Justin's grandfather was a busy man. But since he's been retired he doesn't exactly know what to do with himself. So he comes across as a hard ass. As first Justin was afraid of the man, then Justin's mother forced him to accompany the old man out fishing. That changed everything.
"Don't be afraid now Justin! Take some slack up in your left hand and bring the pole back over your right shoulder. That's it. Do it a few more times and then let go of the slack in your other hand. 'Atta boy!" Justin Finch-Fletchley's grandfather was teaching him to fly fish. It took a bit more finesse then regular fishing.
At first Justin didn't think he would ever get the hang of it. He kept getting his line caught in anything and everything. All the hard earned respect he won from his grandfather was about to go up in smoke when he lost damn near the entire reel of fishing line in a tree on the other bank of the river. Talk about one hell of a cast.
He only managed to keep the old man's admiration when a large fish took the bait and pulled Justin into the water. He held onto the pole the whole time much to his grandfather's surprise.
"Come here," he helped Justin to his feet and cheered him on as he reeled with all his might to land the fish. When they got it on to land he tried to unhook it for Justin but it kept flopping around. He leaned down and delivered one well timed punch to it and grabbed it up as it lay stunned on the ground.
Once it was off the line Justin posed a few times with the dead fish while his grandfather snapped a few memorable photos. They cleaned it and headed home where they told the story of how Justin caught it, adding some tidbits here and there to spice it up for the rest of the family.
Fishing brought made them closer. Justin learned as much as he could about the different types of fish, where best to cast his line to catch them, what types of baits were best, etc. It wasn't that he was obsessed with the topic. More like it was a hobby that just happened to sneak its way into every conversation that he had. It came in handy whenever he and his friends were interrupted by a teacher when they were talking about things that no one else knew.