rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Bluegill & Cats, 5-20-2009, The Hillmans

[FishNews]

I had the pleasure of making a Quick Trip out with John Hillman and his grandson, Michael, this morning. Michael is only four years old, so I was honestly a little worried about the attention span. But the little codger actually did great. Of course it helped that we were catching plenty of fish.<br /><br />The bluegill were hot and heavy. I'm not catching quite as many big bulls as a week or so back... but we had a pretty good mess for the Hillman's to take home for dinner in short order, plus a hefty channel cat that took John several minutes to wear down on the ultralight.<br /><br />Michael started getting a little antsy so we took a little pleasure boat ride down the river to observe the wildlife and the scenery ... and of course I let him "drive" (well-supervised, of course). The youngsters always get a really big kick out of that.<br /><br />Then we came back up and I asked if they wanted to try for some cats. John wasn't real enthused, until the first rod doubled down about 30 seconds after I put it in the water. That was a decent 5 or 6 lber. Then a few minutes later the spinning rod I'd put out almost left the boat. Michael and John fought it in "tandem" for a while, and then Michael just plain got bored saying, "It's taking too long." I had a hard time convincing him, that's a good thing. emoBig <br /><br />John took over the rod solo and after many, many minutes babying 8 lb. test line, he fought the 22 lb. blue to the boat. Needless to say, he was impressed. John is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana... I think perhaps we have another "Tennessee River Catfish Convert."<br /><br />A few more minutes letting Michael catch fish that didn't take so long to reel in, and then the 4-year-old patience quota ran out. But it was a wonderful 2-hour tour, which means life is good and gettin' better every day!