A Father Daughter Day On The Water

  Last night after worked I raced home to hook the boat up and head to the lake. The temps got a little higher than the original forecast, and it made for a great excuse to hit the water. After I got home and raced around the house, my daughter stopped and asked where I was going. I told her daddy is heading to the lake. She smiled and asked if she could join me. It was a pleasant surprise, and I couldn't refuse. She geared up in a sweatshirt, I hooked up the boat, and off to the lake we went.

  I knew from mothers day morning that the crappies where staged up where they should be, so we headed to the south end of the lake. I rigged up my daughter's Barbie pole with a small jig and her pick of a purple/pink twister tail. I dropped the trolling motor in the water, and showed my young fishing partner how to cast her rod again as it had been some time since her last outing. She casted up towards shore and instantly got a hit but missed it. She returned the cast back up to the same spot hooked into it this time. She cranked on her reel like it was a race. I realized why the first fish got off at this point. I told her to slow down and take it easy, but the sure joy of excitement had her going. She still got the first fish of the day to the boat like a champ.

  The smile on her little face says it all. I told her she did a great job, snapped a photo, and she released the fish back into the lake. She was excited jumping around the boat making me nervous that she was going to fall in. I laughed with her, and we shared the excitement of her first open water fish of the year. She soon grabbed the pink barbie rod and casted back up to shore. I was casting a 5/8oz. football jig in a pumpkinseed color tipped with an uncle josh's pork trailer. I too hooked up shortly after the first fish was landed. At first I though it was a Bass, but the fish wasn't coming toward the surface as I reeled the fish in. This seemed a little off and odd to me, and as the fish got closer to the boat I realized it wasn't a Bass on the end of my line.

  It was old Wally Eye. I was surprised as I have never caught a Walleye on a Bass rig before, but have heard of others catching them on my home lake on a similar set-up. At this point I was happy that both of us where on the board with fish. Then about three casts later I got snagged on rocks and my rod snapped unfortunately.  I was slightly upset until my daughter smiled and said don't worry lets just catch some more fish. So I grabbed my spinning rod rigged with a jig and twister tail, and got back to it.

 I caught this nice Crappie a few casts in. I must say it was nice to have my camera girl in the boat for some quality pics. Shortly after this hook up my little munchkin had another.

 Then it was my turn

Then her turn

She was concentrated.

A nice lake view to set the evening off.

  We went back and forth catching fish all night long. My daughter caught the last fish of the night, with it being a Bluegill.

  We had an amazing night on the water, shared a ton of laughs, and caught some nice size fish. Best of all, I will never forget the enormous smiles that she had on her face. We packed up the gear and headed in. My little first mate even drove the boat back to the dock for the first time. I must admit, she did a great job for her first time controlling the old Johnson tiller motor.

  I had one of the best days on the water ever last night with my new found first mate. It always pays big in the end when you take a kid fishing. I also have a feeling I will soon be out fished, and I will love every second of it.