The Pleasure of Fishing: The joys of finding Nemo

There are many wondrous "firsts" in a child's life. There's the first day without training wheels or the first little league base hit or the first dance recital. These certainly are all cornerstone happenings but, being predisposed toward the sport, I think the "best of the best" is the first fishing trip with mom and/or dad.

Over the years, the experience of seeing the interaction between the little person and the surrounding nature — dolphins cavorting beside the boat or a first fish dangling at the end of a line — is a magical event. And the sharing of those special times with parents makes it all the more a life experience.

I was privileged to be part of one of those happenings a few weeks back that had a little different twist.

Pat is just three-and-a-half years old and he was the "honored guest" on a fishing charter his dad had arranged. It was just the two of them arriving that morning — no sisters or brothers, just father and son. This was a special event — Pat's first time on a boat and his first fishing trip rolled into one.

Pat was ready for the trip: Mom had lubricated him well with sunscreen so that his skin glowed iridescently, he had his sunglasses affixed and was sporting his T-Rex baseball cap.

"Welcome aboard, Pat. It's nice to have you here. What would you like to catch today?"

Usually the answer to that question from a little guy is "a shark." But not this time. Pat threw the two of us off balance with his response.

"I want to catch Nemo!"

I'm sure you know that Nemo was the featured fish in the Disney classic Finding Nemo and was fashioned after the clown fish, a small tropical reef fish that was red with white and black stripes.

Well, we have no clown fish around here. They are mainly found on the blue water reefs in the Keys or in the Bahamas. But we couldn't tell that to Pat. Nemo was his target on his very first fishing trip.

The adventure started out just like a Hollywood script. We weren't five minutes from the marina and a dolphin came up alongside the boat and did several water-clearing jumps — much to the delight and squeals of little Pat. We hovered around the dolphin for five or ten minutes. It was like a private Sea World show. Pat was agog with excitement.

Our first attempt at fishing was in the shallow water in Capri Pass, expecting we would get a small bonnethead shark for Pat and he would shove Nemo into the background. Sure enough, five minutes into the exercise, Pat's dad had a major strike, got it close to the boat and got Pat involved.

Pat struggled and strained and when our fish got close we saw the reason why. He was bringing in a nice little 2-foot blacktip shark. His dad was a big help in the landing, and Pat could hardly contain himself. We posed him with some photos of the feisty shark and then swung the traumatized fish over the side and released him.

"Well, what do you think, Pat? Should we try to catch some more sharks?"

We were secretly hoping that the thrill of the shark catch would somehow obscure the original target.

Not today. "I want to catch Nemo" was Pat's definitive response.

Pat's dad and I discussed that the only fish around these parts that faintly bears a resemblance to Nemo is the sheepshead — black and white stripes but no red. Probably as close as we'll get, and I'm sure Pat wouldn't mind.

But this was spring and the sheepshead season was over. They had been swept away by the species' quest for cooler water temperatures. The big sheepshead had vacated the premises. Maybe we could find some smaller ones. I knew a possible spot along the docks north of the island and off we went.

The first dock produced snapper — nice-size snapper that would have proudly filled anyone's cooler — but not ours since we were catch and release only and, besides, we were on a Nemo mission. We moved on.

On the next dock the tidal current was a bit weaker and we worked the pilings voraciously. Pat's dad had the first inkling that the "sheepies" were there after some little taps and missing bait. He retried on the same spot and within moments had a nice sheepshead bite. Fish on!

"Pat, this may be Nemo. Come take the rod," voiced Dad. Pat ran over and totally took over the task of landing this fish. Sure enough, it was a smaller sheepshead still trying to swallow the bait as he came aboard.

Pat was beside himself, especially when he introduced the fish as Nemo. We got plenty of photos, then Pat helped engineer the release of Nemo unscathed.

We stayed fishing this dock for a while longer and Pat's dad hooked into another sheepshead. Pat grabbed the rod and was doing a good job for a little guy bringing the fish alongside. His dad explained that it was a different sheepshead.

Pat didn't buy that logic. There is only one Nemo. As his dad swung the second sheepshead aboard Pat greeted it with "Welcome back, Nemo." There was only one Nemo today. Pat sat there for the rest of the trip with a smile that couldn't be erased.

In retrospect, the trip and catching his fish was rather a simple little event in Pat's complex world. But to that little boy it was everything. Hopefully, it will be one of the great memories of his childhood and quality time spent with his dad.

Ain't fishing great?