Teach A 3-year-old To Fish And She’ll Probably Starve

Abby’s Gramps gave her a fishing rod on Easter and she had a big time fishing in the bathtub. When we got home she wanted a fishing rod at her house so she could fish in her own bathtub. So the next week we got her a Barbie fishing rod and tiny tackle box at Wal-Mart. I was looking beyond the bathtub, so I also got some hooks, bobbers and split-shot sinkers.

In order to go fishing for real, you’ve got to get a tin can and go dig up some worms in the back yard. She found digging worms enjoyable and we found quite a few, though they were small.

We headed out to Pinnacle Mountain to try our luck in the Little Maumelle River. At first it was pretty fun to watch the tiny bream come up and eat the worms right off the hook without actually getting the hook in their mouths. I got out my flash and was practicing balancing flash with the ambient light from the mid-day sun. It made these pics kinda look like Abby was standing in front of a fake-swamp backdrop.

But fishing sucks when you don’t catch any fish. They took all our worms and we went home in defeat.

So today we hooked up with Jim and Brayden and went to try our luck Monday afternoon at Maumelle Park, which is actually across the river from the city of Maumelle.

The ground was muddy and the river was muddy so we couldn’t see the fish in the water this time. Abby, who had gotten up way too early that morning, grew bored quickly. So did I. Then the geese came around and livened things up. (Get ready for cavalcade of goose photos.)

A bunch of adult geese roamed on the bank out of the water and Abby kept saying, “I want to catch one of them.” Then she would head toward them until they hissed at her.

Meanwhile Jim and Brayden actually caught some fish.

Brayden didn’t want to kiss his fish when I suggested it, but Jim was game.