Kids Rock

Ryan & his dad Mike were to fish with me today and we all hoped “Mother Nature” would be kind as rain was in the forecast. Overnight it changed to 40% showers and things were looking up! The drive to the lake saw overcast skies and occasional sun, but that was soon about to change as we neared the water. We had a cold wind from the north at 10 knots making the 64 degree weather feel more like 54 where we began our day of fishing. Water temps had dropped to the mid 60’s from 70 just a few days earlier scattering the fish all over. Senko’s were our first lure of choice and shortly after produced a few smaller than average fish for both Mike & Ryan. We fished throughout the shallower waters in 4 to 10 feet of water and hooked into a fish here & there before I decided to try the deeper waters nearby. This was to be a good choice as Ryan began to hook up with tubes in water 10 to 20 feet deep. Several of these fish were decent in size, but not exactly what I was looking for and I opted for even deeper water again. When we began to drag spider jigs in 20 to 30 feet of water, Mike almost instantly hooked into a better fish in the 4.5 pound size. This was to prove to be the largest smallie of the day but several others slightly smaller in size were both landed & also lost. There were probably a dozen or more bass caught & released with at least that number lost too! We were fortunate with the weather today as the only rain came in the form of a shower that lasted less than an hour in the middle of the day. By 5:00 PM we were ready to call it a day and I began to pack everything up for the boat ride back to the ramp. Ryan’s enthusiasm for fishing was incredible as he wanted more. I’m sure that if we had decided to fish until dark, he would have gone along with us. I continued to drift over some of the better deeper water weeds & rocks while he made several ‘Last Casts”. On about his third or fourth cast, he finally hooked up with something and had me scrambling for the net. A bonus walleye of close to 6 pounds was soon netted and placed into the livewell for their dinner. It’s really great to see kids with the love of the outdoors instead of just sitting at home playing video games on the computer & TV. Ryan’s desire & drive to fish will provide him with many more memories that will hopefully continue for the rest of his life. Hats off to his dad for starting him at an early age! At 12 years old, he already has excellent casting skills and learns everything shown to him quite quickly. I hope to see them both again, real soon!!