Who caught the fish?

[catchinon]

Unless the kids are in some sort of contest with a set of defined rules, I think it is best to be pretty permissive in saying that the youngster is the one that caught the fish.  It tends to skyrocket the enthusiasm of the youngster to have an elevated "count".

A recent case in point.  Towards the end of the ice season, my son and I went up to the Berry to enjoy some late season ice fishing.  We shared 2 rods, were both watching one fishfinder and I was mostly handing the rods to him (or having him hook them himself) to reel in everything we hooked up.  We lost a few fish on the handoff and were goofing off a bit, but having a good time.  Anyway, I set the hook on one and handed him the rod.  It soon became apparent that this was not a cookie cutter slotter.  He fought him for about 10 minutes and was making some progress, but needed a little help as it was getting closer to the hole.  I took over for a few, and worked the hefty fish up into the hole. I then handed the rod back and had him gently pull up while I grabbed the fish and pulled him out.  With a team effort we caught it! 

IMO, he caught the fish fully in my eyes and my help didn't change that, and he has a story to remember for the rest of his life of how he went up to the Berry and caught a fish as big as what "pop" has ever caught, who fishes there all the time.

I agree that it is usually best to let the kid do as much as possible and get all the credit and praise they can. In this specific case I signed my 4 yo up for the catfish contest. I wanted her to catch some white bass and other panfish this winter but just never worked out. I'm not sure how she would do reeling in cats that can often weigh between 5 and 10 pounds. I guess I'll talk to the contest administrator and work it out with him. Maybe there is a good reason why kids of certain young ages are restricted from some contests.