Fishing: Roger’s Remarks for Sept. 22

I think I have seen the future of our sport, and it all began a few weeks ago when my buddy, Shaver Lake guide Dick Nichols, said that he had a family he had guided that wanted to go striper fishing with me. Awesome!

Intrigued, he told me that Nikki Hamilton, a local single mom who loved fishing, wanted to take her three kids, Alex, 12, Chris, 15, and Amanda, 17, on a special first-time striper trip. The kicker, Dick said, was that Alex was into fishing in a big way – unusual for a 12-year-old. Days before the outing, I got a taste of what Dick had tried to tell me, as Nikki explained that Alex was doing research on stripers for our trip.

Research? Yeah, she said he spent hours online watching every striper-related YouTube video he could find for starters, plus anything about striper lures, equipment, and techniques! This kid was obviously loaded for bear and a very precocious 12-year-old fisherman. She said his biggest fish was a 17-inch trout and a new personal record was his goal. Whoa!

We met early and took off for a good area, where I immediately found fish – ones that would not bite anything for the next few hours! I was trying every lure I could throw – some twice – before I had to admit the dead calm 100-degree day was kicking my behind! Luckily, Nikki has fished all her life, being from a North Dakota fishing family, so they took it in stride. I’m frantically trying to find a pattern, but Alex is patiently checking out all my lures, equipment and setups – and asking questions! I realized that this kid isn’t too worried about catching a fish, he’s trying to absorb all the stuff in my boat!

Yes, this screen is the downward-looking sonar and this is the GPS tracking and coordinates, I explained. From there, he asked if this was the bottom, what kind of fish are these marks showing, and why are the lines curved? Within minutes, he had mastered the output of my screen and was watching for big striper marks, and understanding the NAV map and what our boat track represented! He explained to Mom how my downriggers worked and figured out the depth counter, plus how to release the clutch and use the auto up button. In two tries he was watching my screen and moving the ball to the correct depth. Impressive.

I had to be careful to warn him about getting too close to my loose lures and the treble hooks because he loved being almost covered in them! Diving into my tackle boxes and pulling out plug after plug while asking what made this one good and how did this one work made me realize that he had an insatiable curiosity to know everything.

Finally, we hooked a fish and Alex wrestles in the fat 22.5-inch striper. It’s a personal record – and his first striper – so I specially let him keep it and we put it in the livewell. Stoked, he would lift the lid to gaze at the trophy every few minutes and say, “Mom, it’s so big!” He was infected for life! I felt better now, too: We had a fish! Chris got a 20-incher later.

At the dock, Alex got his fish out of the livewell and Nikki offered to bag it. “No, Mom, I want to carry it to the car!” There has never been a prouder angler swagger down the dock carrying his prized trophy fish – in front of several bystanders – than that boy! Yes! I gave him a lure as a memento of our trip and Nikki has since told me he has it enshrined in a special little box in his bedroom.

Yes, the future of fishing needs passionate young anglers such as Alex to carry on the legacy. However, it struck me that it also takes the special moms and other parents, such as Nikki Hamilton, who in an increasingly crazy and dysfunctional world intentionally build great dreams and visions in the heart of their children to fuel that future. Never give up!

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Fishing: Roger’s Remarks for Sept. 22."