who happens to be autistic. I don't know if he will ever be able to handle a rod with a reel, but so what? The cane pole works just fine.
I took him fishing for the first time last summer. It was on a sunny Sunday morning, and I went to the early service. Mary took our girls to the later service, and I took Andrew fishing.
I rigged up his brand new rod with some monofilament, a bright red hook, a split shot, and one of my old ice fishing bobbers. We walked to a pond near our house, and I whistled the song from the old Andy Griffith show as we went along with the cane pole and some worms.
We got to the pond. I baited up the hook, swung it out into the water, and handed the pole to Andrew. The bobber had only just settled down when it started moving and went under. I told Andrew to bring his pole up, and he caught his first fish.
I think we caught at least 50 fish. With a little experimenting we even caught some on the bare hook! We were having so much fun that as my wife drove by on the way home from church she stopped, and my younger daughter had to give it a try. She caught her first fish, too. Yes, I took pictures.
If you asked me if we use cane poles at my house, I would have to say yes. This is the one pole I know I'll never get rid of.