Father's Day 2013

Saturday was a perfect day! We all went out on a fishing trip in our kayaks to Lotus Garden/Ashville Bridge Creek. We launched around 1100 and started our meander down the creek. It was a nice, bright, sunny day with low wind and lots of birds singing. The fishing started slow, but Paul was content to just ride along with Danielle and watch the world go by. Then we got down to the oxbow. That's when things heated up.

I could see, and hear, some fish chasing schools of bait fish. So, since I had a crank bait tied on one of my rods (Danielle still gives me grief for taking "so many" with me), I started throwing. I thought I knew what was doing the chasing, but it was all confirmed once I got my first Long-nose Gar in the boat. Those things are vicious! And hard as a brick! This one was about 18" and about 3lbs I estimated. I put it back and kept on throwing. Not long after that I caught 2 more, but they came off right at the boat. I'll count that as a catch anyway. They were bigger, too. About 20-21" long. One of them even made a torpedo run right by the kayak!

Paul was getting restless so we moved on down the creek. We ran into a guy fishing from a bass boat. He said he was actually participating in a tournament and the pickings were slow going. We bid him good luck and moved on towards Danielle's goal, Blue Pete's Restaurant. That place did not disappoint, either! With a dock out back that we could tie-up to, we did just that and went inside to relax, eat, and cool off for a while. Lunch was very good as was the water and iced tea. So we stayed a while, fed the "hungry monster" in Paul's belly, and started making our way back to the truck still parked at Lotus Garden. That's when things started heating up!

On the way back I thought I would try a Texas-rigged crawfish imitation. That was the ticket! We "tree hopped" back to the truck with a stop at the oxbow and one other spot. By this time the "hungry monster" went to sleep in Paul's belly so he did as well....for a little while. Anyway, at the oxbow I hooked the biggest fish I've ever caught. This Long-nose Gar was easily over 40". It tore up my crank bait pretty badly as well! It broke off one of the hooks on the front treble hook and started straightening out one of the ones of the back treble. That thing was plain old mean, but the fight was fun. I never got it in the kayak. I tried, but I couldn't get a good grip on it and it was too big for either of our nets. The Fish Gripper I have wouldn’t have worked either because of the way it was hooked. The crank bait had its mouth clamped shut so that was out of the question. So, as I was trying to get it in the boat without slicing me up on the lure and/or its teeth, it jerked one more time and......off it came. *sigh*

Anyway, back up the creek we found this one tree where I caught 4 bass. One of them was just over 14". They all fought like they were way bigger than they actually were, but they were a lot of fun. We stayed and tried to get one for Danielle, but Paul had other plans. Those plans were for mommy to NOT catch a fish. So, he came over to my boat for the rest of the trip so mommy could concentrate on fishing and not Paul wrangling/wrestling. A couple of bends later she hooked into a good one! But it came off right at the boat. *sigh*

We looked at the clock and realized we had been on the water all day! Paul was a trooper, too! We started heading back at a slower pace. We hit up one more spot on the way out. That's when I caught my last bass of the day on the crank bait. Once I hooked him he came running right straight at the boat like a freight train! I could barely keep up. Then I switched over to my 1/8oz spinner bait and caught my first ever Yellow Perch. It was a small one, but he was fun to catch. Paul seemed to like it, too. I finally got my Pungo Triple!

Then....it happened! Danielle FINALLY hooked AND LANDED her first bass in her kayak! She caught it on another 1/8oz white Strike King spinner bait. The look on her face after she got the hook out and held up that bass was priceless! I'm so proud of her!

Danielle worked SO HARD for this fish!

The rest of the day was spent heading back to the launch site listening to the bullfrogs. They were really loud! All in all a really good day! I hope to do that again sooner rather than later.