Yesterday I went fishing with my son. This has become a pretty rare treat and we probably now only manage to fish together once or twice a year. The fishing was slow, as it happens. We had only one fish between us and Leo caught it.
The problem now of course is that he is telling everybody who will listen about how much better a fisherman he is than his old man! Not only did he catch the fish but then, not long afterwards, he decided that he was pretty hot and he went and sat in the shade and pretty much called it a day. In the meantime I went sneaking around trying to persuade some docile cyprinid to take my little nymph. But like I say I caught diddly-squat. Those barbel just rolled their eyes at me.
Of course Leo´s account of how much of a better fisherman he is includes details like his spending half of his time chilling in the shade while I was out working the water and I´m sure further embellishments will turn up on subsequent retellings.
Today is Leo´s birthday. He is 23. His mum is not around at the moment and so there is nobody telling us to be sensible or to go to bed when we should or ease up on the booze. Last night in celebration of his birthday we pushed the boat out a little. The evidence is outside on the terrace in the form of empty wine bottles. Leo told me at four in the morning that it might be an idea to turn in. This after we had listen to Johnny Cash´s “Hurt” three times in a row. Maybe a he´s not only a better fisherman than me but he might just have reached an age where he has become more sensible too.
Primed and ready for action!
This was the only fish of the day. Leo beached it and it was a bit muddy and so he wanted to rinse it before I tool a picture. When the fish was immersed back in the drink it turned on the after burners and disappeared!
fishydreams 
You better get your skates on Paul. The boys just get better and better whilst we slow down as old age creeps up! We can always console ourselves though with the knowledge that they are just cashing in on our hard work and years of experience. My son Rhys thinks fishing is easy. He somehow forgets who found the fish and put him in the right place at the right time so he can catch. Just one thing though, isn’t it us who should be sitting in the shade smiling?
You´re right! To be honest it is great to see the kids do so well. I play a fair bit of table tennis with Leo and he beats me almost every time. I am used to coming out second best! If I knew that only one fish would come our way I would have preferred him to have caught it anyway. I will have plenty of other chances!
Yes I get as big a thrill now seeing others catch, as I know from experience you do Paul. But it’s especially good if they are learning the sport and even more so if it’s your son. Great to see the young guys getting interested and achieving success. After the pleasure it’s given us we owe it to the sport to get the youngsters up and running.
You are quite right! Leo is tapping in to the idea of what fishing is in the broader sense of getting away and hanging out with good people. This is great to see too!
Excellent: great that you two gents had a good time and I can see Leo chilling in the shade (and gambling on you not getting two: one wouldn’t have been enough) to enable him to stake his claim! 😃👍