Finally… Gone Bass Fishing

Some of you might know that I broke my ankle in late May (double fracture) playing with the kids at the playground (that’s the truth) and as a result, fishing for this season is pretty much not going to happen until I heal. Per Doctor’s orders, I cannot put any weight on my right ankle lest I want to risk having surgery.

My dad came a long way to see me, and he wanted to do some fishing it possible and I thought to myself, I really shouldn’t fish, but on the other side of the coin, I don’t get to see my dad often enough because he lives so far away and he really wanted to go fishing, probably more than me!

This past Monday, I gathered up what we needed including a chairs for us to sit on.

It was a blue bird sky day. My gut feeling was saying that prospects were going to probably be slim and fishing tough.

I was hoping to be wrong and it appeared that I would be. Within minutes of rigging him up with the drop shot (6’6” med action rod with cabela’s 6# fc line) rig. He gets his first nibble as I am preparing my own set up. He gets my attention and I observe the rod’s tip twitch. I said excitedly, “Dad, set the hook!”

Just to let you know, my dad is a newbie to fishing. The last time he fished with me was at this spot last year.

He reeled up the slack and pulled back just as a pro does to make a “cross the eyes” hook set and I thought. Wow! What a hook set! Where in the world did that come from? I didn’t teach him that. Well, at least he looked good!

I started laughing but not because he missed the fish. It was such a beautiful hook set, but unfortunately, that type of hook set is not needed when drop shotting. It was probably a decent sized smallie too.

I proceeded to tell him that that I meant for him to just reel up the slack to get tension to the line. He was bummed out but still kept an optimistic outlook for the rest of the day.

I spent most of the time trying to get my first jig fish: both jig and pig and Shakey head, but no luck today. I had followers with the J-n-P (30% of the fishing time), Shakey-head (30%), spoons (5%), lucky craft jerk bait (4%) and homemade inline spinners (30%) but no takers at all despite the adjustments I made in size and lure color.

My poor dad had no luck as the day went by miss after miss.

I switched to my comfort technique the drop shot (1%) and on about the 3rd cast with my dad right next to me I mentioned, “Got it,” as I reeled the slack in.

I knew it was a small one but being only my second time out this season for bass fishing, I will take it. It is also my first bass this season too.

He jokingly said that I “stole” his fish and that my unasked help on that hook set was an attempt of sabotage. J

I was really hoping and praying he catch at least one fish, but it was not to be.

We fished for just less than three hours, but had to leave to beat the traffic to catch his train.

He went 0 for 8 and I went about 1 for 4, not including the followers.

It was definitely great father and son time, something I cherish deeply. So in addition to taking the kids fishing, if possible, don’t forget to take a parent(s) fishing too

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