Anglers get started young on small ponds

There’s something about fishing small ponds that holds a special meaning for many anglers.
 
Small ponds are often the site where anglers first ventured out with Zebco reels and nightcrawlers with a parent or older sibling to catch their first bass or bream, even if they’re scared to touch the fish.
 
This is the kind of nostalgia I experienced Friday as I headed straight from work to a pond in McKinney, hoping to start my weekend off with a nice bass or two.
 
It didn’t take long, or many different lures, to realize the fish weren’t very hungry. But one thing I could count on was small bream trying to choke down Texas-rigged worms that were twice their size.
 
As I was fishing a spot on the pond, a couple of kids about 10 or 11 years old rode up on their bikes, fishing poles in tow. It reminded me of my friends and I growing up, where we would head to local ponds loaded down on an ATV, arms so full of fishing tackle and cokes we couldn’t even hold on. At this current time in my life, I’ve graduated to using my truck.
 
Both boys started flipping hollow-bodied frogs around the pond, never casting from the same place twice. When they saw me pull in a small bream that had managed to bite my blue speck worm they closed in, so I crossed to another part of the pond to let them fish where they might get some bites.
 
In a way it was funny watching them do laps around the pond, too impatient and eager to catch a fish to stay in one spot. I imagine they finally got tired of not catching anything, because they soon headed over a small hill to try a different pond nearby. 
 
The sun was leaving and the mosquitoes were arriving, so as I passed their bikes on the way to my truck, I left the rest of my plastic worms that brought me moderate success on one of their tires.
 
There aren’t many certainties in life, but there is one thing you can count on: as long as there continue to be ponds to fish, kids will find them. 
 
And they’ll bring their tackle box.