[jad2t]

Today I took a long overdue fishing trip with my father. It's been almost a year since we've been able to get in the boat together and fish. We started out getting into some smaller bass then tried for Crappie. He got one keeper, I got one short one, so that plan wasn't working well either.

We decided to take a long trip to a place I know holds Crappie and when we got there he was looking for Crappie while I was trolling a crankbait behind the boat. I hooked up with a nice keeper size Hybrid. I watched the electronics as we resumed and caught another one, even bigger at about 18.25". My dad had never caught one and really wanted to so he tried the same thing and hooked up with something large but it got away.

He had never caught a rockfish either but based on what I've learned this Spring about them, I suggested we move closer to shore and watch for surface activity. We saw it and then it was on. We were in a big school of hybrids, rockfish, and larger size white bass. I showed him the techniques I had been using lately to catch the Hybrids while wading and he hooked up with his first rockfish. Nothing trophy size but big enough to keep! For about an hour we had a great time in there. A couple small stripers, lots of 3-4 pound hybrids, and a couple large white bass. We each took home a few good meals and had a great time.

My father has taught me so much about fishing since I was a kid. If it weren't for him, who knows if I would have even stumbled upon this great sport and loved it so much. It felt good to get to teach him something rather than the other way around. I really wish he would have gotten his first Hybrid but there's always next time!