bigoldredfish
09-05-2011, 09:05 AM
Got a call early in the week from a friend that the Sebastian Junior Women's club was holding their annual tournament out of Captain Butcher's in Sebastian on Saturday. This is a fun local tournament for a good cause and is run by a good group of people. I didn't expect to fish as I was on call for work and figured there would be no way I could get out on the water. Besides, with the wife also working it would be just me and the kids if I did go.
Decided late Friday afternoon that at least I would get out of the house to hit the captain's meeting and see some familiar faces. At this point I still wasn't really expecting to fish. After little to no sleep Friday night I decided to hook up the boat. I figured I would get out and let the kids fish for a few hours and then head back home to resume work. We hit the river at the crack of 9:30am with a bunch of gatoraides and snacks, as well as 4 dozen shrimp that were so tiny you needed to thread three of them on the hook at a time to make them look appetizing.
It felt like it was already 110° degrees, the water was high, dirty, and no movement what so ever. The first three spots we usually catch fish produced nothing. And my “go to” spot produced a nice catfish. To fight boredom I hit a rock pile so the kids could tighten a line and get a few snapper. After that we made a run to the inlet but with the boat traffic there was really no way to fish it affectively. Decided to hit one or two more spots before calling it quits.
I tied DOA shrimp on the kids rods because the live shrimp in the well had cooked to a bright pink. Next time I’ll bring old bay. By this time I am wishing I used these few hours to catch up on some much needed sleep. But instead back to the mangrove shorelines we go. The water looks better now. Not only is it high, dirty, and not moving but now it is covered in leaves and floating grass.
My daughter starts casting and dragging the DOA behind the boat and finally pulls in a small redfish. A few minutes later she produces a small snook.
http://i52.tinypic.com/2ns88yh.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/5mesyu.jpg
The boys and I have caught nothing but trees and rocks up to this point and I am a few minutes from turning the boat around and heading for the barn. Just then my girl gets a decent tug on the line and it starts taking drag. By the way the rod tip was bouncing I had a good idea of what it may be and sure enough up pops a nice flounder. Smiles all around and I figure she could take this fish back to the dock and weigh it in for the junior angler category. As I slowly make our way out to the channel she is hooked up once again with a small trout to complete her “inshore slam.”
http://i54.tinypic.com/fkp5sp.jpg
My precious daughter is now giving us boys a barrage of “trash talk” about how easy this fishing thing is and how we can only catch trees. I think she gets this from her mom. The boys and I continue to scratch our heads wondering what we are doing wrong, but at least she offered to let us take pictures with her fish if we wanted.
At Butcher’s we tie off to the dock and Mrs. High Hook takes her fish over to the scales. The boys and I decide to lick our wounds from a slow day and drown our sorrows with a couple root beers. At the end of the day she ended up in 2nd place for the junior angler category winning a bag of goodies, a tackle box and a new fishing rod. She also got her name and picture in the local paper and hasn’t stopped talking about it.
http://i55.tinypic.com/fz6pgm.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2qs59xl.jpg
When I asked her what she wanted to do Monday on her day off school she replied that she wanted to go back on the boat and catch more fish. It looks like I may have created a monster. Now if I can just convince the boys to go back out with the new fishergirl. I think I better pack some extra rootbeers.
Decided late Friday afternoon that at least I would get out of the house to hit the captain's meeting and see some familiar faces. At this point I still wasn't really expecting to fish. After little to no sleep Friday night I decided to hook up the boat. I figured I would get out and let the kids fish for a few hours and then head back home to resume work. We hit the river at the crack of 9:30am with a bunch of gatoraides and snacks, as well as 4 dozen shrimp that were so tiny you needed to thread three of them on the hook at a time to make them look appetizing.
It felt like it was already 110° degrees, the water was high, dirty, and no movement what so ever. The first three spots we usually catch fish produced nothing. And my “go to” spot produced a nice catfish. To fight boredom I hit a rock pile so the kids could tighten a line and get a few snapper. After that we made a run to the inlet but with the boat traffic there was really no way to fish it affectively. Decided to hit one or two more spots before calling it quits.
I tied DOA shrimp on the kids rods because the live shrimp in the well had cooked to a bright pink. Next time I’ll bring old bay. By this time I am wishing I used these few hours to catch up on some much needed sleep. But instead back to the mangrove shorelines we go. The water looks better now. Not only is it high, dirty, and not moving but now it is covered in leaves and floating grass.
My daughter starts casting and dragging the DOA behind the boat and finally pulls in a small redfish. A few minutes later she produces a small snook.
http://i52.tinypic.com/2ns88yh.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/5mesyu.jpg
The boys and I have caught nothing but trees and rocks up to this point and I am a few minutes from turning the boat around and heading for the barn. Just then my girl gets a decent tug on the line and it starts taking drag. By the way the rod tip was bouncing I had a good idea of what it may be and sure enough up pops a nice flounder. Smiles all around and I figure she could take this fish back to the dock and weigh it in for the junior angler category. As I slowly make our way out to the channel she is hooked up once again with a small trout to complete her “inshore slam.”
http://i54.tinypic.com/fkp5sp.jpg
My precious daughter is now giving us boys a barrage of “trash talk” about how easy this fishing thing is and how we can only catch trees. I think she gets this from her mom. The boys and I continue to scratch our heads wondering what we are doing wrong, but at least she offered to let us take pictures with her fish if we wanted.
At Butcher’s we tie off to the dock and Mrs. High Hook takes her fish over to the scales. The boys and I decide to lick our wounds from a slow day and drown our sorrows with a couple root beers. At the end of the day she ended up in 2nd place for the junior angler category winning a bag of goodies, a tackle box and a new fishing rod. She also got her name and picture in the local paper and hasn’t stopped talking about it.
http://i55.tinypic.com/fz6pgm.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2qs59xl.jpg
When I asked her what she wanted to do Monday on her day off school she replied that she wanted to go back on the boat and catch more fish. It looks like I may have created a monster. Now if I can just convince the boys to go back out with the new fishergirl. I think I better pack some extra rootbeers.