Re: NANFA-L-- Appropriate age for "creeking"

Mike Austin (emasquinongy at yahoo.com)
Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:20:33 -0700 (PDT)

Jeff,

Just about every other weekend I take my 3 year old daughter, 6 year old daughter, and my 8 year old son "creeking". No matter what kind of mood they are in before we leave the house (crabby, tired, whatever) they absolutely lose themselves during the event. They love it. Time flys and three hours doesn't seem like enough time. Just gotta bring the cooler of snacks and drinks. I find my 8 year old and 3 year old going after tadpoles, building temporary pools for them etc....meanwhile my 6 year old daughter is fully consumed by seining and learning her fishes. She can easily recognize about 10 species with here favorite being the brindled madtom. We just use shorts and aqua socs...so as the summer days end we are pretty much done till next year. However, two Saturdays ago when water temps were a bit cool... she was chest deep holding the other end of the seine...

In short, other than maybe a danger aspect ...if you can't keep an eye on them...my thought is that there is no too young age and ya can't get em out too early. My 3 year still remembers here trip this past May to the Buffalo River in Arkansas and catching an exceptionally large banded sculpin. I ve been taking them all with me for years trying to fill there heads with my propoganda.

later

Jeff Grabarkiewicz <threehorn_wartyback at yahoo.com> wrote:
Hey folks- just wanted to pass along a bit regarding how old a young man or lady should be before entering the aquatic realm.

I took my 6-year old (thats 1st grade) nephew out to Ten Mile Creek this past weekend. I had bought him a pair of size 4 waders (he is actually a size 1 lol). I wanted to foster his already keen interest in the outdoors- he keeps butterfly collections, loves fish and tadpoles, etc..

Anyways, some thought he was a bit too young...but I really thought he was to an age where he was coordinated enough and had the interest for it. I must admit, I was right. We seined 10 species together, and he was pretty darn good at kicking down riffles and disturbing vegetation. The young man was fascinated with the fish, especially striped shiners and white suckers. In fact, he later informed me that white suckers were now his favorite fish. Imagine that. He remembered some of names, and quite honestly, did as well as some adults do their first time! Most importantly, he was eager and having fun.

I wouldn't say its for all 6-year olds. But I wanted to report this for any NANFAns that have nephews or kids.
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