A few minutes of time well spent, I think
Reading all the good deed threads is certainly inspiring. I'll add my little contribution which happened yesterday.
I'd decided to fish a pond that I'd never fished before and when I arrived, I saw a couple of young boys, one maybe 8-9 the other 11-12 or so with I think Mom and Grandma on shore. Youngest was fishing with gusto, which really caught my eye, the older one seemed to be just hanging out. I spent about 45 minutes trying out this water before deciding to pack up and try a different pond.
As I beached, youngest came over, introduced himself and asked how I had done and to tell me that he had caught one as well, a sunfish. I'd scored 2 sunnies and 2 crappies and told him that, but he had never heard of a crappie. Made me wish I hadn't tossed them all back! I got the feeling that he was learning on his own and was pretty new to the sport of fishing.
Long story short, I spent about 20 minutes with him, showing him my tackle, explaining how jigs worked, etc. He showed me his lure selection which actually had some curly tail jigs in there and I pointed out some good colors that were close to what I would normally use, mostly natural colors.
I then took him over to my box and gave him a few of my plastics, various colors and styles that I thought might work if he was going to fish some more. Also gave him the last of my Pico 1/32 ounce jig heads and showed him how to hook them under a bobber and how to twitch it and let it rest and stuff like that.
Turns out they are visiting from PA for a week and had hopes to fish some of the waters that I have fished while they are here. I was impressed with his manners and his enthusiasm and offered some tips on the ponds he hoped to fish from shore.
As I was loading the boat, they both came over and helped me lift it in to the back of the truck. I didn't really need the help but gave them a hearty thank you and let them know how much I appreciated their help. Before I left, the older brother came over and introduced himself and shook my hand and thanked me for visiting with them and helping his brother. Both Mom and Grandma had also thanked me for helping the youngest.
This sport of fishing proves once again that common ground can be found pretty easily among total strangers and between opposite ends of the age and experience spectrum.
