By: Chasten Whitfield
When Peter was around 2 years old he was delayed in speaking so his parents went to Easter Seals and got him tested. It appeared he has some sensory integration disorders and they went to a neuropsychologist and was diagnosed when he was four. BUT NOT TODAY! Peter doesn’t have to worry about any therapy today, just salt-water therapy! The weather is changing so the fish are adjusting to the weather. I put my sweatpants, hoodie, and slickers on and I head out just off the beach to go find bait. It’s very cloudy, the wind is starting to pick up and a little foggy out so it’s really hard to see the bait in the water. I had my little brother driving the boat while I was on the front looking for bait with a cast net ready to go. I just kept thinking about this little boy has been looking forward to this trip for two weeks. I met him at an event that I put on with my team called the kitty pool classic which all the proceeds benefit autism. We found a school of bait, threw the net a few times and got enough bait. We picked up Peter and his dad and decided to head to a dock that’s out of the wind and fish for snook. There are some mangroves by the dock so I took a couple baits and threw them out as chum and threw a couple lines in and about a minute later we had a snook on. Peter grabbed the rod and knew exactly what to do as he reeled him in no letting the fish get a chance to fight. We took some pictures and let it go. Peter wanted to try for a new species so we went to a boat house that has sheepshead, redfish grouper, and snapper. We pull up to the dock, put some pinch weights on our line, cast a few baits out and Peter hooks up on a nice little grouper. I asked Peter if you wanted to keep the spot or drive to another one. He decided to go to a new spot so we moved and fished a little man-made channel with rocks all around it. This is my snapper honey hole spot but today it was a little different. The wind was very strong, it was hard to cast but Peter still managed to catch lots of fish. We broke off on a big red in the middle of this channel. Once again, it doesn’t have to be a trophy fish for any kid to catch. It doesn’t have to be a perfectly calm day, it doesn’t even have to even be sunny. Not only did he catch fish, they made memories, as they talked without any type of TV, computer, or cell phone distraction. Get your kids out fishing!
