Fishing Diary of a Proud Father - Jan 3-6, 2019
Jan 7, 2019 8:50:28 GMT -5
seajay, tiltntrim, and 7 more like this
Post by Yam on Jan 7, 2019 8:50:28 GMT -5
I woke up on January 3rd at 1am and out of nowhere decided I was going fishing for a few days. After a rather heated discussion with my wife at 2am in the morning, a plan was created that worked for the both of us. I would fish on Thursday and then come pick up my son on Friday night for a weekend of fishing. Just the two of us! And she could get some alone time. Shew...another divorce avoided.
On Thursday I spent the day scouting. What a day it was! Great bait and plenty of fish!
After catching plenty of fish, I finished off the day with this 37.5" beauty!
Friday was a half day and after catching a couple of fish and confirming that my spots were holding, I headed back home to pick up my son.
On Saturday, my son and I left our home at 4am for the 2-hour trip to the lake. By 7am our bait tank was filled and we were fishing!
As we started our first deploy, we were only able to get two baits out before doubling up.
My son immediately said, "Dad, this is the greatest day of my life!"
After landing the first fish, the second fish unfortunately came unbuttoned. No problem… the fish were biting! My son then said, "Daddy, I want to catch at least 10 fish today!" OUCH! The curse was coming! I then explained to him that we should be happy just fishing and not to set his expectations too high.
As the first pull continued… the pull-backs, stolen bait, and missed hook-ups started piling up. I then attempted to explain the importance of cherishing the tough times for only they provide the perspective to appreciate the good times. You know...without winter, summer would not feel so good!
I then asked my son if he understood what I was saying. He said, "Not really Dad... hey… let's go catch some bigger bait and go somewhere else!" I love this kid!
After spending time catching more bait in the howling winds, we then drove north and braved white caps and logs. After arriving at our destination, we then spent the rest of the day missing fish but learning the basics. Knots, planer boards, etc. We landed nothing the rest of the day.
After arriving back at the hotel, I expected my son to pass out. NOPE! We then threw for bait until 9pm! My son wanted to catch some monster crappie in the net that I had been telling him about. We ended at 9pm because it wasn't until that time that we finally landed a monster 3-pound crappie in the net! He absolutely loved that along with the several mongos that we landed during our crappie hunt.
On Sunday, we woke up to a full tank and started our first pull. Again, we immediately hooked up and lost another fish! We then pulled for a couple of hours with no action before deciding to pack it up and head elsewhere! My spots had dried up and there were too many boats for our liking!
After a long haul, we finally arrived at our next location around noon. And then it was on! After one more lost fish and shattered confidence, we finally landed this 32.5” fish!
Ahhhh…..finally! All that hard work coupled with a “NO QUIT” attitude paid off! And it felt really good! Without struggles, the good times truly can’t be appreciated! Lesson learned!
We then headed to another spot and decided to deploy a big spread! We had 5 baits out and as I was putting on the 6th planer board, the line was yanked right out of my hand by a hungry monster. I have never had this happen to me! The bait was maybe 5 feet behind the boat in 4 foot of water! Crazy! And as we landed this 37.5”, 21 pound beauty, 3 more rods went off one right after the other!
We then methodically worked on one fish at a time making sure to release each one safe before going to the next fish. Here is the second fish!
The third fish became a 25 minute struggle because it wrapped itself around a tree. Luckily, the 4th fish was gone and we could concentrate on this one. I was able to get to the fish and pull it up some with a net but could not get it out of the tree. Poles were scattered about, I was yelling commands at my 6 year-old son, we had line wrapped around our legs, the line wrapped around the trolling motor shaft, my son hit me in the head with the net, and we dropped the net into the water.
After all of this, somehow my line did not break and we landed the fish! It was a miracle and he swam away right after biting me harder than I have ever been bitten!
My son then said, “Daddy, I was wrong yesterday, today is the greatest day of my life!” After landing one more fish, we both decided it was time to go home and tell mommy about our epic trip!
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On Thursday I spent the day scouting. What a day it was! Great bait and plenty of fish!
After catching plenty of fish, I finished off the day with this 37.5" beauty!
Friday was a half day and after catching a couple of fish and confirming that my spots were holding, I headed back home to pick up my son.
On Saturday, my son and I left our home at 4am for the 2-hour trip to the lake. By 7am our bait tank was filled and we were fishing!
As we started our first deploy, we were only able to get two baits out before doubling up.
My son immediately said, "Dad, this is the greatest day of my life!"
After landing the first fish, the second fish unfortunately came unbuttoned. No problem… the fish were biting! My son then said, "Daddy, I want to catch at least 10 fish today!" OUCH! The curse was coming! I then explained to him that we should be happy just fishing and not to set his expectations too high.
As the first pull continued… the pull-backs, stolen bait, and missed hook-ups started piling up. I then attempted to explain the importance of cherishing the tough times for only they provide the perspective to appreciate the good times. You know...without winter, summer would not feel so good!
I then asked my son if he understood what I was saying. He said, "Not really Dad... hey… let's go catch some bigger bait and go somewhere else!" I love this kid!
After spending time catching more bait in the howling winds, we then drove north and braved white caps and logs. After arriving at our destination, we then spent the rest of the day missing fish but learning the basics. Knots, planer boards, etc. We landed nothing the rest of the day.
After arriving back at the hotel, I expected my son to pass out. NOPE! We then threw for bait until 9pm! My son wanted to catch some monster crappie in the net that I had been telling him about. We ended at 9pm because it wasn't until that time that we finally landed a monster 3-pound crappie in the net! He absolutely loved that along with the several mongos that we landed during our crappie hunt.
On Sunday, we woke up to a full tank and started our first pull. Again, we immediately hooked up and lost another fish! We then pulled for a couple of hours with no action before deciding to pack it up and head elsewhere! My spots had dried up and there were too many boats for our liking!
After a long haul, we finally arrived at our next location around noon. And then it was on! After one more lost fish and shattered confidence, we finally landed this 32.5” fish!
Ahhhh…..finally! All that hard work coupled with a “NO QUIT” attitude paid off! And it felt really good! Without struggles, the good times truly can’t be appreciated! Lesson learned!
We then headed to another spot and decided to deploy a big spread! We had 5 baits out and as I was putting on the 6th planer board, the line was yanked right out of my hand by a hungry monster. I have never had this happen to me! The bait was maybe 5 feet behind the boat in 4 foot of water! Crazy! And as we landed this 37.5”, 21 pound beauty, 3 more rods went off one right after the other!
We then methodically worked on one fish at a time making sure to release each one safe before going to the next fish. Here is the second fish!
The third fish became a 25 minute struggle because it wrapped itself around a tree. Luckily, the 4th fish was gone and we could concentrate on this one. I was able to get to the fish and pull it up some with a net but could not get it out of the tree. Poles were scattered about, I was yelling commands at my 6 year-old son, we had line wrapped around our legs, the line wrapped around the trolling motor shaft, my son hit me in the head with the net, and we dropped the net into the water.
After all of this, somehow my line did not break and we landed the fish! It was a miracle and he swam away right after biting me harder than I have ever been bitten!
My son then said, “Daddy, I was wrong yesterday, today is the greatest day of my life!” After landing one more fish, we both decided it was time to go home and tell mommy about our epic trip!
