Taught my niece how to bass fish... (lots of pics)

[WatterBoy]

Our latest trip up to the lake was a little over a week ago and the details and pictures are below. We had some family with us there from 7/8 to 7/11, and I stayed up there by myself for a couple more days after everyone else had left. We're headed back up there with my wife's entire family (14 of us total) this coming Wednesday until the following Monday.

All fish were released unharmed, and all except two were caught on the zoomie.

Friday night, July 8:
My 13-year old niece had never fished for bass or used a spinning reel before. I gave her a quick casting demo and left her to practice with my wife and my 14-year old nephew (her cousin) on the dock while I got a few things ready in the boat. On her SECOND "practice" cast from our dock, she caught this 2lb 13oz Smallmouth!


We took the boat out right after the Smallie above and went to a very tiny bay around the corner from us (you can see about 1/2 the bay in the picture below). On her first cast there, my niece landed this 2lb 10oz Largemouth! We started calling her "Big Fish Hog" after that.


All 4 of us in the boat caught at least one 2-pounder that night and we landed 14 total. In addition to the fish above, my niece also caught a 2lb 8oz LM (no photo). Here are the rest of the pics from that night (there were also two others over 2 pounds that we didn't photo).

My nephew with a 2lb 0oz LM


My wife with a 2lb 6oz LM


Me with a 3lb 0oz LM


Saturday night, July 9:
My niece, nephew and I went out for 45 minutes and caught TWELVE more on Saturday night. My niece caught another NICE one - 2lb 13oz.


Monday morning, July 11:
The biggest fish of the trip came on Monday morning - 3lb 5oz.


This little sunfish had big ambitions!


Monday night, July 11:
Monday night - 2lb 11oz and 2lb 5oz (everyone except me had left by now; the 2.11 came on a dropshot using a 5" wacky-rigged Yamasenko)


Tuesday night, July 11:
Just before dark - 2lb 9oz. - fish #4 of 6 for the night (I caught 6 bass from 9:00-9:45 p.m. after catching NONE from 6:45-9:00!)


This 3lb 2oz "tank" came on my very last cast of the trip (9:45 p.m. Tuesday night) and was the most fun I've had fighting a fish all year. It was just light enough that I could see my (Black Widow - Spro Poppin') frog land after the cast. After I waited for the ripples to clear, I twitched the frog slightly, and it got nudged lightly. I let it sit for a second or two, then popped it once. Someone "gurgled" softly at it, so I let it sit again briefly. Then I popped it one more time and "WHAM!", the fight was on! I was fishing just a little bit into some open water beyond some reeds when he hit it and he wrapped me up in reed after reed after reed on the way back to more open water in front of the boat. I was horsing with the rod and reeling as hard as I could for what seemed like 10 minutes, but it was probably only 1 or 2. The 30-pound braided line and a 7-foot heavy rod I was using helped me get him into the boat after an awesome tussle. It was pretty dark by then and the mosquitoes were THICK. I wanted to keep fishing, but I was very content to end on this one!