Teach a boy to fish and........you'll have a partner

My 7 year old son(almost 8) is at the age now where he doesn't enjoy so much jumping in the car with me to go grab some pics of a lake, or a bird, or horses, or whatever.  Even with the promise of an ice cream cone from DQ at the end. But, I think I found the trick to having a traveling companion in my after dinner jaunts.  Last year we went fishing several times at an area pond, but, unfortunately, he came home each time empty handed while the old man snagged a few guppies.  This year our first fishing excursion turned out quite differently.  I had been for a few weeks suggesting we go drop a line in, but between the weather and other things, we just never made it.  Friday night was perfect.  Beautiful night. Beautiful lake. No bugs.  And perhaps, best of all, no people where we went.  Just me and him.  This was the perfect opportunity for me to work with him on casting a line, baiting a hook, patience,.....etc.  On top of that, we were fishing at a lake that is unbelievably crystal clear.  Only about 4 foot deep with a healthy, weedy bottom.  You could see the fish swimming around down there.  And they looked hungry.  It didn't take long for the boy to realize, "Why should I make this difficult and do this casting thing and then wait for my bobber to go under and then hope that I hook the fish and then take a chance of reeling him all the way in?  Why don't I just drop my line in over the side of the pier and catch these fish here ?"He asked me if that was o.k. and since I was so focused on my bobber about 30 yards out sitting there doing nothing, I said sure.  About 5 minutes later, I hear one excited boy.  "Daddy, I got him!  Daddy, I got him!"  I've only heard that kind of excitement when he reaches a new level in his video games.  The next part was showing him how to unhook the fish and release him back into the water.  We haven't moved on to baiting the hook yet(next time), but we loaded another worm and I went back to my ever exciting nonmoving bobber and almost right away I hear, "Daddy, I got another one!  Another one!  Sure enough, he did.  Now, usually, I always have my camera with me.  Of course, not tonight.  I really was trying to focus on the fishing thing.  But after that first catch, I was majorly disappointed I didn't have it with me.  After the second catch, I was even more disappointed.  That was when my 'superbrain" kicked in.  I have a cell phone that has a camera.  Don't know how to use it, but I did have a camera.  It was then that I pulled it out and gave it a shot.  After a few tries I got a shot that turned out pretty good.  It's too bad I didn't think of it earlier, since the first fish was considerably larger, but that really wasn't the point.  The point is I think I have a partner for after dinner drives and that feels good because as much as I like to head out on my own and shoot away, I really enjoy the ideas, questions, and ramblings we discuss on such journeys.  And, oh yeah, dad got skunked on this outing.  Once again, that's o.k.