That brings back memories when my two boys were young and wanted to go fishing. I knew that very second, there would be zero fishing for me that day, but the time involved untangling and retrieving lines from trees and brush was absolutely worth it...
About 30 years ago or so I took my 6 year old nephew fishing. I lived in Iowa and he lived in Chicago and his parents said all he talked about was going fishing with Uncle Bassman.
I took him to a local lake with a tub of red worms (which I knew would get a lot of action) and we went to work. Right away he caught a little bluegill, about 6 or 7 inches, and I cheered him, took it off the hook and tossed it back in. I thought he was going to jump in after it. He hollered "No NO! I wanted to have that for lunch!" (Very forceful kid with strong opinions)
Needless to say I quit throwing them back and we wound up with a stringer of about 25 or 30 of those little gills, maybe more. We took them back to my parents house and I filleted the little fish sticks off them and my sister's boyfriend cooked them up. They were delicious.