Gut Check, not sure how handle this.

[CustomRod]

When my son was that age, we always took a day or so to do something he was interested in on an extended trip.

I know you have a pretty good travel distance for SW fishing but is there any way to make short FW trips close to home? In any case keep inviting him and always make him feel welcome.

You can take me to Alaska.

[Pull n Pray]

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

Most grown men can't handle eleven straight hours of fishing

Don't worry about it, maybe shorten the trip a little bit. It gets real hot after lunchtime.

I Love fishing but 3 days of 11 hours days on the water is too much for me. I'll need plenty of beer breaks.

As others have mentioned shorten the trips up. Maybe fish on Saturday and do something he wants to do on Sunday.

[keakar]

as others have said, he is just young and at this point in his life he isn't as "hard core" about fishing so your burning him out on it.

maybe try fresh water brim fishing with crickets and worms where you catch more faster and dont go as far so there is more time to go do other things the rest of the day. keep the fishing trips to 4-5 hours max for the next few years.

when he is ready to stay out longer he will say so.

young attention spans change quickly so he just needs time to grow into your fishing patterns. I bet by his late teens he is into it as much as you (when not chasing girls that is)

[youmyboyblue]

My oldest won't let me leave the house without her when I head fishing or to the camp. My middle can't be bribed into coming. She hates it. So I do things with the middle one that she loves, movies, skating, bowling etc.. Building a bond is the point regardless of it being on a boat or a skating rink.

[marty f]

As much as I hate to do it, going bream fishing for a few hrs might be a good idea, besides momma likes em. I guess I was hoping/expecting him to be like me and pops, even when I was his age Id stay out from sun rise to sun set fishin, but those were different days, no computers no internet, PS3, hell I think I was 17 when Atari came out. He likes the fishing/catching, the more I think about it, those reds wear him out, heck hes 13 and skinny as a rail so pulling in a few good sized reds puts a whoopin on him.

Guess I need to rethink my fishing. Take him and momma bream fishing, guess Ill be back to catching reds and speck alone.

thanks guys this has been enlightening, why these kids don't come with manuals beats me, sure would be easier...........

[duckman1911]

I'm not going to be able to say anything that hasn't already been said. My son is one of my best buds but he is finicky about fishing. Sometimes he is all fired up but sometimes not. Plenty of other things that will give you great memories with your son. We like to shoot together. We get out the guns and have a blast. We shoot our recurves and laugh at how bad we are with them. The last time we fished together I think we spent more time fooling around than we did fishing. We were just having fun picking out stumps and seeing who could cast closest to it or trying to skip our baits across the water surface. It was a beautiful afternoon on the water with my buddy. I can go catch fish later. Keep your chin up man.

[BIGV]

Everything has been covered so I cant really add anything new but I can say that I am hardcore with fishing also and had to be told to dial it down with our kids. Best advice I had to date because looking back it wasnt fun for them like it was for me. Now a fishing trip with the kids involves alot of snacks/drinks and boat riding... thats fun for them and it now makes it fun for me in a new way. Catching fish is a bonus but I dont try no harder then my kids want to.