The rising sun beat us to the road as the steam poured from the asphalt into the cool air. We were a little late but I wasn't deterred. My son, just a few minutes out of bed, wasn't looking all that enthusiastic, so I put on his favorite station. He reached over and turned the volume up a bit. I looked over to see a hopeful smile as he turned away to gaze at the glistening fields whipping by. I drank half my coffee and we were soon unloading the new boat. I had used it once by myself, but this was our maiden voyage together. We only had a couple hours to fish because his 10th birthday party started at 1, but we had plenty of time. The river was low and clear and only one side of the dam was open and flowing. Lucas entertained himself by exploring the shoreline and throwing rocks. I got all rigged up and soon I was paddling up to our first spot by the dam. I gave him a spinning rod with a 3” floating Rapala and pointed toward the slow water under the left side of the dam. He made a nice long cast right near the edge of the foamy slime that was stagnant from a summers worth of heat and little rain. He twitched it twice like pro, reeled a few feet, and then let it rest. Just as he started the next twitch of his rod the water erupted into boil right in front of him. His lure was pulled under and gone in an instant, and then he saw the long brown serpentine body followed by a huge spotted orange tail that sent water spraying across our faces. He looked back in shock, and said “Did you see that?”, with his line coiled and limp hanging over the water. I replied, “Yeah i saw that.” “What was that”, he said.”That was a pike that bit you off.” “Oh my god that was huge. He’s still there. Do you have any more of those lures?” I tied on another Rapala and let him cast away sincerely hoping for him on that second cast. I knew after that the odds were low, but I let him cast away until he was satisfied. We made a few casts into the fast water coming out of the other side of the dam. It was foamy and made me think of the PFAS in the system. I told him on shore not to play with the foam, and now we were literally surrounded by tan foam. He asked me, “Is this all PFAS?” I said, "I don't think so, but let's get outta here anyway”. We put down our rods and paddled downstream. The native ultimate 14.5 was fast and light and gave us plenty of room. When we approached the first bridge I told him to make a cast at the base of the middle piling. He looked at me and said, so you think you know where they all live, huh?” I laughed and said, “Well I've caught them there before so yeah I know they were there once, can't say for sure if they are now but you will find out, hopefully.” I told him to switch rods to a green worm so it gets down fast. He grabbed it and unhooked the lure, and then waited until we were within casting distance. He flipped out and put it right on the money. I told him, “Nice cast”. But he got nothing in return.
We went down river some more and I was pointing out spots and he eventually got one. And then another and another until at one point, when he was posing for a picture, his lure dangling in the water beside the boat got hit. He was holding the bass, smiling and looking at his rod thumping against the boat, wondering what to do. I snapped a few pictures and then the released the bass. When he grabbed his rod and lifted, the bass was gone and we both laughed.
We paddled on. I was smiling, thinking that after a few less than stellar trips, I finally had my son slaying some good fish. Watching him catch all those fish was even better than catching them myself. Just then he turned around, handed me the rod, and said, “Now its your turn to catch one”. I said "OK". I told him a story about how last week when I was fishing after dark I kept hearing and seeing rises right by the first bridge piling on the far side of the river where I usually didn't fish because it is very snaggy with downed trees and weeds. But I figured we were having so much luck and the lure was getting pretty beat up, so I said lets go try it now. We paddled over there, and when we got within 15 feet I flipped the worm right next to the cement piling and a half sunken log. It was a pretty deep spot but choked with logs. I waited for my lure to hit the bottom and popped my rod once and immediately felt the pull of a decent bass. It jumped out of the water and splashed my son, not once but twice before I got him on the kayak. He was laughing through it all and cheered me on when had it my lap. He grabbed my camera and took my picture. That was the perfect end to a perfect day of fishing with my son. Happy Birthday Son.
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