I wanted to get out and feel some fish on the line before the season opener, so I went to Bradley Lake with my son after dinner to get some practice in. The lake was calm and the air warm, about 70 degrees. There was a guy on the dock when we got there so we took up position opposite of him and started throwing a couple different spinners on ultra lite rods. Within 15 minutes he hooked a fish and as he got it close to the dock it spit the hook. He said he had done that about 10 times in the last 30 minutes, so I looked at what he was using.

I told my boy to put a gold Kastmaster on, so we both did it and on the third cast I had a fish on! Just like the other guy, I got it close to the dock and it slipped off. They were good little fighters and jumping to spit the hook. The other guy ended up landing 2 fish before he left. I didn't want to take any home so I was okay with not landing them. I ended up hooking and playing 8 fish and getting them right up to the dock. If I had brought a net I could have landed all of them. They were only smaller stockers, so no big loss. My boy ended up hooking and playing 2 fish...not bad for 2 hours on the lake.

The highlight of the night was on my boy's first fish. As he's bringing it in, it is jumping out of the water like crazy. The fish is about 10 feet from the dock when it jumps and spits the hook. Right then we feel a rush of air over our head and a bald eagle cruises a couple feet over our head and ties to grab the fish. He had been in the tree behind us watching the fish jump at the end of the line. If that fish hadn't spit the hook, that eagle would have grabbed it right off the end of the line!

Overall a great trip! Can't wait to get out to some bigger lakes and bring home some keepers. Tight lines everyone!

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