Times have changed

When both of my children and later the grandkids were little and we went fishing in ponds, I always asked them to give me the first couple or three casts before they descended on the water and started beating it to a froth and sending all of the fish to the bottom seeking cover. Times have changed.

The Thursday before the Fourth of July, my son took me to Stockton Lake where we were going to fish. The 11year-old granddaughter wanted to go. For the first 45 minutes no one caught a fish. We finally located at what depth the fish were, and, for the next two-and-one-half hours, we had some of the best fishing we ever had.

Now the old veteran, who is me, sat in the back of the boat and, at the end of the period, had caught two. The son, who majored in fishery biology, had caught four, and the 11 year- old girl had six. Before we went fishing, I jokingly told her if she caught more than I did I probably would be crying. The way it turned out, it was a good thing I had a towel back there because she beat the socks off of all of us.

After posing for pictures, she and her dad cleaned the fish, and I decided I might be better off mowing the lawn. From here it looks like she is going to want a permanent seat whenever we go, and, if we want to catch fish, we had better be sure to take her.