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Home » How To Be a Better Dad » Our Fall Fishing Trip

For my son's birthday the past 8 years, we like to get away and stay at grandma's condo in Mammoth and fish our hearts out! This is one birthday party that I look forward to because it brings me back to when I would take this very same trip with my brother, father and late grandfather.

Our Fall Fishing Trip

Author: RJ Jaramillo

Posted: 09/22/08

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Summer is great, but fall is better around my house because all three of my children’s birthdays are in the fall. For my son’s birthday, we like to get away and stay at grandma’s condo in Mammoth and fish our hearts out! This is one birthday party that I look forward to because it brings me back to when I would take this very same trip with my brother, father and late grandfather.

There’s a long fishing history in my family and one of our rites of passage is striving to be the most successful fisherman during our fall fishing trip. That means catching the first fish, the most fish and the biggest fish on the trip.

Our trips are no cliché of father and sons fishing together on a dock. This is not just any kind of fishing! It is float tube fishing for trout. These “Float Tubes” are mini, inflatable boats that wrap around your waist. You sit semi-submerged and wear a wetsuit and special scuba fins to propel you across the lake. The idea is to sneak up on the fish, toss a worm-like lure in front of them and BAMM! It’s a little excitement, exercise, fun and fishing all mixed together.

The rules of our fall trip are simple. We fish from sun up to sun down. We pack all of our meals for the day, because REAL Fishermen do not take breaks for lunch or supper. We are very superstitious. We eat tuna fish sandwiches for lunch and beef jerky as a snack and drink plenty of Smartwater. We have a couple secret spots on the lake where we know we can always catch fish if the fishing is slow. The weather is always unpredictable, and we love the fact that we are usually the only people on the lake and we are only visited by the local bears who are interested in the stringers of trout that dangle from our float tubes.

It is such a special time with my son, because I know that there are only so many fishing trips left in our lifetime together. I know this because it happened to me and my dad. My father and I still meet up in the summer to fish, but I remember the gradual change in my visits when I got older and I began to drive up with friends, college roommates, fraternity brothers and girlfriends. I proposed to my college sweetheart on the same banks where our son and I still fish today. I hold onto every moment right now and capture great memories of our trips with my camera. I still tell the same stories to my son that my dad and grandfather told me when I was my son’s age. It’s also great that we have time to talk about the important topics that he wants to talk about. Yes, the “birds and the bees” was a couple years ago… and nowadays it is a much more informative and detailed conversation than what I remembered my dad talking about! The good news is that we’re talking about it and he doesn’t have a problem asking and I don’t have a problem answering, because only the lake and fish are listening!

My Son turns 13 this year and I am going to enjoy every cast, every bowl of chili, and every moment on the lake with him. I have only held the “Best Fisherman” family title for a few years and I can already sense that my days are numbered. I know I am going to be beaten one of these trips pretty soon. Like grandpa always says, “That’s why they call it fishing and not catching!”

Richard Jaramillo Richard “RJ” Jaramillo, is the Founder of SingleDad.com, a website and social media resource dedicated to single parenting and specifically for the newly divorced, re-married, widowed and single Father with children. RJ is self employed, entrepreneur living in San Diego and a father of three children. The mission of SingleDad is to help the community of Single Parents “Make Life Happen…Again!”