By Rick Bennett
I love to fish with my family, but back in the day it began with loving to fish with my wife. Not long after I started dating the woman who is now my wife, I took her fishing. Because she grew up in Alabama and most of her fishing experience was on fresh water and involved Zebco push button reels, when I baited her hook, cast her line and handed her a spinning reel, she held it upside down, with the reel facing her instead of hanging down under the rod. When I saw that, I remember smiling and thinking, âa blank slateâ. I vowed to myself then that I would introduce her the right way to saltwater fishing in hopes that it would turn into a love of the sport instead of just a tolerance of it. For the first year, I would catch bait and clean the boat before I picked her up to fish, I would make sure that a good cooler was packed with food and drink, and only take her on good tides when and where the fish were most likely to bite. It worked. Kelli, quickly became an accomplished snook and tarpon angler and on one of our most memorable trips, she got ten tarpon to the boat. Before long, she was packing the cooler, helping clean the boat and accompanying me on early morning boat rides to go catch bait. It wasnât long before she also shared my last name. A few years after we got married, we had a conversation that was a real milestone in our relationship. We had just built a house and had our second son in as many years. I was working a lot of hours in an attempt to pay for those things. One night after putting the kids to bed, we were discussing the upcoming, work-filled weekend and Kelli asked âWhen are we going to REALLY go fishing again? Not just a couple hours after work, but catch bait at dawn, fish until dark, fishing?â I knew right then that I am a lucky man. Sure, a wife is going to nag, but if she does it like that, even the annoyances are a joy. I gave into her nagging and more recently when she started in on me about wanting a new motor for our boat⌠well, she got her way there too. Happy wife, happy life! Kelli and I have been married for over 16 years now and as I write this she is participating in her first fishing tournament with my friendâs wife and our daughters. As of this morning, they had a 37â snook, an oversized redfish, and several other quality catches. She warned me that my two daughters aged 8 and 11 are âfired upâ about fishing. I just hope that my future son-in-laws will appreciate their good fortune. I still love to fish with my wife as she is a good angler and a lot easier on the eyes than my other fishing buddies, and those are not even her best features!
