Family Fishing (A Little Bit of Everything)

Recently my son commented that I hadn't taken him fishing in a while, and unfortunately he was correct.  So, this past Friday we made some time to take a fishing trip.  My son really enjoys fishing, camping, and hunting with daddy, but this was my daughter's first experience fishing.  To make things interesting we went out to the garden and dug around for worms just to give them the entire experience.  We were not having much luck in the worm hunting business, so I brought along some of my other gear in case things got a little slow with the worms.  I personally prefer to use crickets when taking kids fishing as the action seems to be always non-stop when using crickets and it is easier to keep the kids interested.  However, there wasn't anywhere on the way that sold crickets, so worms and plastics it would be.

I elected to take the kids to a little park on a smaller area lake that was relatively close to the main channel knowing that this would be more favorable to larger predatory species instead of the typical backwater areas bluegill inhabit.  It wasn't long before Trey was into his first bluegill.

First bluegill of the trip

Although, a group of carp cruising the area provided lots of distractions and enticement, he managed to stay focused on the task at hand.  Eventually he got tired of using his little rod, and wanted to give daddy's rod a spin.

While he was fishing, daddy decided to try his hand with some topwater action, and in short order landed the first largemouth of the trip.

Wanting to touch the bass

Sissy wanted in on the "shishing", and she did quite well I must say. 

Looks like the question about whether to get her a Lifetime Sportsman License is answered.  By the way, we got Trey one when he turned one, and it is an amazing deal for the youth of TN.

Trey had to reclaim his rod from Sissy, and that freed up daddy to throw the topwater some more.  After landing a couple more largemouths, I get a ferocious strike and was surprised to see this come to the surface.

A Smallmouth Surprise

This bronzeback was an unexpected surprise, and I was quite pleased with it.  Sure would have been a good fight on the fly rod.

As is normally the case though, the temptation to throw rocks and sticks overwhelmed the kids and we called it a day.  However, I feel much more comfortable taking my little buddy on more and longer fishing trips as his attention span and interest is increasing. 

Until next time, tight lines and God bless.