Mentors. I talk about them a lot here. Taking the time to talk to the folks that are nearby, standing in line, enjoying the shoreline, or walking beside you on the street.

I urge you to smile, speak, ask questions, listen, and learn. One such mentor for Jon is a man who lives at our favorite hangout beach spot. They’ve talked about fishing for years, and this spring, Jon was finally able to go. They returned with two surf perch and a green ling.

I brought them home and hacked at them until I was embarrased, then watched a few YouTube videos on how to fillet a surf perch. Two very short videos displayed simple cuts to make. We had two beautiful fillets from that fish, and a quite a few chunks from the other two for fish tacos. Fresh caught fish is the bomb.

Jon also talked to a few other guys about his experience, which on the first day included sand shrimping to use for bait. Someone mentioned that the fish like the muscles more, so he has been going that route now.

He took his dad, shown above, out to show him how it was done. Although standing in the surf line works, fishing off of these rocks keeps the toes dry.

It’s good to be a homeschooler. Where does that go on the transcript?