids are catching fish at a fairly fast rate. Make sure other interesting play opportunities are present when they tire of catching fish. In other words, if they start getting bored or fidgety, find something else to do. As children grow older and their sense of "patience" begins to develop, they will be able to tolerate longer fishing periods, less action and more adverse weather conditions.
Use the opportunity to teach kids about the natural way of things. Talk about the wildlife present, how things interact to make natural systems work, etc., etc… You will find that you can't instill a love for fishing without instilling a love for the great outdoors at the same time.
This is also one of those times when parent/child talks about "life in general" are remembered as being extra special. Use the time to strengthen bonds that will be so important later in life. If we do things right, our children will take their children fishing and make that experience as special for them as it has been for us.
With the above philosophies in mind, I recently took my nine year old son (Aaron) ice fishing. Anticipating that the fishing would be somewhat slow, I told him to invite his buddy "Xain" (pronounced Zane) along to play with. Xain is also nine years old and the product of a broken family. When we got to Boysen, I found a spot where someone had built an igloo on the ice. What could be more ideal?
As anticipated, fishing was fairly slow that day, and when the kids weren't chasing flags, they played on their sleds, and had an absolute ball playing in and on the igloo. Both boys caught fish that day, but for Xain it was extra special because he caught his very first fish, an 18 inch sauger. Xain has been to the house several times since then. That special day, on the ice, comes up often in conversation and is recognizably burned deep into two young memories. -- Bruce Parker