Busting past the cliché, passing the tradition

We've all seen it, heard it, read it and some, supposedly lived it.
My 120 minutes spent on top of the ice last Wednesday afternoon with my friend Dustin and his son Evan, was anything but, cliché.
For the ripe age of 5, Evan's well past his stature when it comes to intellect. That being said, it offered up another challenge for the day. After all, he'd clearly understand when either I, or his father, were trying to pull the wool over his eyes.
"Doug, why aren't the fish biting?," he'd ask.
"Because they're sleeping, Evan," I responded back.
"But Doug, why do fish sleep when the sun is out?," he said.
As the games ensued.
Fishing on an unfamiliar plot of water located west of Minocqua, the challenge of finding fish wasn't top on my list. Dustin's either. Making sure Even had a snack, or two, a juice box and something to take his attention was a must.
What started as a day of trying to catch a young man his first fish turned into a outdoors lesson that many people learn at a much older age. Not every time you go fishing, are you going to catch a fish. Not every time you try to achieve something, are you going to be successful.
Evan caught onto this quickly. Never once did he complain, not once did he whine about how bad the fishing was. Instead, in a light-hearted manner as most adults would, Evan took it with a grain of salt and instead enjoyed wrestling around with his dad on the soft snow cover, playing with his retriever, Oliver, and learning some of the basic ins-and-outs of ice fishing.
Looking back on the experience I worry. I worry that maybe I got more out of taking Evan fishing than he did.
It made me realize how caught up in the superficial we are sometimes. How we as outdoorsmen can forget where the priority lies, and how lucky we are to have such an intriguing environment in our back yard.
Evan was happy at the end of the day. After all, he was the only one who caught a fish – even if it was a large pike sucker courtesy of Kurt's Island Sport Shop.
As most parents do, Dustin encouraged Evan to come up and thank me for the two-hour fishing excursion. I said you're welcome, but looking back, Thank You Evan.