A fish story: to teach a kid to fish

I had a project: teach a kid to fish.

I came prepared. I had fly rods, a spinning rod, worms and a ton of poppers and rubber-legged spiders. And I had a plan: head to a panfish pond.

Panfish are, to put it politely, indiscriminate eaters. When I was young, a friend and I would feed Smarties, those chalky pills of sugar, to bluegill off the dock of a nearby lake.

So panfish were the lucky target, and Mailie Witthoeft, 9 and the daughter of my good friend Julie Witthoeft, was an ideal kid.

Mailie had fished before — once — but had no luck. Fishing is a dicey operation. It helps to have a willing participant and a pond full of captive panfish, something found both in Mailie and the pond at Young State Park in Boyne City.

Other than aligning those two stars, the rest is pretty simple: give a kid a spinning rod, and, in my theory, a top-water or spinning lure, three seconds of casting lessons, and get out of the way.

Mailie's fishing prediction?

"I just thought we were going to fish and we weren't going to catch anything," said Mailie.

And at first, that was true. We cast a little bit at the edge of the pond at Young State Park, away from other anglers on the deck built on the pond. The deck is universally accessible, and gives kids access to deeper water. But for anyone casting for the first few times, or giving herself a refresher on how to cast a spinning rod, an open area without other people around is best.

Mailie's sister, Harper Witthoeft, 5, was unimpressed when our first few casts yielded only algae and weeds.

"Do you have the things that the fish eat?" she asked me. "Well, get them out. I'm not sure what else to tell you."

We made the move to the deck. Mailie began casting over the deeper water. She was using a small floating Rapala. Just as panfish seem to like something that excites the surface of the water, casting and hunting a fish excites the kid.

Soon, heard a yelp from Mailie.

Fish on.

We came unglued.

Mailie was fighting her first-ever fish. She was shrieking. Julie was shrieking. I was laughing. Julie was trying to rip the camera off my neck to take pictures, and I was wishing we had gotten everything on video.

Mailie landed the fish. Her first-ever fish, caught totally unassisted, was a nice-sized pumpkinseed.

Then she landed three more.

Her assessment?