Tournament Fishing - Not Good For Kids.
 

I fish one of the local club tournaments with my daughter. Since I'm more
focused on catching fish than spending quality father daughter time I think
it has not been the best experience for her.

However, this last Saturday she was starting to get into it. First thing in
the morning on her fourth or fifth cast she had a huge bass blow up right
next to the boat on a top water. She was excited. It made a huge ka-ploosh
like a really big bass. I didn't see it, but it broke her bait in half.

Pure tournament angler after that. Right down to beating herself up over
what she could have done to put that fish in the boat. I had to tell her
over and over again that topwater is like that. You have to wait until you
are sure the bait is under water , or you feel the fish before you set the
hook. Since she never felt the bite, and the front half of the bait stayed
on the surface there wasn't anything she could have done.

She was so serious she even yelled at me when I nosed in to fish around a
dock and didn't put the boat in perfect position for her to fish it too.

I was impressed. She thinks my new boat is fugly though when one of my
friends asked. LOL. She then told them normally its just ugly, but it was
dirty from being out on the water all day so now its fugly. After I had her
aside by herself I told her what the contraction f'ugly comes from, and that
it probably wasn't appropriate language for a young lady. Oops!

Anyway, I was proud of her. She was all pro all day after that first missed
fish. Sadly she never got another bite the rest of the day. Atleast not
one she was sure of.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

Bob, "ol Dad"
You're gonna have to give up some of that Bass Cat promo money and get that
girl outfitted. Shirts, hats, jackets.


"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
news:1115830082.8e207d888d5fc4257628f428538ba117@t eranews...
I fish one of the local club tournaments with my daughter. Since I'm more
focused on catching fish than spending quality father daughter time I
think
it has not been the best experience for her.

However, this last Saturday she was starting to get into it. First thing
in
the morning on her fourth or fifth cast she had a huge bass blow up right
next to the boat on a top water. She was excited. It made a huge
ka-ploosh
like a really big bass. I didn't see it, but it broke her bait in half.

Pure tournament angler after that. Right down to beating herself up over
what she could have done to put that fish in the boat. I had to tell her
over and over again that topwater is like that. You have to wait until
you
are sure the bait is under water , or you feel the fish before you set the
hook. Since she never felt the bite, and the front half of the bait
stayed
on the surface there wasn't anything she could have done.

She was so serious she even yelled at me when I nosed in to fish around a
dock and didn't put the boat in perfect position for her to fish it too.

I was impressed. She thinks my new boat is fugly though when one of my
friends asked. LOL. She then told them normally its just ugly, but it
was
dirty from being out on the water all day so now its fugly. After I had
her
aside by herself I told her what the contraction f'ugly comes from, and
that
it probably wasn't appropriate language for a young lady. Oops!

Anyway, I was proud of her. She was all pro all day after that first
missed
fish. Sadly she never got another bite the rest of the day. Atleast not
one she was sure of.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

Bob La Londe wrote:

First thing in
the morning on her fourth or fifth cast she had a huge bass blow up right
next to the boat on a top water. She was excited. It made a huge ka-ploosh
like a really big bass. I didn't see it, but it broke her bait in half.

Pure tournament angler after that. Right down to beating herself up over
what she could have done to put that fish in the boat. I had to tell her
over and over again that topwater is like that. You have to wait until you
are sure the bait is under water , or you feel the fish before you set the
hook. Since she never felt the bite, and the front half of the bait stayed
on the surface there wasn't anything she could have done.


The bait was broken in half by the fish but you don't think it had it in
its mouth? What kind of bait was it?

"Ronnie Garrison" wrote in message
. ..
Bob La Londe wrote:

First thing in
the morning on her fourth or fifth cast she had a huge bass blow up
right
next to the boat on a top water. She was excited. It made a huge
ka-ploosh
like a really big bass. I didn't see it, but it broke her bait in half.

Pure tournament angler after that. Right down to beating herself up
over
what she could have done to put that fish in the boat. I had to tell
her
over and over again that topwater is like that. You have to wait until
you
are sure the bait is under water , or you feel the fish before you set
the
hook. Since she never felt the bite, and the front half of the bait
stayed
on the surface there wasn't anything she could have done.


The bait was broken in half by the fish but you don't think it had it in
its mouth? What kind of bait was it?

Jointed topwater. Broke at the joint. Its a nice alternative topwater.
You swim it slow or fast and it makes a disturbance at the surface. Kids
like it because they can see something happening, and it does work. Its one
of my favorite baits to put on for a kid. Its poor contruction though. I
keep playing with the idea of making something that is little better
constructed.

... Sadly she never got another bite the rest of the day. Atleast
not
one she was sure of.

Maybe next time have a can of nightcrawlers and a rod rigged with a
bobber. I find that perch and sunfish can keep kids busy for a long
time.

Great Story, can't wait till mine's old enough...

Bob La Londe wrote:

The bait was broken in half by the fish but you don't think it had it in
its mouth? What kind of bait was it?


Jointed topwater. Broke at the joint. Its a nice alternative topwater.
You swim it slow or fast and it makes a disturbance at the surface. Kids
like it because they can see something happening, and it does work. Its one
of my favorite baits to put on for a kid. Its poor contruction though. I
keep playing with the idea of making something that is little better
constructed.

Did you recover both halves or did one half stay with the fish? Seems to
me that if the fish broke the plug in half, the problem was all with the
plug construction and had nothing to do with waiting to feel the fish.

"Ronnie Garrison" wrote in message
. ..
Bob La Londe wrote:

The bait was broken in half by the fish but you don't think it had it in
its mouth? What kind of bait was it?


Jointed topwater. Broke at the joint. Its a nice alternative topwater.
You swim it slow or fast and it makes a disturbance at the surface.
Kids
like it because they can see something happening, and it does work. Its
one
of my favorite baits to put on for a kid. Its poor contruction though.
I
keep playing with the idea of making something that is little better
constructed.

Did you recover both halves or did one half stay with the fish? Seems to
me that if the fish broke the plug in half, the problem was all with the
plug construction and had nothing to do with waiting to feel the fish.

One problem is definitely with the plug construction, but it only has a
forward hook. The second half was also recovered. I got a topwater hit
shortly afterwards on a pencil popper that never submerged or pulled so I
suspect the bass in that area were only slashing at the baits. I followed
up with a wacky senko to one spot and picked up a fish. That supports that
theory. In other words I doubt she could have hooked that fish no matter
what she did. We didn't have a good topwater bite all last year, and so far
we haven't had a strong morning topwater bite yet this year. I have heard we
have had some good evening topwater bites, and I have managed some evening
bites on the canals this spring/summer.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

"Ronnie Garrison" wrote in message
.. .
wrote:

... Sadly she never got another bite the rest of the day. Atleast

not

one she was sure of.


Maybe next time have a can of nightcrawlers and a rod rigged with a
bobber. I find that perch and sunfish can keep kids busy for a long
time.

Great Story, can't wait till mine's old enough...

That would probalby be illegal in a tournament.

Oh, definitely. The rod and gun club has tourneys/derbies that allow any
legal means of catch, but all the local bass clubs including Desert Bass are
artificials only.

Knowing what I know now about bass fishing I bet I could do really well dead
sticking big nightcrawlers into the tulies and overhangs. Just enough
natural movement to be able to just let it sit in a prime location as long
as I want without having to impart any action.

I keep a couple jars of salmon eggs in the boat for when we are fun fishing
and run across a bunch of gills or sunnies. Although the big sunnies around
here will steal a senko if you give them half a chance.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

"Pat Goff @yahoo.com" pmgoffjrbot wrote in message
...
Bob, "ol Dad"
You're gonna have to give up some of that Bass Cat promo money and get
that
girl outfitted. Shirts, hats, jackets.


"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
news:1115830082.8e207d888d5fc4257628f428538ba117@t eranews...
I fish one of the local club tournaments with my daughter. Since I'm
more
focused on catching fish than spending quality father daughter time I
think
it has not been the best experience for her.

However, this last Saturday she was starting to get into it. First thing
in
the morning on her fourth or fifth cast she had a huge bass blow up right
next to the boat on a top water. She was excited. It made a huge
ka-ploosh
like a really big bass. I didn't see it, but it broke her bait in half.

Pure tournament angler after that. Right down to beating herself up over
what she could have done to put that fish in the boat. I had to tell her
over and over again that topwater is like that. You have to wait until
you
are sure the bait is under water , or you feel the fish before you set
the
hook. Since she never felt the bite, and the front half of the bait
stayed
on the surface there wasn't anything she could have done.

She was so serious she even yelled at me when I nosed in to fish around a
dock and didn't put the boat in perfect position for her to fish it too.

I was impressed. She thinks my new boat is fugly though when one of my
friends asked. LOL. She then told them normally its just ugly, but it
was
dirty from being out on the water all day so now its fugly. After I had
her
aside by herself I told her what the contraction f'ugly comes from, and
that
it probably wasn't appropriate language for a young lady. Oops!

Anyway, I was proud of her. She was all pro all day after that first
missed
fish. Sadly she never got another bite the rest of the day. Atleast not
one she was sure of.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

I don't understand... If she's not catching any bass and gets bored, it
would be against the rules for her to fish for perch or sunfish? I
figure it would be better to just let her do that, rather then have to
pack it in early during the tournament... Well, I guess rules are rules.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I don't understand... If she's not catching any bass and gets bored, it
would be against the rules for her to fish for perch or sunfish? I
figure it would be better to just let her do that, rather then have to
pack it in early during the tournament... Well, I guess rules are rules.


Technically, no. It would not be against the rules for her to fish for
another species, but it would be against the rules to use a bait that is not
allowed in a bass tournament such as live nightcrawlers. If she wanted to
pitch some crappie jigs for gills or sunfish there would be no problem as
long as they were not tipped with any non-artificial bait.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

"Pat Goff @yahoo.com" pmgoffjrbot wrote in message
...
Bob, "ol Dad"
You're gonna have to give up some of that Bass Cat promo money and get
that
girl outfitted. Shirts, hats, jackets.



First thing I looked for was kid's sizes on the BassCat website. The
smallest they go is adult small in some stuff.

I suppose I should give Scott a call and see if he can get any kid's sizes
in any cool stuff.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com

Bob,
I've had my daughter fishing since she was in diapers. And she took to
using artificials at a very young age, so much so that (embarrasing dad)
when she spots someone drowning bait, "potlicker" comes out of the mouth of
angels.

She just decided she's smarter than the fish, and by gosh they're just going
to bite the toys shes throwing at them or they're just "dumb".


"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
ups.com...
I don't understand... If she's not catching any bass and gets bored, it
would be against the rules for her to fish for perch or sunfish? I
figure it would be better to just let her do that, rather then have to
pack it in early during the tournament... Well, I guess rules are rules.


Technically, no. It would not be against the rules for her to fish for
another species, but it would be against the rules to use a bait that is
not
allowed in a bass tournament such as live nightcrawlers. If she wanted to
pitch some crappie jigs for gills or sunfish there would be no problem as
long as they were not tipped with any non-artificial bait.

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com