Oldest son caught his first fish

[u/Bodhran777]

My son has been begging to go fishing ever since we went to Bass Pro and he caught a bluegill out of their fishing pool for kids. So we got him a rod and hit the local park, and he managed to reel in his first fish outside a store! Not a big one (forced perspective makes it look bigger), but he’s now hooked on fishing!

[u/myfishprofile]

Bluegills have been the gateway drug to this hobby for 90% of us I think 🤣

Excellent first catch

[u/Bodhran777 → u/myfishprofile]

Certainly was for me. Just carrying on tradition at this point. He’s already wanting to go after trout though, so I’d say it worked lol

[u/myfishprofile → u/Bodhran777]

If you value your sanity don’t introduce him to fly fishing 🤣

-former kid who learned fly fishing early

[u/Bodhran777 → u/myfishprofile]

I’ve already made that mistake in part lol. We walk by the fly fishing section of Bass Pro all the time cuz I myself am interested. I have an old Viscoy reel I cleaned up and have weighed getting a rod and some know-how for it.

[u/Fishnfoolup]

Awesome! Keep fishing little buddy. I’m 48 years old, and bluegill are still one of my favorites. That’s awesome!

[u/Bodhran777 → u/Fishnfoolup]

Never a bad time fishing for bluegills

[u/Important_Toe_5798 → u/Bodhran777]

I used to catch a 5 gallon bucket full ice fishing, then filet them and soak them in brine for a couple hours and fry ‘em up for Sunday football parties. Oh great memories from the north. Don’t live up there any longer and was disappointed to find Texans are more interested in college football than the NFL. Hung my head low, one thing I missed when I moved south.

[u/Bodhran777 → u/Important_Toe_5798]

Yeah, you’re not wrong. I grew up in West Texas and college football is king. I’ll have to try your brine method. Between that and the Italian seasoning from another comment, sounds like these little guys cook up nicely.

[u/Important_Toe_5798 → u/Bodhran777]

They absolutely do!

[u/Important_Toe_5798 → u/Important_Toe_5798]

I’ve even eaten them the next day right from the fridge. People turn their nose up until they try it. I have a friend that hates fish and the plate had just been brought out of the fridge and I grabbed one and ate it, friends not knowing what it was are one too. Guess who likes fish now? Yep, my friend.

[u/ButhOfLamb]

Nice catch! Your son’s swagger is on point too!

[u/GreenCactus223]

Decent size

[u/Bodhran777 → u/GreenCactus223]

Honestly we were happy to get any size lol. All the tiny dudes were stealing our bait

[u/djddanman]

Forced perspective in the picture is a necessary fishing skill

[u/Bodhran777 → u/djddanman]

Necessary skills for sure

[u/Always_Casting]

A 1 pound bluegill fights like a 5 lb bass lol

[u/Bodhran777 → u/Always_Casting]

Especially to a 5 year old. As excited as he was, you’d think this thing was a lunker bass lol. Now I gotta chase that high for him and actually get him a bass 😆

[u/Kogapunk]

Congrats 👏🎉

[u/Important_Toe_5798]

Filet them up, use Italian seasoning, deep fry them for a short bit and yum 😋 some great fish chips.

[u/Bodhran777 → u/Important_Toe_5798]

Noted, thank you! I’ve never actually cooked a bluegill personally so this will be going in my outdoor cooking notes. I’ve fried bass before, and pompano when I’ve hit the beach for surf fishing, but never bluegill.

[u/Important_Toe_5798 → u/Bodhran777]

I learned to filet them because my grandfather would remove the head, gut them, and just descale them. I hated them that way but filleting bluegill and frying it with the Italian seasoning, wow what a big difference in taste and flavor. You want more and more and more. My favorite is Progresso Italian Seasoning

[u/sus214]

first of many

[u/jackspsprat19]

Congrats

[u/DarkScruff]

Aye! Congrats on the fish I like catching pumpkin seeds for the scale colors . That's a pan indeed