My youngest son Micah started off our fishing trip by asking, “Dad, is your worms taking care of you?” Puzzled at first by the question, I then thought back to when I told him, “Take care of your bait, it takes care of you.” Funny what a 4 year old can come up with, but I think I got him straightened out after showing him what worms and small leeches could do if put in the right place. That is, if they’re alive and healthy.
Hot summer sun, especially in these temps kills bait quickly if you don’t have an insulated container and ice involved in the situation. As mentioned in previous posts, one goal for this year was to do a better job with my bait-care management. I said enough’s enough, and invested in a few of the Frabill bait containers for worms, leeches, and minnows, and am doing pretty well at the mid-point. Currently, I’m running off the same flat of crawlers and pound of leeches that I purchased in May, and all seem to be active and lively as can be. The strategy of course being that I could invest in more bait at multiple times throughout the year each year, or invest a small amount in bait-care, and keep what I have longer, without having to replenish my stocks several times throughout the year. The latter solution would not only save time and money in the long run, but it would give me an optimal system that I’d become familiar with; ultimately being more efficient in the process.
My boys and I found a nice mess of good gills last weekend off some inside weed-edges, near a weed-free channel into another lake. It was the perfect situation. Instead of the channels being full of weeds, there was a hard rock/sand bottom all the way out of the channel to about 10 feet. At about that point, some of the most beautiful red cabbage you’ve ever seen grew out to 15 foot depths or so. When the clouds came out, the fish moved shallow from the cabbage and took over the rock/sand channel area. Truly a beautiful panfish location!
These fish hammered plastic offerings when up shallow, but got a bit tight lipped when the sun was higher and they were on the inside weed edges. Out came the Crawler can, and we parked on ’em, having fun with those fish as long as we would’ve wanted. While you or I may have been able to get them to go on plastics out a bit deeper, some live bait was just what the doctor ordered to keep the kids’ spirits up and the fish biting.
Great hanging with you and boys last weekend!
