Hamilton Harbour Fishing Derby

[cwpres]

Attended the Hamilton Harbour Fishing Derby yesterday with the kids. What a great event! There's no entry fee and they were handing out free fishing rods for all the kids. And there were great prizes!

 

I met Tony, Hammercarp, Hairrig, Tristin and some others that I've seen on the boards.

 

Naturally, we brought the carp gear, and were soon into our first fish. I think it was the first fish caught at that weigh station, since they didn't have anything recorded when we brought it over. It was my son Adam's first carp, and was a respectable 53 cm.

 

The second fish ran back and forth the pier and got tangled up in all the lines. A kind bystander helped untangle all the lines. It was my son Joseph's first carp as well, and was a little bigger, at 63 cm. Unfortunately, I had forgotten the camera in the car, so didn't get any pics of the fish.

 

The third fish hit while I was baiting up another rod, and took my rod right into the lake! I jumped for it, but it flipped right over the rail. I grabbed my net and tried to scoop it up but it dissapeard too fast. :-( It wasn't a baitrunner, and I didn't have the drag set light enough... Tried to feel around where it went down with a 2 oz sinker, but couldn't detect it.

 

That was all the fish we got. It started to rain, so we packed up and waited around to see if we got any prizes. Sure enough, Joe's fish took first place in the 10 and under carp class, and he won a nano ipod and a nice bike! Awesome prizes! Kind of makes up for the lost rod...

 

Anyway, I got the bike back to the car, and wondered how I was going to get it home. Ended up putting it in the front passenger seat! LOL. It was a fun day!

[hammercarp]

Congratulations to your son Joeseph and your son Adam on his first carp. Too bad about the rod. You are not the first and won't be the last guy to lose his gear to a carp. Rods and reels can be replaced nothing will replace the memories you made with your boys.

[Ralph Field]

Well said!

[Mike Pike]

What a great time that must have been. And congratulations for you prize winning son Joseph and to Adam for his first-ever carp! They're both winners on this day!