A little help....

[TrophyEyes]

My wife is the best women I have ever met and really likes fishing.....or more specifically catching more fish than me. Here is the small problem, she still won't bait her hook, take a fish off and give up her push button Zebco fishing reel. Now that we have our first child and he will be fishing in a year or two, which will demand most of my time when we all go fishing. What tricks or way can I get my wife to 1.) put her own leeches on the hook 2.) Take off her own fish 3.) Switch to spinning set up. The tricky thing is that I don't want to push her away from the sport, but I can tell you it will get very hard to run the boat, take care of her equipment and my sons, while trying to fish myself. Any suggestions? So far all I can come up with is using Gulp Alive leeches, give her gloves and forget the push button reel until she is ready.

[tunrevir]

Will she fish with crawlers or minnows and bait her hook? You could let her set up with one of those while you fish leeches and when she sees you catching all of the fish she may just bait the hook:) Seriously though, it won't put much of a dent in your fishing time if you continue to bait her hook and your sons as well. Chances are, you won't be doing much fishing yourself with a little one in the boat if my experiences are any indication. Just enjoy the fact that each of them are out and with you. I wouldn't change your wifes reel over if that is what she likes to fish with, might want to upgrade her to a newer model to handle the type of fishing you want to do and hand hers down to the little guy. My wife has the same issues and it doesn't really bother me to be both captain and first mate when she goes out fishing with me. I just love to have her along with me! Oh, a few suggestions when fishing with the little people, keep the duration of the outing relatively short, get them on fish even if that means handing them your pole after hooking a fish, expect to bait, cast, untangle, unhook fish, don't expect to fish alot yourself, keep lots of treats and goodies on hand, let them play with the bait(one step closer to putting it on themselves), have emergency potty on hand, put some flotation on the rod they will be using(more then one rod lost during aggressive casting manueavors:) Make the trip about them and enjoy they day, the company and even the little snafu's. Good luck and good fishing!

Tunrevir~

[upnorth]

Been there...my wife won't bait her own hook no matter what the bait. I have had both my daughter and my wife in the boat and if you don't have patience and a sense of humor it can make for a very long day.

I also remember the days of taking my son and a few of his buddies fishing in the boat. let's just say 3 boys 7 -9 years old is not conducive to doing a lot of fishing for the captain/first mate. I always tried fishing but kept my expectations in line with the reality of the situation. Snags, tangles, baiting hooks, taking fish off the hook, keeping shoes out the net, yep those were the days Enjoy em cuz they don't last forever!!

[Iambjm]

 Originally Posted By: TrophyEyes

Any suggestions? So far all I can come up with is using Gulp Alive leeches, give her gloves and forget the push button reel until she is ready.

I was the same way when I first started, couldn't bring myself to touch a leech. First thing the hubby did when I asked for bait, take fish off etc., was to say "just a second" and then he would take his time. I got tired of waiting so I got myself some surgical gloves so I wouldn't have to touch the bait, a tweezer (large one) to grab the leeches, after a while I got sick of that and then just dove in. It took me a while but now I will handle almost anything (no snakes please ). I was the same way about the reel, again the hubby just told me that I could cast farther with an open face and we had some casting practice out in the backyard. He also bet me a dinner out if I could cast farther than him......bingo the magic words, beat me if you can. When he became ill in 2003 and had a long hard recovery, he also taught me how to run the boat just in case. Best thing he could have done for me, as I can run the boat in an emergency. He actually likes me running the boat now, gives him more time to play with his tackle. Best thing, be patient, be creative and enjoy your time together sometimes bad things happen to good people and you will wish you had those days back.

[shamrock7]

By the time you get out there with the little one, she will see how little time you have to fish yourself because of tending to the kids and herself and she should eventually start trying to take care of some of these things herself to free up more time for you. It will work itself out if she is the woman you described.

And as far as the Zebco, consider yourself lucky. Mine prefers the expensive stuff, even more expensive than mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lisa Almquist]

Great posts everyone! I, too, couldn't do much when I started fishing. I got tired of waiting too. I started using forceps to get them out but that took forever since we use the mesh style "leech locker" in our live well. So now I grab one and toss them in my fishing towel so they aren't too slimy anymore. I can bait the hook easily now (but still think they're icky).

I still have trouble getting the bigger fish untangled from the net and the hook out so to be fair to the walleye that we're returning to the lake, my husband can do it in short order. So I let him!

The reel is a tricky business. Spinning reels are a bummer when you get major line screw ups so maybe she doesn't want to deal with that and feels more comfortable with her push button, let her keep it.

Barb, I think it's time for me to start running the boat. I'm pretty freaked out about it tho!

Above all, have fun in the boat with your little ones. You'll be so happy with the results when you have all these fishing maniacs growing up with this awesome pastime! I sure wish my boy was more into it. Keep up the good work man!

[fishinchicks]

I agree with a lot that has been said already. My solution was to start bass fishing. There are plenty of lures that do not require live bait. I also have a glove that I use when handling the fish for two reasons: 1. I hated the slime factor at first (I can now lip a bass just fine) 2. I play the violin, so a hook in the finger/hand would be really bad.

Don't give her a bad time, but encourage her. I switched to a spinning rod setup, and really like it. I practiced in the driveway to get the hang of casting before I fished with it the first time. I used a plug that came with my daughter's reel. The open face baitcasters, on the other hand, are intimidating to me.

[glenn57]

from what i just read, i am really fortunate. my wife pretty much self suffeciant when it comes to fishing. the only thing i do is take the bigger fish out the net, remove hook and hook whole leeches. she does everything else without battin an eye.

[glenn57]

lisa, running the boat, thats funny. next thing is you will want guiding fees from mr. lisa tealz when you get into catching fish. actually i have on many occasions asked my wife to runn the boat and she refuses. her excuse always is you know the lake better.

[Lisa Almquist]

That's absolutely what happens with us. The boat is the freaky final frontier. My man would KILL me if something happened to the boat!!

[Iambjm]

 Originally Posted By: LisaTealz

That's absolutely what happens with us. The boat is the freaky final frontier. My man would KILL me if something happened to the boat!!

But how would you feel if you were out on the lake and he became ill and couldn't run the boat? When the hubby(I like to call him the old grouch) was recovering from his illness we went fishing and he caught a northern, while taking him out of the net the northern flipped and buried the crankbait hooks in his hand. The hooks must have hit a tendon or a nerve as he was in excruciating pain, I had to get him back to shore and take him to the hospital to have it removed, glad I knew how to run the boat. The plus side is now I can take the boat anytime I want and go fishing.

[glenn57]

now thats what i call an independent woman. but seriously thats a very good point lambjm.

[gatorhunter]

 Originally Posted By: Iambjm

But how would you feel if you were out on the lake and he became ill and couldn't run the boat? When the hubby(I like to call him the old grouch) was recovering from his illness we went fishing and he caught a northern, while taking him out of the net the northern flipped and buried the crankbait hooks in his hand. The hooks must have hit a tendon or a nerve as he was in excruciating pain, I had to get him back to shore and take him to the hospital to have it removed, glad I knew how to run the boat. The plus side is now I can take the boat anytime I want and go fishing.

That's why barbless hooks are the only way to go. We've been barbless in Manitoba since about 1990 and nobody goes to the hospital to get hooks removed. On the subject of learning the boating skills, get-r-done! You'll never regret it. My wife drives ours (tiller) on occasion and I'm sure that she prefers that I drive so that she can fish and relax. I'd absolutely love it if she took the initiative and wanted to take out the boat with some of her friends. I have no reluctance what so ever.

[reelemin]

I would fine out exactly what she doen't like about baiting the hook, her reasoning may not be factual. For instance most people think leaches are slimmy, there really not, their slippery but not slimmy. Try to address her concerns specificly, the fear of the unknown is the most crippling.

[TrophyEyes]

She doesn't like sticking a hook in anything that is wiggling in her hand. That is what she doesn't like about baiting her own hook. She won't take the fish off the hook because she got cut once by the gill plate of a walleye (who hasn't). I also think she gets some enjoyment of me waiting on her. To be completely honest there are worse things to do than watch my son and wife catch fish and me be the guide. I was just trying to make it easier.

Thanks to everyone.

[fishgutz77]

Last year on fathers day I went fishing with my son and daughter on Big Watab by St. Joe's and spent the whole day teaching both of them how to navigate with the GPS, rig and set downriggers, run the digital speed control for the kicker and we caught 7 nice rainbows and kept 5 for dinner and had a blast doing it.

the next step will be to teach my wife on a small lake as well before we head to Superior or Michigan. Make it fun and interesting. When Katie was 5 she could care less about minnows and crawlers but now she's 13 and thinks they are to messy. I have traumatized them with leeches over the years and this method has proved useless. Maybe this Gulp thing is worth a try.

Now I can at least kick back once in a while when trolling and let them have fun experimenting with depth,breaks,water temps and tackle. It's a whole new world when a kid catches a fish through their own science.

I look forward to any help on this one as well.

[hopeforfish]

I was afraid of leeches until my neice who was about 5 years old at the time, started playing with the leeches. I was not going to let a 5 year old show me up. With the other neices and nephews I always have a towel on hand that they can use for baiting or taking the fish off.

Now the boat, That was my fathers dream and I was so afraid of using it. My biggest fear was pulling it onto the boat lift. My father being the smart man got out of the boat and told me to just practice. He then got off the dock and went to the deck and sat down. It took some of the pressure off to not have him watching over my shoulder as I practiced. Find a way to ake the pressure off of whom ever you are teaching to handle the boat and let them do it their own way, it may not be your way but eventually they will feel comfortable and not afraid to run the boat.