# Can't get it out of my mind



## River raider (Dec 25, 2017)

Ice fishing yesterday I watched a young boy on the ice, I'm guessing 8-10 years old, the two adults placed tip ups at a fair distance apart and that young boy ran all day long and even ran off the ice at the end of their fishing day. I truly enjoyed to watch all that energy. But what really effected me more was when I see a group of men bring a 18 month old child on the ice that was covered in slush and water , this little child was walking in water . I had to leave , I just couldn't enjoy fishing for fear I would see the child fall face down . I love to see the young in the outdoors, but not that one. My wife said if it was her that seen it she would have called 911 and reported child abuse. I don't have a cell phone to take a photo to share.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

The kid has survived this long i'm sure it'll manage.


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## River raider (Dec 25, 2017)

The sister of the 18 month old was complaining of being wet and cold. I'm guessing she was about 6 years old.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

My daughter reeled in her first coho a few weeks shy of her 3rd birthday on a blustery raw night out of South Haven without another boat around. In my 14'. I'm sure people thought I was foolish for doing that, but the kid cannot get enough boat time.




























This year she'll be towing the boat to the launch. You blink and they grow up.


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## River raider (Dec 25, 2017)

I'm sure that you made sure she was comfortable and enjoying the experience. Both my sons and grand son have caught their fist brook trout a four years old. I would wrap them in a down filled sleeping bag and carry them so they would always be comfortable.


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## River raider (Dec 25, 2017)

Some lucky guy is going to get a nice wife and all the fishing gear he will ever want.


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## d_rek (Nov 6, 2013)

Our kids started dock fishing in warmer weather up at their grandparents cabin ages 2-3, and also on the canoe. I can remember taking them on the pond to ice fish at same ages, but with the distance to the lake for me it seemed like a waste of time to drive them down to LSC when they might only last 1/2hr on the ice. Both of my kids have now caught fish on their kiddie rods and my daughter got her first walleye on the SCR last spring. She loved every minute of it, even while complaining that her arms were getting tired  

As a parent you have to know your childs limits. There's no shortage of bad parents out there, and unfortunately common sense is about the rarest thing I can think of these days. 

Would I have taken an 18mo. old out on the ice? Probably not. But, hey, have ice will wish...


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Kids can take a lot. My son has been going with us since before he could walk. Just kept him warm. He went ice fishing with me when he was about 2 and had a blast. His youngest son is 8 and I took him and his older brother the week after New Year's.I looked over where they were sitting and he is laying face down on the ice. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was looking down the hole for fish. He wanted to know if he could pee on the ice. I told him it would be ok but not in the hole. His next question was is it ok for me to go in brothers hole. I said no. Next thing you know he looked like a dog in a field of fire hydrants


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## River raider (Dec 25, 2017)

This 18 month old girl was standing in 4 inches of water. My clothes had water wicked up my pant legs half way to my knees but not over my boots.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Rocking the Schoolie at 3. Second daughter.


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## rz6x59 (Nov 9, 2008)

I walked by a 10 inch hole yesterday that had wallowed out to about 12 that would have gobbled up a child of that size.
I wouldn't have been able to relax with a child running around.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Havent taken my son ice fishing but showed him minnows yesterday... he scooped one up with the net and I put it in my hand. It flipped once and that was it. Minnows are terrifying. Wth!?


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

We spent a whole day ruining a couple butterfly nets and our feet to catch a couple dozen shiners. The next morning we went out to catch crappies, as the kids like eating them.

There was no way we were putting hooks through their "pets", and no way we were releasing them in the middle of the lake, so we had to paddle back to where we caught them and let them go there.


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## River raider (Dec 25, 2017)

I walked over and told the girl to watch that her sissy so she didn't step in a hole on my way off the ice. I wouldn't waste my breath on the adults.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

sureshot006 said:


> Havent taken my son ice fishing but showed him minnows yesterday... he scooped one up with the net and I put it in my hand. It flipped once and that was it. Minnows are terrifying. Wth!?


My next to the youngest grandson is that way with frogs. In the spring we have hundreds of frogs in our yard. They were catching them and he was looking at one in front of his face. It jumped and landed right between his eyes. I never saw anyone move that fast and scream. Since then he has a fear of green frogs.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Scout 2 said:


> My next to the youngest grandson is that way with frogs. In the spring we have hundreds of frogs in our yard. They were catching them and he was looking at one in front of his face. It jumped and landed right between his eyes. I never saw anyone move that fast and scream. Since then he has a fear of green frogs.


I'm just worried he is taking after his mother more than me. Pretty sure I liked bugs, fish, etc when I was 2. Hopefully he will grow out of it and end up not being scared. I want a fishing buddy!


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> My daughter reeled in her first coho a few weeks shy of her 3rd birthday on a blustery raw night out of South Haven without another boat around. In my 14'. I'm sure people thought I was foolish for doing that, but the kid cannot get enough boat time.
> 
> View attachment 370381
> 
> ...


My nephew was bout that age and he was with us out of Holland. We got a tripe header on and the drags were screaming. I got one pole out wife got another out and I turned around to hand him the pole but he went sliding by me to the back of the boat. Just lucky the back of the boat was hih or he would have went over the back pole fish and all. It turned out we had 3 browns on and I wanted to mak sure we at least got his. If I remember right it weighed around 12 lbs, We had it mounted and gave it to him for Christmas that year. He is now in his 30's and he still has that fish on his wall


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## River raider (Dec 25, 2017)

I can assure you he will get over the fear, but still may not like to fish or hunt. You have to let them be their self and hope you can direct them to like it. My grandson was so afraid of bugs that it became his nickname and to grandma he is still her little Bugs.


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## junkman (Jan 14, 2010)

sureshot006 said:


> I'm just worried he is taking after his mother more than me. Pretty sure I liked bugs, fish, etc when I was 2. Hopefully he will grow out of it and end up not being scared. I want a fishing buddy!


He'll grow out of it.


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## TippyDamGuy (Mar 7, 2012)

River raider said:


> I walked over and told the girl to watch that her sissy so she didn't step in a hole on my way off the ice. I wouldn't waste my breath on the adults.


Granted I wasn't present for this whole episode, but it seems to me that you are being a little overly critical of how some other adults choose to spend time with their children. I guarantee you wouldn't have been walking up to me and telling me I was irresponsible for having my 2 yr old son out on the ice with me, which I did on many occasions. If the child got wet or cold, I'm sure they would have left, or found a means to dry them off and warm them up. My 2 yr old daughter was in my boat on Christmas eve 1998 on Muskegon Lake from 10:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m trolling for walleyes with me. She still remembers it fondly today.


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