Fishing Lessons Intro

    When I was 18 my younger brother was just four years old.  For our summer vacation we travelled to Naples, Florida to visit our grandparents as we did almost every year.  We spent most of our time at the beach and made a point to walk down the famous fishing pier that jutted a full quarter mile out into the Gulf of Mexico.  While I had walked out that pier at least a dozen times, this was probably the first time Matt had ever gone out there with me.  Although I didn't fish it was always fun to see what the men were catching in the deeper water all the way at the end.  On this particular sunny day, however, there were just four men fishing at the end of the pier and they didn't seem to be catching much of anything. 
    While we were standing in the shade of the concession stand Matt found some old fishing line that was wrapped around one of the legs of the benches.  He unravelled the line from the bench and found there was a hook still tied to one end of it.  He walked over to one of the fishermen and asked if he could borrow some bait.  This stocky man was clearly shocked by this small child who was going to attempt to fish with only some line and a hook but nobody could resist the charm of a four year old boy who wanted to join in the fun.  He pulled a live shrimp from a bucket and helped Matt to attach it to the hook.  Matt walked back over to a corner of the pier where nobody else was fishing and proceeded to lower the hook over twenty feet to the water below. 
    I was happy that he had found something to do because it gave me time to fix my hair and scan the beach for young girls I might like to meet.  I hardly noticed when Matt was pulling the line back up from the water and was completely astonished when he dropped a small sea trout onto the pier with the hook still stuck in his mouth.  It may have just been me but it seemed like everyone went into shock for a minute before anyone could speak.  The four other fishermen along with myself made a collective gasp and then I started shouting like a startled girl.  "That is terrific Matt!"  I yelled.  Then I glanced around at the other fishermen and just absorbed the intensity of that moment when a four year old with nothing more than a line and a hook was able to catch a fish while these men with their expensive equipment weren't even getting a nibble.  In my excitement I scooped up Matt and his fish and ran all the way back to the shore to show everyone what he had caught. 
    From that day on, Matt was hooked on fishing.