havgunwilltravel
Active member
My boys are 3 and 5 and have had plenty of exposure in the outdoors, whether its shooting bunnies, hunting deer, camping, whistling for foxes, exploring, 4wdriving or fishing, i get them out of the city at every opportunity.
Friday we had a gentle north wind and with a midday call from a good mate to meet him at the boat ramp in a few hours for an afternoon on the snapper i knew it would be ideal for charlie, my older boy to come for a fish out in the ocean. He hasn't had a lot of boat time and this would test him out. I gave him a quarter of a sea sickness tablet and met my mate at the ramp who was all ready to go. Charlie wasn't so sure what he was getting himself into, but i told him we would be staying until dark and there was no turning back once we were out. Life jacket on and it was fun as we headed out the channel seeing all the kids swimming and jumping off the bridge and enjoying the heat. Hit open water and my mate never held back with the throttle and charlie wasn't sure whether this was the best ride of his life or his worse nightmare.
He hung in there and we were 14kms offshore before my mate eased up, sounded up his mark and anchored. Charlie was exploring the boat, looking at the city, watching the jellyfish and i kept him busy and asking him plenty of questions. It couldn't have been flatter out there and he said only once he had a funny feeling stomach, so then i put him straight back on the berley trail to keep him occupied.
A rod soon bent over and my mate hooked up and we got charlie behind the reel and with a helping hand he got the fish to the boat, i was videoing and netting at the same time and we got it on board, a nice snapper which would be superb eating. Charlie was very excited and it was his largest fish to date, but more importantly one of his most memorable experiences in the outdoors.
We caught a few more fish and on dark headed back to the ramp, charlie was ok with the ride by now and when we pulled up at the jetty he was giving us a hand with the boat then went talking to the other guys at the ramps about their fish and how they went.
Made it home into bed a lot later then what he normally would hit the sack, but that didn't bother me, and he has a pretty cool tale to tell his buddies at school when he sees them on monday.
I don't think it will be his last snapper and it was one proud dad to see a boy growing up enjoying everything his dad loves.
Friday we had a gentle north wind and with a midday call from a good mate to meet him at the boat ramp in a few hours for an afternoon on the snapper i knew it would be ideal for charlie, my older boy to come for a fish out in the ocean. He hasn't had a lot of boat time and this would test him out. I gave him a quarter of a sea sickness tablet and met my mate at the ramp who was all ready to go. Charlie wasn't so sure what he was getting himself into, but i told him we would be staying until dark and there was no turning back once we were out. Life jacket on and it was fun as we headed out the channel seeing all the kids swimming and jumping off the bridge and enjoying the heat. Hit open water and my mate never held back with the throttle and charlie wasn't sure whether this was the best ride of his life or his worse nightmare.
He hung in there and we were 14kms offshore before my mate eased up, sounded up his mark and anchored. Charlie was exploring the boat, looking at the city, watching the jellyfish and i kept him busy and asking him plenty of questions. It couldn't have been flatter out there and he said only once he had a funny feeling stomach, so then i put him straight back on the berley trail to keep him occupied.
A rod soon bent over and my mate hooked up and we got charlie behind the reel and with a helping hand he got the fish to the boat, i was videoing and netting at the same time and we got it on board, a nice snapper which would be superb eating. Charlie was very excited and it was his largest fish to date, but more importantly one of his most memorable experiences in the outdoors.
We caught a few more fish and on dark headed back to the ramp, charlie was ok with the ride by now and when we pulled up at the jetty he was giving us a hand with the boat then went talking to the other guys at the ramps about their fish and how they went.
Made it home into bed a lot later then what he normally would hit the sack, but that didn't bother me, and he has a pretty cool tale to tell his buddies at school when he sees them on monday.
I don't think it will be his last snapper and it was one proud dad to see a boy growing up enjoying everything his dad loves.
