"It was a great day! Just to show you how you get more than what you give, I've got to tell you about my fishing partner - Jonathon. He was first in line, and eager to go. But when he saw my crankbaits hanging from a rack in my boat, he asked what they were for. "Bass," I answered. "That's what I want to catch!" he declared.

I explained that bass were harder to catch than perch and you could go hours without catching one. He didn't care - he wanted a bass! "Well", I offered, "why don't we go to a place where there is both perch and maybe a bass or two?" He agreed enthusiastically!

I figured that as soon as he started catching perch he'd forget about bass fishing. For two hours he put fish after fish in the boat, but when he saw I was catching my perch on plastic grubs not live bait, he insisted on the same set-up. I was delighted when he continued to catch fish.

Seeing that he had a rig now that might attract a smallie, I slipped away from the weed edge into 20-30 feet nearby taking a long shot that there might be a bass cruising near by. When Jonathon noticed the bite had stopped, I decided to turn around and slowly slip back to the school of perch. Just then Jonathon started to scream, "I got a big one!'

Sure enough his rod was bent over and he had a bass on. But by the time I got to the back of the boat to help him he had brought the fish right up to the end of the rod. I had 2 seconds to lip the fish before the inevitable happened. But I was three seconds away. A beautiful 2 1/2 pounder flipped it's tail and with no line out to absorb the shock it snapped!

Now, here's where I got taught an important lesson. I turned back to Jonathon to console him - after all he just lost his first bass ( a nice one) right at the boat. Instead I saw a face radiating extreme joy and excitement. "Did you see that! " he shouted. "That was the biggest fish I ever caught in my life! Give me 5!!!" I snapped out of my shock just in time and joined in his excitement! We high fived! And I made a huge deal over Jonathon's victory. And that's what it was - a victory.

Why can't we see the world through Jonathon's eyes. We tend to get disappointed and concentrate too much on our losses. But Jonathon never saw anything to be disappointed about. He'd hooked and brought to the side of the boat the biggest fish of his life and was going to celebrate it! I'll never loose another fish at the boat without thinking of Jonathon - and hopefully some of his enthusiasm and positive attitude will rub off! I still have a lot to learn about fishing, and last Saturday I was blessed to have a special young man named Jonathon to teach me."