Taking the grandsons "fishing". Wish us luck!

[craigster59]

I'm in the process of moving and am finding more fishing stuff than I know what to do with.

PM me your address Steve and i'll send you a fishing "Care Package" for the G'sons. You'll turn them into wild Injun's in no time. Have them living off the land!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Personally, i'd be a bit suspect of eating anything out of that water. I'd go with lures, pinched down barbs. Kastmasters always worked great for me in those waters.

Make it a game, "Bet you can't hit that spot 10 yards off shore". Reel it in and see if something bites, work it like a grid.

Yeah, if we had caught anything yesterday, it would have been to throw back. I also don't think I'd want to eat anything out of that pond.

Originally Posted by craigster59

I'm in the process of moving and am finding more fishing stuff than I know what to do with.

PM me your address Steve and i'll send you a fishing "Care Package" for the G'sons. You'll turn them into wild Injun's in no time. Have them living off the land!

That's super generous! I'd happily pay for shipping. Will PM you.

[masraum]

Success!


I hadn't planned to go today, but got up and the weather seemed nice, and so decided to go. We were using some of the lures that Craigster sent (and wearing the hats that he sent) when one of the boys spotted a mole cricket that was stuck in the water. I grabbed him to show the boys, and said "I'll bet he'd make good bait." Sure enough, within 5-10 mins. "Grampy, I feel a vibration on my line."

I think it's some sort of sunfish, maybe bluegill sunfish, but I'm not sure.

[911 Rod]

That'll keep them coming back for more!

[DWBOX2000]

Two words for fresh water bass, wacky worm. My friends use all the other stuff, not even close. Nice cast, slow bounce back. Oh yeah, you need to find them too.

[HobieMarty]

What about Hula Popper???

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[vash]

that is outstanding!!! those two kids look happy as heck!!!

I am not a panfish expert, but I would wild ass guess...bluegill?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by vash

that is outstanding!!! those two kids look happy as heck!!!

I am not a panfish expert, but I would wild ass guess...bluegill?

Yes, they were tickled pink. As long as the weather holds, we'll be going back tomorrow.

as in "bluegill sunfish"? If so, then that's what I think based on my google fu.

And they wore the bass pro hats that Craigster sent the rest of the day.

[Tishabet]

I'm not familiar with TX species but that looks virtually identical to the "bluegills" I would catch as a kid in New England. Awesome job Grandpa, they are not going to forget this day. FWIW bluegills have a lot of bones but are actually pretty tasty, there are some good techniques for cooking a fish like this "whole" (you gut and scale but that is it) where you can pull out the entire backbone/ribs as one unit after cooking.

[gregpark]

Make some memories Steve!
My 4 year old grandson caught his first fish at the base of these rapids (in front of our mountain cabin) using a 3' Zebco rod with Salmon eggs. I stood next to him in case a fish pulled him or his rod in. "Papa, it's fighting it's fighting!" He brought it in by himself. He dragged it onto the rocks, a 15" Rainbow. "OMG Tanner, that's a beauty! Ok, it's your fish. You want to eat it or let it go?" He released it. Good boy! The next morning his asked "can we go catch another beauty fish Papa? For the next several years Rainbows were called beauty fish at our camp. By the time he was 9 he could tie and bait hooks, load his gear on my ATV and go catch us dinner all by himself. I taught him how to clean and cook them. Self sufficient at 9! Eventually he graduated to fly fishing. We spent a lot of quality grandpa time fishing. So many memories. He's now 20 and in his 8th week of boot camp at Pendleton. Selected as platoon guide! I'm so proud of him and can't hardly wait to see him in San Diego at graduation in a few weeks.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Tishabet

I'm not familiar with TX species but that looks virtually identical to the "bluegills" I would catch as a kid in New England. Awesome job Grandpa, they are not going to forget this day. FWIW bluegills have a lot of bones but are actually pretty tasty, there are some good techniques for cooking a fish like this "whole" (you gut and scale but that is it) where you can pull out the entire backbone/ribs as one unit after cooking.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what most of the fish that the boys caught in this pond are. I wouldn't have thought about eating fish out of this pond. It's between the Interstate and a well used highway. But there are always folks fishing there, and apparently the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept stock it every year, mostly with rainbow trout or channel catfish.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by gregpark

Make some memories Steve!
My 4 year old grandson caught his first fish at the base of these rapids (in front of our mountain cabin) using a 3' Zebco rod with Salmon eggs. I stood next to him in case a fish pulled him or his rod in. "Papa, it's fighting it's fighting!" He brought it in by himself. He dragged it onto the rocks, a 15" Rainbow. "OMG Tanner, that's a beauty! Ok, it's your fish. You want to eat it or let it go?" He released it. Good boy! The next morning his asked "can we go catch another beauty fish Papa? For the next several years Rainbows were called beauty fish at our camp. By the time he was 9 he could tie and bait hooks, load his gear on my ATV and go catch us dinner all by himself. I taught him how to clean and cook them. Self sufficient at 9! Eventually he graduated to fly fishing. We spent a lot of quality grandpa time fishing. So many memories. He's now 20 and in his 8th week of boot camp at Pendleton. Selected as platoon guide! I'm so proud of him and can't hardly wait to see him in San Diego at graduation in a few weeks.

Wow, that's awesome. He was light years ahead of me (today) when he was 9.

Sounds like you made some great memories and taught some great skills.

Congrats, it sounds like you've got a grandson to be very proud of!

[masraum]

Yesterday afternoon, we headed over to the local farm store and bought a little box of worms (that's the only live bait they had). I also went out this morning (literally 5 mins before we left) and caught a handful of crickets. The crickets didn't last long, but definitely caught fish. After that I moved to using the worms. I cut them in half and then used half per hook. They worked just as well as the crickets.

I think we were there about 1.5 hours, and between the boys they must have caught about 40 fish. All were bluegill except one. I think that one was a small largemouth bass. I found a page that says that TPWD stocks the pond pretty much every year. It seems to mostly be rainbow trout or channel catfish.

Last time the older gson caught the only fish, a little bluegill. This time the younger one caught the first fish of the day which was his first fish.

The boys had a great time, and when we got back the older one told me, "this was the best fishing trip of my life," which I thought was pretty cute since it was also only the 3rd.

Thanks for the encouragement

First fish of the day and first fish for the younger one.


simultaneous catch


The one from the simultaneous catch that I think is a largemouth bass

[gregpark]

So cool. Yep, that's a bass. Worms work great but Crickets are impossible for fish to pass on. If you have a bait shop that sells them live, buy a cricket cage you strap to your belt. It dispenses one bug at a time through a little hole at the top of the cylinder. Hook a #10 hook through the back of the thorax and the tip of the hook looks like part of the cricket. I've actually watched trout fight over the bait. Fun for the kids to use bobbers with crickets. They can watch the fish grab the swimming cricket

[masraum]

Originally Posted by gregpark

So cool. Yep, that's a bass. Worms work great but Crickets are impossible for fish to pass on. If you have a bait shop that sells them live, buy a cricket cage you strap to your belt. It dispenses one bug at a time through a little hole at the top of the cylinder. Hook a #10 hook through the back of the thorax and the tip of the hook looks like part of the cricket. I've actually watched trout fight over the bait. Fun for the kids to use bobbers with crickets. They can watch the fish grab the swimming cricket

Not much fishing in the area, so not many shops with much of anything.



If this had been last week, I could have gone out and caught at least 20-30 crickets, but we got a ton of rain the other day that ran through the area where there are lots of crickets that would have been relatively easy to catch and washed most of them away. Next time I may go out ahead of time and catch a bunch. I just put them in a jar tall and narrow enough that they couldn't jump out of. It was definitely a pain to get them out of the jar though. Maybe I could get a cricket cage from Bezos.

[Baz]

Massively cool thread!

Respect to you Steve for helping mentor these young men.

And to Craigster for also pitching in. Those are some very cool Bass Pro Shop caps!

And also to Greg for sharing his stories and his grandson in the military - respect, sir!

As a kid, I learned to fish at Lake Taylor in Norfolk, a bike ride away from where we lived. Lot of carp, eels, and blue gill - and the occasional bass - but of course it was the adventure aspect of it all that was the reward. Not what we caught - or didn't......

[jhynesrockmtn]

My son recently transitioned from full time Army SF Captain to full time NG ROTC instructor and now lives less than 2 hours away. He just bought a used fishing boat. A long time dream of his.

Our first time out with his kids, they fished and I held the baby. Works for me! His boys are 5 and 7.

[jhynesrockmtn]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yesterday afternoon, we headed over to the local farm store and bought a little box of worms (that's the only live bait they had). I also went out this morning (literally 5 mins before we left) and caught a handful of crickets. The crickets didn't last long, but definitely caught fish. After that I moved to using the worms. I cut them in half and then used half per hook. They worked just as well as the crickets.

I think we were there about 1.5 hours, and between the boys they must have caught about 40 fish. All were bluegill except one. I think that one was a small largemouth bass. I found a page that says that TPWD stocks the pond pretty much every year. It seems to mostly be rainbow trout or channel catfish.

Last time the older gson caught the only fish, a little bluegill. This time the younger one caught the first fish of the day which was his first fish.

The boys had a great time, and when we got back the older one told me, "this was the best fishing trip of my life," which I thought was pretty cute since it was also only the 3rd.

Thanks for the encouragement

First fish of the day and first fish for the younger one.


simultaneous catch


The one from the simultaneous catch that I think is a largemouth bass

Those are the best pics and the kids are super cute! Nice job Gramps!

[ramonesfreak]

Tip for you, especially with small fish sucking in small hooks——pinch down the barbs.

You do not need to do anything fancy. Just take some needle nose pliers and squeeze the barb down against the shaft of the hook. Takes 20 seconds or less once you get the feel for it. The fish will be happy and you will be happy. It took getting a treble hook deeply embedded in my hand at midnight to finally start doing this. If you keep the line tight, as you should, there is no need for a barb on a hook.

Yes, the worm may not stay on the hook as well but it’s worth it

First thing I do when I buy lures or hooks is sit down and pinch every barb and then it’s done and ready to go. You will have a much easier time getting those hooks out without destroying the fish and if a kid or you gets hooked, you will be very thankful that you do not need to go to the ER to have it cut out

Another thing, i personally will not fish for pan fish with single hooks unless I need the fish for food….but I get why you are and you should, but - many many people, myself included long ago, get frustrated with the hook way deep and simply cut the line and toss the fish….because panfish have such small mouths and the hooks are so small and they tend to inhale the bait. When this happens and you cut the line, other animals like birds of prey may catch that fish as it’s dying at the surface after you leave and can get that hook in their gut.

Not trying to preach, just trying to pass on what I’ve learned in my almost 50 years of fishing so the experience is better and safer

My grandpa would take me bluegill fishing and he used to get frustrated and just rip the hook out guts and all and toss the fish. I loved that man but damn that was uncool and pissed me off as a 5 year old.

Anyway, nice fish and good job!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by ramonesfreak

Tip for you, especially with small fish sucking in small hooks——pinch down the barbs.

You do not need to do anything fancy. Just take some needle nose pliers and squeeze the barb down against the shaft of the hook. Takes 20 seconds or less once you get the feel for it. The fish will be happy and you will be happy. It took getting a treble hook deeply embedded in my hand at midnight to finally start doing this.

yeah, that's a constant concern. I keep the boys separated by at least 20-30' to keep them from hooking each other. And I deal with all of the stuff that would involve a hook, but it's still a possibility when dealing with hooks, and especially kids & hooks.

If you keep the line tight, as you should, there is no need for a barb on a hook.

The boys are unlikely to keep the line tight all of the time.

Yes, the worm may not stay on the hook as well but it’s worth it

First thing I do when I buy lures or hooks is sit down and pinch every barb and then it’s done and ready to go. You will have a much easier time getting those hooks out without destroying the fish and if a kid or you gets hooked, you will be very thankful that you do not need to go to the ER to have it cut out

That's a great point!

Another thing, i personally will not fish for pan fish with single hooks unless I need the fish for food….but I get why you are and you should, but - many many people, myself included long ago, get frustrated with the hook way deep and simply cut the line and toss the fish….because panfish have such small mouths and the hooks are so small and they tend to inhale the bait. When this happens and you cut the line, other animals like birds of prey may catch that fish as it’s dying at the surface after you leave and can get that hook in their gut.

Not trying to preach, just trying to pass on what I’ve learned in my almost 50 years of fishing so the experience is better and safer

My grandpa would take me bluegill fishing and he used to get frustrated and just rip the hook out guts and all and toss the fish. I loved that man but damn that was uncool and pissed me off as a 5 year old.

Anyway, nice fish and good job!

Yikes! I guess I've been lucky so far, mostly just fish lips and cheeks that I've had to deal with. I definitely do not want to push fish back that still have a hook or cause a lot of damage to a fish in the process of getting the hook out.

We do have some treble hooks that I just hadn't swapped for the single hooks yet. It seemed like it might be an improvement, but it also seemed like it tripled the odds of someone getting hooked. If the barbs are crimped, then that's probably less of an issue.

Thanks for all of the pointers. Since I have essentially 0 fishing experience, it's appreciated.