If taking your kids fishing is one of the best things a parent can do, then making your daughter your tournament fishing partner has got to be even better. The decision to fish with my daughter Mary in the Texas Redfish Series was not an easy one. After all she was only 9 years old at the time and I wondered if she would be able to handle the physical and emotional challenges of fishing at that level. I also wanted to be sure we could be competitive, because the last thing I wanted us to be was a novelty act.
After several successful years fishing the major Redfish tours with adult partners I knew I had the experience, but could we compete? When Mary was 7 I started taking her to local bass fishing tournaments mostly for fun and for father/daughter time. I hoped she would like it enough to keep coming, I had no idea that she would soon be consistently bringing in good fish and even limiting out occasionally. I can still remember the looks on the faces of the grown men she was beating. To this day I think they thought I was catching her fish. This may have made them feel better about getting beat by a little girl, but I know the truth, the girl can fish and now she was hooked!
Long story short, she was up for the challenge and so was I. Our first season together on tour was 2007. The 2007 season was a great learning experience for Mary and she progressed considerably in her fishing skills. Our results were middle of the pack at best, but every tournament we learned and just kept getting better. In the season standings we finished 74th out of 153 teams.
Our next season would be even better. We had a solid showing in 3 of the 4 regular season tournaments and had an impressive 3rd in the 2008 championship. The championship was a 2-day tournament and we were in 1st place at the end of day one. The fish we had been catching on day 1 were uncooperative on day 2 and we were not able to catch the same quality of fish but managed to catch enough to hold on and get 3rd.
While it would have been fantastic if we had been able to hold up the “big check” in the championship, the memories that we have made will last a lifetime. Looking back now I feel like choosing my daughter to be my fishing tournament partner was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.
I would like to thank Mary for being everything I could ask for in a daughter and thank my wonderful family for their support. I would also like to thank Blue Wave boats for making such a great boat and for all the support they have given us.
Catch the wave,
