So I finally had that moment in life that every father both dreads and also looks forward to. My son whooped my butt fishing. Look, he’s always been a good fisherman, and there have been days he’s caught the biggest fish, sure, but I’ve usually held my own. Not this weekend. No, folks, aside from my errant thumb, you won’t find a single picture of me below. This weekend was all about Tristan. He caught the most fish, the biggest fish, the first and the last fish. He caught the most species by far, and he even managed to catch is own shoe. He was an absolute machine this weekend, choosing to leave his seventh year in grand fashion before turning eight in a few days.
Here’s a look at what he accomplished, for posterity.
Saturday, May 27, 2023
We got a late start on Saturday as the dock was being put in and our friends deploying it were using our boat launch. This is just as well as I took my daughter, Amber, with me too, and she takes after her mother and likes to sleep in on fishing trips.
We didn’t get out on the lake until it was about 11 a.m. or so. The water is still reasonably high but has gone down a bit since last week. The weeds are also starting to grow in though the bulrush is only about 6″ off the surface if that makes sense. Water temps throughout the trip ranged from 63°F to around 67°F depending on where one was. It had been quite hot a few days and remained so while we were there.
The First Fish
In keeping with this blog’s mantra of “When fishing with kids, get a fish in the livewell as soon as you can,” we set off for a spot I know holds a ton of panfish. The “bad” news was that the first fish my son caught wasn’t legal for the livewell this time of year. The good news is because it was a 4.5lb largemouth bass!
I had just gotten done telling Tristan that I felt some nibbles when he started saying “I feel nibbles too! I feel nibbles too!” in a funny voice. I kept fishing but then glanced over and saw his Ugly Stik bent over in half! I dropped my rod and rushed over to unfold the net and land this bass. The darned kid has been fishing so long and caught so many fish that something like this doesn’t even prompt him to scream for the net – he just uses it to razz on me!
We kept fishing this area with my Terrova’s spotlock engaged, much to the amusement of Grandma Jean who had never seen such a contraption. Amber got her share of panfish that were legal for the livewell and spent most of her time naming them “Nemo” and “Dory” while Tristan kept going for the big ones. Unfortunately for him, four-year-olds have a short shelf life so we headed back in after a short trip.
Frogging at the Dock
Tristan was undeterred. I went up to the house to handle a few things while Grandma watched Amber splash in the water and Tristan took out a frog rod. He’s always had a blast using these and just loves to see the explosions. While frogs aren’t exactly a lure I’d advocate using with most kids because they’re hard to land fish on, Tristan has gotten pretty good at it. Here’s some evidence: a nice sized bass he caught on one while I was off doing chores!
A Few More for Evening
Emboldened by his frog catch, T asked me to take him out in the evening frogging. Surprisingly, we got very few strikes and didn’t land any. I didn’t notice any bass attacking the frogs and the few strikes we had were likely pickerel. If you’re too far to see the fish outright, you can tell because pickerel will almost strike a topwater lure like a dolphin breaching the surface whereas bass just nail it like a bulldog shaking a lunch box open.
Since they weren’t going for the frogs, we tied on some spinnerbaits and chatterbaits and T managed this pickerel below on the latter. A main goal of mine has been to try and get him casting more and more this year so I can prep him for an eventual bass and pike trip with our friend Mick Maynard of Lake Champlain Angler Fishing Charters. He’s taken Tristan out once already, jigging for Lake Trout which is a more appropriate option when the kids can’t cast well, but I think T’s nearly ready for a good bass and pike trip. I’d better get one on the books.
If these were the only fish he caught the entire trip, he (and I, as his father) would have plenty to be proud of, but he had far more in store the next day.
Sunday, May 28, 2023: GAR AND CATFISH!
We stayed up a little later than we should, reliving my youth and watching 80’s swords and sorcerer movies, but we did get out again in the late morning on Sunday. Looking back on the photos, I guess T thought the secret sauce was the shirt he wore to catch his big bass the day before because he put that smelly thing back on! Can’t say I blame him.
We started our adventure with my daughter and grandma in the boat. Amber’s too little to cast on her own and frankly isn’t as into it as Tristan always has been, so she fished up front with me. I’d do the usual parent thing, casting out, hooking a fish, and reeling it in and then handing her the rod. This is fine for her and she just likes to see how many white perch she can get in a livewell and if she can remember all their names.
Meanwhile, in the back, Tristan went to work. We fished the Vermont shoreline near Crown Point. It’s a well known spot so I don’t think I’m giving much away since there’s always a line of boats doing the drift. Anyway, T got his fill here with a decent smallie that gave him a good fight.
It was only after we’d dropped off his sister that Tristan really started to knock me out. As we drifted along, we saw a large group of gar spawning on some rocks. Tristan, naturally, got all excited and wanted to catch one. I just chucked “knowing better” that spawning fish aren’t going to be interested in eating. Well, I was wrong because this gar right here smacked Tristan’s nightcrawler and bent his rod clear over. All I heard was “I told you, Dad! I TOLD you!” while he fought the fish in. Netting it, I was just happy that I had lost a giant carp last year that compelled me to upsize the net as this was a breeze and I wouldn’t have wanted to lose it on him!
He wasn’t so crazy about picking up this fish without a rag, which I’d say is probably fine for this species. You really want to be careful about doing this with most fish because they have an external slime that protects them from disease and such, but these gar are completely armored and in any event, no one is going to tell me this rag is going to do more damage than the rocks they’re going to be swirling all about as they spawn over the next few weeks.
The VERY NEXT CAST
On his VERY NEXT CAST his rod bent over again. At first I thought it might be another gar, but this one fought different. It’s funny, but you can usually tell what sort of fish you have on based on how it fights – or at least narrow it down considerably. While gar make long fast runs relatively close to the surface, this fish was going deep. The two fish on Champlain that do that consistently are catfish and carp, so I figured it was one of them.
This fight lasted a good 3-4 minutes though to a father it probably seemed like twenty. Honestly, when you saw the relief in his face and heard him complain of the aches in his arms, it probably seemed like twenty to him as well! This catfish went about eight pounds, which to a kid is huge. Again, I had a very proud moment as a father watching him expertly bring this one in. It’s not that easy to land a fish this big, keeping it away from the motor. I didn’t touch his rod once and the most guidance I had to give him was “Take it easy… Take it easy.” He did the rest!
Until Next Time!
Well, you know that even a day like this wouldn’t satisfy Tristan, so we were back out at it until night, using my navigation lights for pretty much the first time ever, trying to catch more. He actually had what I’d estimate to be a 4-5lb northern pike on the line right to the boat, but the boat got stuck in the hook for my bow storage netting and I couldn’t get to it in time. Honestly, with fish like pike and pickerel, sometimes you’d rather they shake off right next to the boat unless they’re true trophies, but try telling that to a kid!
We’ll be back soon enough. Maybe next year I’ll finally sign him up for the Vermont Master Angler Program as I believe he would have had three fish this trip that would have qualified!
Thanks all,
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