From Germany, with fish!

I had Joshua and Natalie out hybrid hunting today on Mighty LKN. We started at first light to try and get a jump on the Labor Day boat traffic. Bite started off slowly, but at our second location, I pitched a spoon towards a rocky point and had an immediate hook up on a decent fish. Handed the rod the to Natalie, and that's when I learned-- Natalie is terrified of fish. No particular trauma--she was never chased down the street as a child by a blue marlin, or anything...but the idea of reeling in the fish and being in the boat with it flopping around kind of freaked her out. Which was kind of funny, given that we were on a "fishing" trip, but that made the day a more interesting challenge. That first fish ended up being a 7 pound blue cat, which was a big wiggly fish start to her day. The next few were all hybrid stripers, and as the day wore on, Natalie began to rally. I told her it was like allergy shots. Each fish made the next one a little easier. By the end of the day we had 25-30 hybrids in the boat and Natalie was beginning to not only reel in her own fish, she was going to the rod holder, picking up the rod and giving the fish as good a battle as it was giving her. I couldn't have been happier for her sticking with it and getting just a little braver with each fish. We still couldn't get her to hold up her fish for the photo,and sticking her thumb in its mouth and lipping it was right out! Baby steps. Next time, we'll work on using the fish grip pliers, and then unhooking the fish herself. Well...maybe not, but you gotta have a dream, right?

Saturday we had Sebastian and his dad Rafael on the boat. Sebastian just turned 9, and for his birthday, he wanted to catch a bass. So we went fishing. And he caught a spotted bass. And then a hybrid striped bass. And then another and another. We put 30 or more fish in the boat before the weekend boat traffic got too crazy. For someone with limited fishing experience, Sebastian was a fish catching machine. He got the rods out of the holders with fish pulling drag, reeled in the fish even while they were dragging him all over the boat, scooped bait out of the tank, and even netted a fish he let his dad catch. There is nothing like watching a youngster have that much fun catching fish. But best of all, first thing he said as he stepped off the boat: "When can we go again?"

Every now and then, you have one of those days where you bounce baits right on the fishes' heads all day long, and they just won't bite. But even then, sometimes the fish story has a happy ending. This is one of them... Meet my little buddy Liam. He came fishing today with his grandfather and Carson, his older cousin. Carson put an eater cat in the boat right off the bat and it looked like we might have a good day. And then we fished. And fished. And fished. Not even a bite. Liam never gave up. He helped reel in rods when we moved, took off bait and kept an eye on the planers, hour after hour. He never complained, but as the day went on, it was clear he was getting discouraged. About 1 pm, we called an audible and set up to make one last drift across a mussel bed. I asked Liam what we should put on the hook as we baited the final rods. He suggested the piece of cut bait I had in my hand and then ALSO adding a cut gizzard shad head on the same hook. We called it the "Liam Special" bait . And we pitched it out and drug it for a half hour. No joy. We finally called it a disappointing day. The rod with the Liam Special bait was the last to come in, and as his grandfather David started to reel it it, he said "I think there's a fish on here!" Liam was off like a shot to grab the rod and started cranking it in like a pro, big grin on his face. He was beside himself when the fish hit the net and came over the side of the boat. Sometimes it's not always about putting 20 fish in the boat. On this day, a single blue cat in the low teens at the last possible moment made all the difference to a fisherkid who was small enough he had to have help to hoist it up for a picture. And now I have a new bait and a great story about Liam, the kid who refused to give up on fishing, even on an insanely slow day..