Poppie' takes son fishing

Well I carried my baby boy fishing.
He had tried every excuse in his book of tricks to avoid having to go on a outing with his dad. To no avail....I insisted!

You can teach a man to fish......, but this was different.....Jerry was but a mere child. I caught him twice at the boat ramp....standing in a ant bed...said he was stepping on and killing all of these biting critters....go figure!

Just kidding! I want to set the record straight! Jerry Caves is in NO WAY kin to me!

Our fishing trip started a little after nine. Jerry showed up in his blue mustang. Unloaded his gear into the Yota and off we went. Headed to one of the only ramps still open on the Pines. Water level is several feet lower than normal due to the extended drought of 2005. We stop in at the convience store to get our 1/4 lb of minnows. I get a sprite, Jerry gets a energy drink. Guess he figures he will need it to keep up with poppie....grins he should have got more than one!

We are off...heading across the dam. Jerry's jaw hits the floorboard when he sees the low water level. Yeps bro it is way down huh? The lowest it has been since 1958 the oldtimers say. We get to the ramp and hurriedly load fishing poles, tackle box, minnows, and ice chest into the boat. Unstrap the tie downs, double check the boat plug and we are ready to launch. After quizzing JC on his backing up of the truck abilities...he says no problem! We back down the ramp and launch without incident. The old tohatsu fires off on the second try. I leave her idling while I add water to the ice chest for future fish and change out water in minnow bucket from a previous trip. NASTY!!

Jerry manages to park the truck and find his way to the boat. We idle out past the no wake zone then let her rip....to the secret fishing spot (amongst the other 100+ boats.) Yea its really no secret. The crappie stack up in the deepest water during the winter months. Gorging themselves on minnows, getting fat for the upcoming spawning season.

We hook the minnows through their eyes( to keep them alive longer) and drop the lines to the bottom of the lake. The wait on the fish to bite isn't usually long if your in the right spot. The fish are always hungry. You just have to find them. Drifting usually allows one to cover more water and catch a limit quicker. Unless the wind is blowing too hard, then you will be drifting too fast and will not stay on the bottom long enough to catch many fish.

Today was near perfect weather conditions with a 5-7mph s breeze. The sun was shining and fish were still on their bite. I ended up with 24(one short of the limit) while my pard caught 12.
Lets not forget he isn't a professional like me. He has a real job working Oil Field for the last 10 days. He has learned several new choice words, but isn't impressed with the crews work styles or habits. Says he is the smartest of the lot. That doesn't surprise his poppie much, as I've heard most of his bs before.

We had to cut our trip short of my limit so that JC could race across town to pick up his son Hunter.Then JC came back out to help clean the fish. Hunter and Smokey had quite the time keeping each other occupied. KIDS!! We ended up with 7lbs of fillets for our working business day. Not a bad job at that!!

All bs aside....I think we had a memorable trip. Thanks JC!! next time lets bring the "real fisherman" in the family.....HUNTER!