Good luck LCI fisherman... Post your pics here..

[Reelax]

So cool that she will be paying the family’s way in 2020... that will be a lucky year for you for sure Matt!!!!

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Thanks for sharing Matt.
Alayna, you're much better than most of us. Love reading about your catches.

[Detritus]

Hi Guys,

So 3 Years after Liam (Blue Life Jacket) got us into fishing, and our second year with our boat, we participated in our first LCI fishing derby. No luck the first windy day, only boated one weird skinny white fish about 14" long and 2" tall, Looked like a giant smelt.

The second day was our best fishing day ever. We boated 4 Lake Trout, and 2 salmon, before switching over to warm water fishing in the afternoon. One of the lake trout was the biggest fish we caught during the derby, but, was too small to weigh in, 26".

liamjune16sheephead.jpg (97.81 KiB) Viewed 912 times

Liam Caught this sheephead, our first ever derby fish! also, the smallest sheephead Liam has ever caught, haha, 24" less than 8 lbs.

The last day of the derby, we were trolling north of Sloop in the morning, and we could see a fish coming up to investigate our lures on riggers over and over, but would never bite. We got annoyed, and put horizontal blades on our line, and also our most successful spoon of the morning, and it worked, we got him.

liam6172019salmon.jpg (77.46 KiB) Viewed 912 times

Liams second Derby fish 23" salmon, about 3 3/4 lbs. After weighing that fish in, we switched over to warm water fishing again, thinking the derby ended at noon, for some reason. We fished lewis creek for a while, and out at the mouth, Carter (orange life jacket), who is just starting to fish with us, hooked into a fish, and yelled, I got one! I figured it was a perch, but it turned out to be this 3 lb smallmouth.

carter6162019smallmouth.jpg (84.04 KiB) Viewed 912 times

It turned out to be our most valuable derby fish, caught on a worm in about 2' of water. All our expensive cold water gear didn't produce what a 25 cent jig head did, haha.

brody6162019laketrout.jpg (75.46 KiB) Viewed 912 times

This last fish was our biggest one, but like I said above, too small to weigh in. But, at the end of the weekend, I think we did pretty good for our first time, weighing in fish in all three categories, Cold, Cool, and Warm. Liam got his fourth youth master angler species entry of the year, and Brody and Carter both got their first. Brody is the oldest, holding the Lake Trout.

We did go home the second day after lunch, and picked up their little sisters for a little river fishing at the mouth of otter creek.

tesswhiteperch.jpg (65.84 KiB) Viewed 912 times

Tess, the oldest little sister here, caught this fish all by herself with no help. But, she doesn't like to touch fish yet. The baby sister Mary, also has a funny white perch release video I made, but, I don't think you can post videos. That girl will grab a hold of any fish.

marysheephead.jpg (62.21 KiB) Viewed 912 times

This is a picture from last year, but, it just gives you an idea of her personality. See the big sister hiding behind Her? Tess actually landed that one after taking over for her little brother Ozzy in between her and Mary in age, who reeled a little but got tired.

All in all it was a great first derby for us, my goal was to weigh in a fish, to give the boys that experience. We ended up weighing in three, and having a blast.

Jack

[Reelax]

Hi Guys,

So 3 Years after Liam (Blue Life Jacket) got us into fishing, and our second year with our boat, we participated in our first LCI fishing derby. No luck the first windy day, only boated one weird skinny white fish about 14" long and 2" tall, Looked like a giant smelt.

The second day was our best fishing day ever. We boated 4 Lake Trout, and 2 salmon, before switching over to warm water fishing in the afternoon. One of the lake trout was the biggest fish we caught during the derby, but, was too small to weigh in, 26".

liamjune16sheephead.jpg

Liam Caught this sheephead, our first ever derby fish! also, the smallest sheephead Liam has ever caught, haha, 24" less than 8 lbs.

The last day of the derby, we were trolling north of Sloop in the morning, and we could see a fish coming up to investigate our lures on riggers over and over, but would never bite. We got annoyed, and put horizontal blades on our line, and also our most successful spoon of the morning, and it worked, we got him.

liam6172019salmon.jpg

Liams second Derby fish 23" salmon, about 3 3/4 lbs. After weighing that fish in, we switched over to warm water fishing again, thinking the derby ended at noon, for some reason. We fished lewis creek for a while, and out at the mouth, Carter (orange life jacket), who is just starting to fish with us, hooked into a fish, and yelled, I got one! I figured it was a perch, but it turned out to be this 3 lb smallmouth.

carter6162019smallmouth.jpg

It turned out to be our most valuable derby fish, caught on a worm in about 2' of water. All our expensive cold water gear didn't produce what a 25 cent jig head did, haha.

brody6162019laketrout.jpg

This last fish was our biggest one, but like I said above, too small to weigh in. But, at the end of the weekend, I think we did pretty good for our first time, weighing in fish in all three categories, Cold, Cool, and Warm. Liam got his fourth youth master angler species entry of the year, and Brody and Carter both got their first. Brody is the oldest, holding the Lake Trout.

We did go home the second day after lunch, and picked up their little sisters for a little river fishing at the mouth of otter creek.

tesswhiteperch.jpg

Tess, the oldest little sister here, caught this fish all by herself with no help. But, she doesn't like to touch fish yet. The baby sister Mary, also has a funny white perch release video I made, but, I don't think you can post videos. That girl will grab a hold of any fish.

marysheephead.jpg

This is a picture from last year, but, it just gives you an idea of her personality. See the big sister hiding behind Her? Tess actually landed that one after taking over for her little brother Ozzy in between her and Mary in age, who reeled a little but got tired.

All in all it was a great first derby for us, my goal was to weigh in a fish, to give the boys that experience. We ended up weighing in three, and having a blast.

Jack

Now that is the most heart warming post I have read this year on LCU.. Your really captured the spirit of a fishing derby and kept the kids at the center of everything you did. Bless your heart for being just a great guide to your young folks on the lake.... Great pictures and smiles...

Please let us know of more of your team's adventures as you seem to have caught the fishing bug hard.

[fishy1]

keep those kids fishing. it doesnt get any better than that. i spent the weekend fishing with my grand daughter and the bite was slow on shore but we had a great time and weighed in 3 fish for the derby and all 3 were released in great shape.

[Detritus]

Thanks Matt, that's nice of you to say. It's definately all about the kids for me. I did warm water fishing here and there as a kid, my family always had a cabin cruiser out on the lake all summer, but, my dad wasn't into fishing. So perch, occaisional bass and pike were all I caught back then, maybe a few times a year. To this day I personally have never caught a fish bigger than a couple pounds, and I have never caught a Lake trout or salmon. I'm just "Dad's guide service", haha. But, it is so fun to watch these guys hook into a big one, a rigger goes off, or whatever. The kids go nuts. Liam is really the reason we're so into it now. Here's a couple of his fish from last year.

liampike.jpg (88.09 KiB) Viewed 791 times

liamsheephead21lbs.jpg (58.83 KiB) Viewed 791 times

That sheephead is his biggest fish, 21 lbs. Caught on a 5' ultralight rod, size 10 spinning reel, 8lb test, haha.

Here's what I'm usually reeling in...

Meperch.jpg (52.4 KiB) Viewed 791 times

If I hook into a big one, I'll hand it off one of the kids. But, Liam is one of those guys with the touch. He hooks into more fish than I do anyway. All of his biggest fish, he chose the bait or lure, casted, hooked, and landed, I'm the net guy.

Fishy1, I have followed quite a few of your fishing trips with your granddaughter. I hope some day my future grandkids will come out fishing with me too, and I'll get to do what you are doing with them. All our derby fish were released happy too, and they even let us drive the salmon we weighed in back out to split rock and release it, I didn't want to dump him in the marina. The only fish we eat are perch, and anything that gets hooked bad and doesn't make it.

Jack

[keithm87]

The whitefish was likely a Cisco. They get up to 20 inches and look like overgrown smelt only more silver with without the purple. They are cool fish! Where were u fishing when you caught it?

[fishy1]

Thanks Matt, that's nice of you to say. It's definately all about the kids for me. I did warm water fishing here and there as a kid, my family always had a cabin cruiser out on the lake all summer, but, my dad wasn't into fishing. So perch, occaisional bass and pike were all I caught back then, maybe a few times a year. To this day I personally have never caught a fish bigger than a couple pounds, and I have never caught a Lake trout or salmon. I'm just "Dad's guide service", haha. But, it is so fun to watch these guys hook into a big one, a rigger goes off, or whatever. The kids go nuts. Liam is really the reason we're so into it now. Here's a couple of his fish from last year.

liampike.jpg
liamsheephead21lbs.jpg

That sheephead is his biggest fish, 21 lbs. Caught on a 5' ultralight rod, size 10 spinning reel, 8lb test, haha.

Here's what I'm usually reeling in...

Meperch.jpg

If I hook into a big one, I'll hand it off one of the kids. But, Liam is one of those guys with the touch. He hooks into more fish than I do anyway. All of his biggest fish, he chose the bait or lure, casted, hooked, and landed, I'm the net guy.

Fishy1, I have followed quite a few of your fishing trips with your granddaughter. I hope some day my future grandkids will come out fishing with me too, and I'll get to do what you are doing with them. All our derby fish were released happy too, and they even let us drive the salmon we weighed in back out to split rock and release it, I didn't want to dump him in the marina. The only fish we eat are perch, and anything that gets hooked bad and doesn't make it.

Jack

hey jack i beleive we crossed paths at one of my favorite fishing spots for walleyes in vt. im always there on shore after the middle of june till winter. alayna is with me also at times.

[Detritus]

Kethm87, That fish was caught trolling about 20 feet down on a spoon, about halfway between thomson's point and kinglsand bay, heading south east about 2mph. I should have taken a picture, but, we were about 6 hours in, and that was the only fish. We might have been a little frusterated.
Don't know how long we were dragging him around, but, he zipped right away when we put him back.

Fishy1, well, I can guess you were on the banks of one of the two rivers that we have launched in this year, and one of them is known for walleye, the other used to be years ago. Me and the boys are kind of a conspicuous bunch, old pontoon boat, covered in fishing gear worth more than the boat, three little boys and one big one messing around on the water every chance we get. You see us again, flag us down, well stop and hang out a bit.

Jack

[tamiron]

Detritus:
You are absolutely blessed to have your children all so interested in fishing! Kudos to you for what you are giving them in return. Well planted seeds in good soil and good conditions will yield the ideal crop. As a father you seem to be the ideal "farmer". Don't ever stop and continue to enjoy the fruits of your labor and love. / Jim

[Reelax]

Liam is my hero, he sounds VERY fishy! Go Liam! 2020 LCI extraordinary category WINNER.....

[fishy1]

Kethm87, That fish was caught trolling about 20 feet down on a spoon, about halfway between thomson's point and kinglsand bay, heading south east about 2mph. I should have taken a picture, but, we were about 6 hours in, and that was the only fish. We might have been a little frusterated.
Don't know how long we were dragging him around, but, he zipped right away when we put him back.

Fishy1, well, I can guess you were on the banks of one of the two rivers that we have launched in this year, and one of them is known for walleye, the other used to be years ago. Me and the boys are kind of a conspicuous bunch, old pontoon boat, covered in fishing gear worth more than the boat, three little boys and one big one messing around on the water every chance we get. You see us again, flag us down, well stop and hang out a bit.

Jack

it was last year jack and you launched right next to me a couple of times and trolled out in front of me . i guess you will know where i am now. will get ot know you better next time ill be over that way soon after my health issue is taken care of.