Went out with the boy this time and we spent several hours getting our 7 good baitfish (not exactly slaying the bluegills just yet). Cedric wanted to go along and catch a big cat this time, so we went out and set up around sunset on a good “action” spot. He was adamant that he wanted to use the one tiny bluegill we caught, so I put that out for him on my channel cat rod and within a minute it was eaten by an aggressive young walleye (breakfast today). We caught a few more wormeaters (sheephead, mainly) then things settled down as it got dark until we had our first two hits (both misses). I was using a warmouth on one line and it got ravaged but the hook had somehow gotten turned around so there was no barb available to the cat. Got to feel it’s weight on the hookset and that was about it. I sent the ravaged warmouth back out though, and it ended up making Cedric’s wishes come true. He ended up catching a 22 pound flat on it (I set the hook and was nearby to make sure the rod didn’t find the water – he’s 8 years old, after all). He did a masterful job though.
Now I really must have a camera – the wife nearly brutalized me when she found out I didn’t get pictures of the boy with his huge fish. That’s the kind of thing you want captured for posterity. Just seeing him lifting it was a sight I’d love to be able to have shared…
Water was 64, river dropping very slowly, pressure low, wind north but dying out in time to make the mosquitos happy.
Happy Hunting,
Matt
