Where do you take a kid fishing with all this heat? My answer is Ft. Gibson. Not only is it close to home but as the summer sun heats up the lake it also heats up the fishing.
Cody and I took our first qualifier in our monthly “take a kid fishing” contest. Fisher Patterson of Owasso was our first winner. Fisher, who is four and his Dad (Chris) had seen us at the annual Fishing Pal’s tournament on Grand Lake and decided to email us with his entry. Not only did Chris send in the information that we require, but also sent a rather compelling story about Fisher and how he and his son loved watching our show. When we drew for winner I sat down and read his email.
Our show has been struggling to make ends meet and I was close to calling it quits until I read his letter. Chris told me of how he nearly lost his son and how much it means to parents everywhere what we are doing on the “Future of Fishing” show. His story touched me deeply and gave me the extra boost I needed to continue with our show in hopes of changing children’s lives everywhere.
So I set up the time for Fisher and his Dad to meet us and we headed down to good ole Ft. Gibson Lake. This lake is slowly becoming one of my favorite lakes here in Oklahoma. I have seen huge amounts of fish caught, with bass tournaments taking over 20 lbs of weight to win. Just the week before, Cody and I were fishing at Ft. Gibson and got onto a fantastic swim bait bite. We had caught so many bass that we quit early because I was just tired of catching and releasing fish.
On this day we just wanted to put some fish on the end of the line so the kids could have some fun, and fun they had. We started on the rip rap by hwy 51 where I lost a nice 4 lb fish and then decided to move into the shallow water where the wind was blowing into the bushes. We were flipping a blue fleck Xcite extreme stix and flap jack into shaded trees and brush catching quite a few small 12 to 14 inch fish. At one point I was giving Fisher a lesson on how to pitch into the cover when I turned him loose he nearly flipped himself and the pole into the water. With a quick reaction I was able to catch him and it never fazed him. Without hesitation he stood up and continued pitching as if it was a normal thing. I found it amusing watching Chris flip with a zebco 33 because he didn’t want to get his pole from the back of the boat. Chris is an avid fisherman and watching him tangle with the small rig was just funny.
Both Cody and Fisher became hot, so we tied a throw cushion to the end of a rope, secured it to the boat and let the kids swim. They both enjoyed themselves and we ended up the day with the two kids doubling up on some nice fish. It couldn’t have ended better even if we had planed it.
We had filmed the entire day and will air the show in one of our upcoming episodes on the “Future of Fishing” on KWHB-47 Saturdays at 4:30 pm. You can log onto our web site at www.keithandcody.com to enter your son or daughter for a chance to be on our show and read more about how we want to make difference in a child’s life. We want to help get kids involved in this wonderful sport and change our world one smile at a time.
So remember; take a kid fishing and instill a memory that will last a lifetime.
Where do you take a kid fishing with all this heat? My answer is Ft. Gibson. Not only is it close to home but as the summer sun heats up the lake it also heats up the fishing.
Cody and I took our first qualifier in our monthly “take a kid fishing” contest. Fisher Patterson of Owasso was our first winner. Fisher, who is four and his Dad (Chris) had seen us at the annual Fishing Pal’s tournament on Grand Lake and decided to email us with his entry. Not only did Chris send in the information that we require, but also sent a rather compelling story about Fisher and how he and his son loved watching our show. When we drew for winner I sat down and read his email. Read more »