Daughter's First Salmon
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:25 am
Sunday was Family Boat Day - my wife and I took both girls and my mother-in-law out for an afternoon on the lake. The plan was to cruise around, enjoy the scenery, swim, and just maybe get a little fishing in.
It started according to plan, and the boat cruised north blaring opera on the stereo - my wife figured her mother would relax and enjoy the outing more if there was some opera to listen to. The kids were screaming to change the music, so I just gave it full throttle, got up on plane, and both the opera and the yelling were drowned out.
We found some 68-degree water in a bay, anchored, and everyone jumped in for a refreshing swim. With the crew tired and calmed down from the swim, we trolled back figuring chances of catching a fish on a sunny afternoon with no wind or waves were slim, but doesn't hurt to try. By the time we were almost back to the boat ramp, there hadn't been any bites and I reeled in both downriggers and then the planer board line. Just as I was unhooking the planer board, the one line that was still in the water fired, and our 6 yo, the Little Smidgeon, took the rod and started reeling in. She struggled with it for a while, and the fish was tugging hard. She finally got it to the boat, we could see silver, and I got the net under it but the fish jumped out of the net ! Somehow it stayed hooked and I netted it again and this time got it into the boat.
That was the only bite for the day, but what an exciting one. 19" and 2.5 lbs, caught w/ a Honeybee "Spoiled Ham" on 5 colors of lead in ~60 FOW.
The good photos from the boat are on my wife's phone and I'll post them later, for now here's the Smidgeon with her first ever salmon just before it became dinner:
It started according to plan, and the boat cruised north blaring opera on the stereo - my wife figured her mother would relax and enjoy the outing more if there was some opera to listen to. The kids were screaming to change the music, so I just gave it full throttle, got up on plane, and both the opera and the yelling were drowned out.
We found some 68-degree water in a bay, anchored, and everyone jumped in for a refreshing swim. With the crew tired and calmed down from the swim, we trolled back figuring chances of catching a fish on a sunny afternoon with no wind or waves were slim, but doesn't hurt to try. By the time we were almost back to the boat ramp, there hadn't been any bites and I reeled in both downriggers and then the planer board line. Just as I was unhooking the planer board, the one line that was still in the water fired, and our 6 yo, the Little Smidgeon, took the rod and started reeling in. She struggled with it for a while, and the fish was tugging hard. She finally got it to the boat, we could see silver, and I got the net under it but the fish jumped out of the net ! Somehow it stayed hooked and I netted it again and this time got it into the boat.
That was the only bite for the day, but what an exciting one. 19" and 2.5 lbs, caught w/ a Honeybee "Spoiled Ham" on 5 colors of lead in ~60 FOW.
The good photos from the boat are on my wife's phone and I'll post them later, for now here's the Smidgeon with her first ever salmon just before it became dinner: