06-22-2006, 07:29 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Met up with Fairwayphilly at the south marina Wednesday morning. Hit the water just after 6 am. Weather report said calm when I left the house but there were 2 foot bumps on the water outside the marina when we got there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Threw plastics and cranks along the inside edges of the marina on the way out to the sloppy choppy. Not a touch. Fished more of the same around the first 50 yards of rocks to the north of the harbor entrance. More of nothing. I moved out into deeper water and Philly cruised by in his toon, trolling along the rocks...rockin' and rollin' in the waves.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally gave up on lures and started dragging a minnow too. WHAM. 21" channel cat. Happy. I needed to get a few more cats for the fish fry I had been elected to put on for the last session of the Bountiful Lake chapter of the DWR Youth Fishing Program. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was hoping I might score a few more of the larger kitties. Nope. Caught a bunch after that but nothing over about 14". Most smaller. But, they did eat my minnows and carp meat with fervor. I brought somewhere between 25 to 30 to my tube, to keep eight for the fillet table. Actually ran out of bait.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I lost one fish I know was a wiper and had several hard whacks that took my minnows that I suspect were wipers. No proof.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water and wind started laying down about 9:30. Philly cruised by and seemed to be having the same luck I was. He had caught nothing trolling but had a few small cats hit bait. The only fish I saw taken by trollers was a small catfish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was off the water down the road by noon. Had fun with the bitty kitties and left a couple unfilleted to do the "show and tell" on filleting at the kids program.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The last meeting was a success. TubeBabe and I had started out with a group of five youngsters to work with, but it had quickly declined to three...one boy and two young sisters. The boy had caught the first fish of the group...a trout...on the first meeting. He caught nothing since. He seemed to be more interested in casting than in catching fish and quickly became bored.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The two young sisters were accompanied each week by their grandfather. TubeBabe and I became quite fond of them. They are really nice girls and were always eager and patient...well, maybe not the youngest. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Shelby, the oldest sister, caught her first fish in five weeks last week...a small catfish. No bass tournament winner could have been more proud than she was of that fish. Her younger sister, Allison, still had only had a few bites, but no fish, going into the last evening.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We did a filleting demo and then used my propane deep fryer to cook up several pounds of fish fillets I had brought. There wasn't any left. Those kids, parents and instructors fancied my kitty krispies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We had an hour to fish so we hiked up the shoreline and got the lines out. Nobody around the lake was catching anything. In fact, the guy that kinda looks after things around there said that there had only been four or five fish caught all week. Looked grim for Allison to finally score something.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]At about 7:45...only 15 minutes left in the whole program, Shelby (the oldest) was reeling in her rig to check her bait when a silly largemouth pounced on her moving worm. GAME ON. The sudden smack and the leap out of the water brought an excited shriek from the young girl. I did the netting job and showed her how to lip it. She preferred holding it on a stringer. Still more girl than fisherman.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We had barely worked off some of the excitement when Allison's grandfather yelled for me to bring the net. Allison was hooked up. You should have seen the look of determination on her young face as she wrestled in the small channel cat. It could have been several pounds larger and it wouldn't have thrilled her more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I think that of all the groups in this round, ours was the only one in which all the kids finally caught fish. Good instructors, right?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The program was a lot of fun, both for the kids and for the adults who participated. I strongly urge everyone to sign up for at least one program during the coming year. It is a great way to rediscover the joys of learning fishing again, through the eyes of a kid.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Threw plastics and cranks along the inside edges of the marina on the way out to the sloppy choppy. Not a touch. Fished more of the same around the first 50 yards of rocks to the north of the harbor entrance. More of nothing. I moved out into deeper water and Philly cruised by in his toon, trolling along the rocks...rockin' and rollin' in the waves.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Finally gave up on lures and started dragging a minnow too. WHAM. 21" channel cat. Happy. I needed to get a few more cats for the fish fry I had been elected to put on for the last session of the Bountiful Lake chapter of the DWR Youth Fishing Program. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I was hoping I might score a few more of the larger kitties. Nope. Caught a bunch after that but nothing over about 14". Most smaller. But, they did eat my minnows and carp meat with fervor. I brought somewhere between 25 to 30 to my tube, to keep eight for the fillet table. Actually ran out of bait.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I lost one fish I know was a wiper and had several hard whacks that took my minnows that I suspect were wipers. No proof.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Water and wind started laying down about 9:30. Philly cruised by and seemed to be having the same luck I was. He had caught nothing trolling but had a few small cats hit bait. The only fish I saw taken by trollers was a small catfish.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I was off the water down the road by noon. Had fun with the bitty kitties and left a couple unfilleted to do the "show and tell" on filleting at the kids program.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The last meeting was a success. TubeBabe and I had started out with a group of five youngsters to work with, but it had quickly declined to three...one boy and two young sisters. The boy had caught the first fish of the group...a trout...on the first meeting. He caught nothing since. He seemed to be more interested in casting than in catching fish and quickly became bored.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The two young sisters were accompanied each week by their grandfather. TubeBabe and I became quite fond of them. They are really nice girls and were always eager and patient...well, maybe not the youngest. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Shelby, the oldest sister, caught her first fish in five weeks last week...a small catfish. No bass tournament winner could have been more proud than she was of that fish. Her younger sister, Allison, still had only had a few bites, but no fish, going into the last evening.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We did a filleting demo and then used my propane deep fryer to cook up several pounds of fish fillets I had brought. There wasn't any left. Those kids, parents and instructors fancied my kitty krispies.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We had an hour to fish so we hiked up the shoreline and got the lines out. Nobody around the lake was catching anything. In fact, the guy that kinda looks after things around there said that there had only been four or five fish caught all week. Looked grim for Allison to finally score something.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]At about 7:45...only 15 minutes left in the whole program, Shelby (the oldest) was reeling in her rig to check her bait when a silly largemouth pounced on her moving worm. GAME ON. The sudden smack and the leap out of the water brought an excited shriek from the young girl. I did the netting job and showed her how to lip it. She preferred holding it on a stringer. Still more girl than fisherman.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We had barely worked off some of the excitement when Allison's grandfather yelled for me to bring the net. Allison was hooked up. You should have seen the look of determination on her young face as she wrestled in the small channel cat. It could have been several pounds larger and it wouldn't have thrilled her more.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I think that of all the groups in this round, ours was the only one in which all the kids finally caught fish. Good instructors, right?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The program was a lot of fun, both for the kids and for the adults who participated. I strongly urge everyone to sign up for at least one program during the coming year. It is a great way to rediscover the joys of learning fishing again, through the eyes of a kid.[/#0000ff]
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