Took my Nephew fishing

[lizardsrule]

Well I had the chance to take out my 13 year old nephew fishing yesterday. Long story short we were actually fishing in Missouri, on a private lttle pond(probably 10-15 acres). Now it's been awhile since I've been out with any younger folks fishing(teens and below) So I got some nightcrawlers, and panfish worms, thinking it's a new place for me, and he has no patience, about like most kids his age. I called the place where we pheasant hunt every year, because I of course noticed these wonderful ponds(4 of them) while fishing and had talked to the owner while hunting about fishing them. It cost $10 per person a day(unless you buy the membership for the place, then it's free) Now you have the background on what I was getting into. I got him up at 4am, we drove 1 1/2 hours to the place. We had to literally push my boat off the trailer, since there wasn't a ramp per se, and the water was down so much my boat never hit water, while my back tires were in the muck. So we finally get the boat in, and I figure OK we'll fish artificials first, because if they are gonna bite(the Bass), they will probably be biting in the am. The weather was bluebird skies, with 67 degree am temp, and 83 degrees at 10am. We fished from 6am to 10 am. Well I gave him a spinning rod, with a t-rigged Black Zoom lizard, and I started with the Black 5/8 oz jitterbug. So I cast out to a lone stump towards the middle, and get a little overrun on my baitcaster, so I peel off a few winds, and get a blowup on the jitterbug, but missed as it was sitting there I twitched it a couple of times, and then slowly retrieved it with no takers. I recast past the stump, and let the ripples go away, and then twitched it and then let the ripples go away again, then started a slow steady retrieve, and as I got it to the stump, as Denny like's to say, BOOM big blowup, and good hookset, and the fight is on. Well I knew it was a good fish, so I had my nephew grab the net. Landed a 21" LM, it was obviously the first fish of the day, and ended up being the biggest of 31 total fish in 4 hours for us We of course had a little wager, before we started that the biggest fish won, and the loser had to tell everyone from standing on a chair, how great a fisherman the other guy was. So after the first fish, I turned around, and said I think you just lost the bet Well needless to say I got him pretty much settled into a Mann's -1 Grey Ghost crank he used for most of the time, and he caught 15 and I caught 16. I caught another one 19" and we both caught a couple a piece in the 18-19 inch range. I was completely resigned when we left to go fishing, to the fact that I would be working some artificials while he was using worms, to catch some bluegills. I new the timing wasn't great, but man what a day it turned out to be. I was having a great time watching and listening to his expressions, especially on the bigger fish was terrific. He has done some saltwater, and bay fishing, but kinda limited, his dad doesn't fish like I do of course. He lives 1 block from the beach in SC. He needs some practice, but he will turn out to be a great Bass fisherman someday if he sticks with it. If you ever get the chance to take some kids out, please do. It will be good for both of you. BTW, we had to dump all of the worms(three containers) out when we got done. We had forgotten all about them. I have to tell you the end of the story. After I caught the big fish right off, he said it was supposed to be for the "MOST" fish, not the biggest So of course I say OK we'll have both contests. Anyway he was running his mouth the whole time he caught up to me and even when he took the lead You know the trash talking stuff. Believe it or not I was giving him all the breaks, and fished other baits since the crank was working the best. Well he was leading at 9:30am, and says we have to set a time limit, since I would just fish until I got the lead So we set it for another 30 minutes to be 10am on the nose. Well I tied it up, and he caught another one and I tied it up again. He was really running his mouth, so I knew I was gonna win now. I had caught the majority of my fish on a Buzzbait, so that's what I was using. Well I called out 10 minutes, left when we were tied, and then 6, 4, 2 minutes. I then picked up my Crankbait(the same as his) and hooked into a nice 17" bass. As I swung it into the boat I looked at the clock it was 9:59am, and showed it to my nephew. The he says well I actually have till 10:01 because it's still 10:00am till it hits 10:01 LMAO He didn't catch any more, so that was it. I absolutely had a great time, and was completely shocked at the fishing. Needless to say, I will be going back to the ponds in the future, and definately look forward to my next fishing trip with my nephew.

Lizards