First Report In A Few Weeks
Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 10:05 pm
It's been a busy few weeks in my little part of the world, between coaching two baseball teams, Brody on the rowing team, and kids on four other baseball and softball teams.
But, we did manage to sneak in some fishing here and there.
On one trip, we took Strike Three out to do a little of what Ozzy calls "cast and throw fishing", as opposed to what we do aboard the Country Angler, which he calls "sit and watch fishing". We went out with Liam, Ozzy, and their baby sister Mary, who's 6 and a half now.
Ozzy got his first Master Angler fish of the year. A 13" pig of a yellow perch on a crankbait in Kingsland Bay.
The thing was like a little bass. Biggest one we've ever had in the boat.
On the way back home that day, Liam couldn't resist doing a little jigging night crawlers in the river, so we made time for that. I remember that we had somewhere to be, and I told him we could only fish until 12:45. I watched him jig on Livescope up front until 12:48, when I told him we really had to go. It was at that moment he yanks the rod, and its on.
So pay close attention here fellow anglers, I'm going to let you guys in on some of our secret fishing techniques to catch big fish. In the murky water of the river, sound plays a big role in attracting the fish. This one was attracted to yelling about whos turn it was to sit in the back spinny chair, thumping your feet on the hull, screaming "It's my turn!" over and over, and "Ozzy!! Ozzy!! Ozzy!!!" and me telling them to knock it off. Plastic bottles being thrown in the river, and then being netted back out, and powerade being dumped on the deck. Also, be sure to slap your fishing rods on the surface of the water like whips as much as possible as well. If you do it right, you can end up with fish like this in your boat.
11.5 lb Sheephead.
It was about a 20 minute fight for Liam on a rod with 8lb test line. Also, Master Angler species number five for him for 2021, making him a Youth Master Angler again, this time before Memorial Day. A quick trip for us, and I could tell Liam was annoyed by the little ones in the back from time to time, but, of all of my kids, he has the most patience.
The next weekend was Memorial Day, and we spent it camping on Burton Island. Strong North wind, and cold temperatures all weekend. Pretty sure the water was warmer than the air most of the time, and that's not very warm this time of the year. Off and on rain too.
But, we fished off of the docks and jetty a little, caught a few nice Largemouth.
That fish was actually caught on a crawler and a jig head that Liam was using to try to catch some Bluegill in a school in the inner marina. There was also lots of Largemouth on nests right on the edge of the shore guarding eggs. Pretty cool to see.
We did have Strike Three there as well, and took it out fishing too. Brody, Liam, and I went over and fished the Gut, to see what was over there.
We found a massive school of perch, which we thought was some sort of malfunction on the Livescope at first. But, it turned out to be real. Hundreds and hundreds of them. We pulled 20 of them or so out to bring home for lunch. Liam cleaned half of the fish, I did the other half, and we both cooked them. The coolest part of that school though, was when they were at the surface making the water boil, a big pike shot up and ate one of them jumping in the air. Lots of yelling on that sight as well.
Liam got a nice little bass later on, on a chartreuse spinner bait.
That brings us to this past weekend, which was kind of a big milestone for me as a Dad.
The night before the morning we had free to fish after a crazy day of Little League, Girl Scouts, a Rowing race and a Birthday Party, I was asking around the kids to see who was interested in fishing the next day. To my surprise, my older daughter Tess said she wanted to go. I think it was because I told her that Dilly Worm's Daughter was going to be out fishing that day as well, and those guys are good buddies.
I talked to the boys, and proposed and idea. I suggested that Tess and I join Dilly Worm on his boat, and Brody and Liam take the Country angler out solo for the first time. They were up for the idea, alghough Brody was a little nervous, saying he only wanted to run two riggers, so there'd be less of a risk of tangles. Liam responded with, "No way, we're running four rods". I suggested that they just play it by ear. I talked to Dilly, and those guys were up for it. The plan was set.
We got out on the water a little earlier than them, and planned on meeting up out in Town Farm Bay. We do live minutes away from a pretty beautiful fishery.
Then came the time that I watched my boys drive away aboard the Country Angler alone, on ther first solo cold water fishing trip.
Kind of something to see for me. Didn't really expect them at 14 and 11 to be able to have the skills and ability to do something like that, but, there it is.
I had given those guys a handheld CB radio to keep in contact with us on the other boat, so as not to clog up the VHF airways with chatter, since there was so many boats on the water. I don't think it was 10 minutes before they're calling us, "Fish On!". And then "Doubles!".
One of them was an 8lb laker.
We were having a good time aboard the Bassmobile (Dilly Worm's boat) as well, although not catching as many fish as the boys. The girls did each boat a laker though. Here's Tess' fish.
Spoons and stickbaits had the most hits, 20-30' down. We went 2-4 lakers, and the boys went 4-4 lakers. After a few hours of fun trolling, and hanging out with Dilly and his daughter, we called the boys, and had them meet us over in Kingsland for a swim, and a cookout.
But, we did manage to sneak in some fishing here and there.
On one trip, we took Strike Three out to do a little of what Ozzy calls "cast and throw fishing", as opposed to what we do aboard the Country Angler, which he calls "sit and watch fishing". We went out with Liam, Ozzy, and their baby sister Mary, who's 6 and a half now.
Ozzy got his first Master Angler fish of the year. A 13" pig of a yellow perch on a crankbait in Kingsland Bay.
The thing was like a little bass. Biggest one we've ever had in the boat.
On the way back home that day, Liam couldn't resist doing a little jigging night crawlers in the river, so we made time for that. I remember that we had somewhere to be, and I told him we could only fish until 12:45. I watched him jig on Livescope up front until 12:48, when I told him we really had to go. It was at that moment he yanks the rod, and its on.
So pay close attention here fellow anglers, I'm going to let you guys in on some of our secret fishing techniques to catch big fish. In the murky water of the river, sound plays a big role in attracting the fish. This one was attracted to yelling about whos turn it was to sit in the back spinny chair, thumping your feet on the hull, screaming "It's my turn!" over and over, and "Ozzy!! Ozzy!! Ozzy!!!" and me telling them to knock it off. Plastic bottles being thrown in the river, and then being netted back out, and powerade being dumped on the deck. Also, be sure to slap your fishing rods on the surface of the water like whips as much as possible as well. If you do it right, you can end up with fish like this in your boat.
11.5 lb Sheephead.
It was about a 20 minute fight for Liam on a rod with 8lb test line. Also, Master Angler species number five for him for 2021, making him a Youth Master Angler again, this time before Memorial Day. A quick trip for us, and I could tell Liam was annoyed by the little ones in the back from time to time, but, of all of my kids, he has the most patience.
The next weekend was Memorial Day, and we spent it camping on Burton Island. Strong North wind, and cold temperatures all weekend. Pretty sure the water was warmer than the air most of the time, and that's not very warm this time of the year. Off and on rain too.
But, we fished off of the docks and jetty a little, caught a few nice Largemouth.
That fish was actually caught on a crawler and a jig head that Liam was using to try to catch some Bluegill in a school in the inner marina. There was also lots of Largemouth on nests right on the edge of the shore guarding eggs. Pretty cool to see.
We did have Strike Three there as well, and took it out fishing too. Brody, Liam, and I went over and fished the Gut, to see what was over there.
We found a massive school of perch, which we thought was some sort of malfunction on the Livescope at first. But, it turned out to be real. Hundreds and hundreds of them. We pulled 20 of them or so out to bring home for lunch. Liam cleaned half of the fish, I did the other half, and we both cooked them. The coolest part of that school though, was when they were at the surface making the water boil, a big pike shot up and ate one of them jumping in the air. Lots of yelling on that sight as well.
Liam got a nice little bass later on, on a chartreuse spinner bait.
That brings us to this past weekend, which was kind of a big milestone for me as a Dad.
The night before the morning we had free to fish after a crazy day of Little League, Girl Scouts, a Rowing race and a Birthday Party, I was asking around the kids to see who was interested in fishing the next day. To my surprise, my older daughter Tess said she wanted to go. I think it was because I told her that Dilly Worm's Daughter was going to be out fishing that day as well, and those guys are good buddies.
I talked to the boys, and proposed and idea. I suggested that Tess and I join Dilly Worm on his boat, and Brody and Liam take the Country angler out solo for the first time. They were up for the idea, alghough Brody was a little nervous, saying he only wanted to run two riggers, so there'd be less of a risk of tangles. Liam responded with, "No way, we're running four rods". I suggested that they just play it by ear. I talked to Dilly, and those guys were up for it. The plan was set.
We got out on the water a little earlier than them, and planned on meeting up out in Town Farm Bay. We do live minutes away from a pretty beautiful fishery.
Then came the time that I watched my boys drive away aboard the Country Angler alone, on ther first solo cold water fishing trip.
Kind of something to see for me. Didn't really expect them at 14 and 11 to be able to have the skills and ability to do something like that, but, there it is.
I had given those guys a handheld CB radio to keep in contact with us on the other boat, so as not to clog up the VHF airways with chatter, since there was so many boats on the water. I don't think it was 10 minutes before they're calling us, "Fish On!". And then "Doubles!".
One of them was an 8lb laker.
We were having a good time aboard the Bassmobile (Dilly Worm's boat) as well, although not catching as many fish as the boys. The girls did each boat a laker though. Here's Tess' fish.
Spoons and stickbaits had the most hits, 20-30' down. We went 2-4 lakers, and the boys went 4-4 lakers. After a few hours of fun trolling, and hanging out with Dilly and his daughter, we called the boys, and had them meet us over in Kingsland for a swim, and a cookout.