My son Chris and his wife Cindy live in Jupiter and from time to time they come over for the weekend with their two daughters, Kayla and Kate, and the newest member of the family, my grandson Connor.
My granddaughters love to visit Grandma and Grandpa, I suspect because we have a pool and they love to swim.
They also enjoy fishing; although their attention span leaves alot to be desired.
Before the weekend arrived, I checked the weather report and it was pretty clear that we were in for the coldest weekend of 2013, so heating the pool seemed to make little sense.
I'm sure Kate, the boldest of the two, would have gone swimming regardless of the cold weather, but Mom and Dad probably wouldn't have approved.
With the wind blowing at 15 - 20 mph, taking the girls out in my bass-boat, didn't make alot of sense either, so we opted to fish off my new dock on Lake Clara, the small lake in my backyard.
Catching up with Kate proved to be the biggest challenge.
She had to take a ride on her great-grandmother's electric wheel-chair, then numerous attempts to ride my new 21-speed bicycle, play with the dogs, and then feeding her hamster.
While Chris and I were getting the rods, electric motor and battery ready, my cell phone rang.
It was my wife, who was apparently locked in her outdoor workshop along with Cindy, asking me to come out and unlock the door.
Kate, who was standing guard outside the door thought this was pretty funny.
Mom and Grandma were not impressed.
Kayla, the 13-year old, joined us for a few casts on the dock, but she wasn't too anxious to climb into the water-laden boat, so she stayed on the dock and took pictures in between texting and calling her friends on her new i-Phone.
We fished for awhile on the dock, with no luck, and then decided to load up the boat and see if we could find some fish farther down the lake.
Of course, Kate couldn't sit still for a moment.
First, she wanted to drive, then she wanted to sit in the front seat, then the middle seat, and then she wanted to take her life jacket off.
In between all this, she did manage to cast her plastic worm a couple of times, and finally, hook into a bass.
Her father, Chris and I both shouted commands, "keep your rod tip up", "slow down", etc. but true to her nature, she ignored our suggestions.
She is of course, 9 years old and an experienced bass fisher-girl, who's landed her share of bucketmouths and doesn't require any advice from us.
As I lipped the 2-pound bass and brought it on board, Kate's excited giggles and enthusiasm reminded me of how I was when I was a kid, fishing alongside my brothers and my Dad.
It was easier to calm the fish down than it was Kate, who was determined to catch one even bigger.
A few casts later, she caught another small bass and posed for another picture before begging us to keep this one for a pet.
But as the wind howled and the temperatures dropped, she decided it was too cold to fish and she wanted to just drive the boat.
Dropping me off on shore, Kate moved to the rear of the boat and with her father's steady hand, started making figure eights in the white-capped water.
Two granddaughters can be a handful, especially when they are as different as Kate and Kayla.
But at least they both like to fish, or at least they like to catch fish.
Patience is something that may come in time.
My grandson Connor, the youngest of the trio, is only about 16 months old and just learning to walk - even though he already has his own custom built fishing rod.
I try to imagine what fishing will be like for him in the next 50 years.
There have certainly been many changes in my lifetime.
The day will come when he gets older that we can teach him how to fish too, but today's not the day.
Today, he's busy chasing the dogs, getting fingerprints all over my fish tanks and biting Kate's fingers.
I'm looking forward to fishing with him though, sharing my experiences and telling him about the "good old days".
In the meantime, Kate and Kayla will keep me busy because "girls just wanna have fun."
Don Norton is a professional tournament bass fisherman, bass fishing guide, and custom rod builder. He has also taught a few fishing classes at the South Florida Community College. He lives in the Golf Hammock area of Sebring with his wife Lexie, mother-in-law Ruth Charvat, Ranger, a huge black lab and Riley, a large golden retriever and is the owner of a custom rod building company appropriately named "The American Fisherman". He can be reached at 863-273-4998 or 216-339-6571 or by email at donorton13@gmail.com. His website address is theamericanfisherman.com.
Friday, February 22, 2013 - www.newssun.com/FRI-2-22-13-FishColumn