haguebrook
08-07-2005, 09:00 PM
I had hoped for a better summer, with more time for fishing and family. However, work has stepped in and stopped these plans dead in the water.
My 10 year old son just recently developed an interest in fishing beyond dangling a line off a dock and catching a few panfish. So, I finally got a chance to take him to my favorite UDL, a tidal river. I wanted to help him to catch some of the schoolies that have scoffed at my clousers and sand eel patterns as I try in vain to catch a striped bass on the fly.
Knowing that he would not be comfortable with heavy tackle, I set up a light action freshwater rod with a small egg sinker, barrel swivel and a 12" mono leader and size 4 octopus hooks. Armed with some sand eels, we set off to fish the incoming tide.
My son is just getting comfortable with a spinning reel (especially one that does not have a Snoopy logo on it), but he managed to get off a few decent casts. As the sand eel swept over a submerged hump, I saw his line tighten and I had him slowly raise the tip. He somehow managed to land a 16" twinkie when I realized that I had forgotten the camera at home!
Two hours later, we had each managed 7 schoolies and he topped me with 2 blues. They were great on lightweight gear, because they could be played rather than muscled in. The octopus hooks were great, as all of the fish were lip hooked, which made demonstrating releases much easier.
Another striper fisherman was born, and to me, this was better than landing a 50 pounder on the beach at night.
My 10 year old son just recently developed an interest in fishing beyond dangling a line off a dock and catching a few panfish. So, I finally got a chance to take him to my favorite UDL, a tidal river. I wanted to help him to catch some of the schoolies that have scoffed at my clousers and sand eel patterns as I try in vain to catch a striped bass on the fly.
Knowing that he would not be comfortable with heavy tackle, I set up a light action freshwater rod with a small egg sinker, barrel swivel and a 12" mono leader and size 4 octopus hooks. Armed with some sand eels, we set off to fish the incoming tide.
My son is just getting comfortable with a spinning reel (especially one that does not have a Snoopy logo on it), but he managed to get off a few decent casts. As the sand eel swept over a submerged hump, I saw his line tighten and I had him slowly raise the tip. He somehow managed to land a 16" twinkie when I realized that I had forgotten the camera at home!
Two hours later, we had each managed 7 schoolies and he topped me with 2 blues. They were great on lightweight gear, because they could be played rather than muscled in. The octopus hooks were great, as all of the fish were lip hooked, which made demonstrating releases much easier.
Another striper fisherman was born, and to me, this was better than landing a 50 pounder on the beach at night.