Bass opener with kids

[kickingfrog]

Well the bass opener was a bit like Christmas in summer for my 2 kids. They didn't sleep too well the night before and woke up early the day of. Grey skies and light rain were not a surprise but the number of boats were. The bass opener has not really been a thing for me so I haven't fished it. I'm not sure if we fished any spots that hadn't been pounded already that morning but we did just fine. My daughter spent much of her time fishing a drop shot for panfish but did get in on the topwater action the rest of us were enjoying. My son has been on me for a while to use a bait caster and I finally got him one of his own (both my brother and I reel right, my son left). My hope was he'd use it for a bit and not get too frustrated right away and slowly pick it up with practice this summer. Instead, he used it the whole day and only switched to his spinning rod to give his hands a break, and had 1 backlash the whole day (I had 2). Apart from the constant action the other key to a great day out was enough food in the cooler to keep the 2 kids happy. I swear they're part racoon.

 

No surprise the panfisher with the first fish, also the most fish and the most species, six. (and she chirped the rest of the boat the whole day)

 

First fish on his baitcaster. All of our fish were on topwaters except for the kids panfish.

I tied up double drop shot for her just for this photo opportunity.

 

The back of the boat ok as well.

He experienced hand cramps near the end of the day.

 

Taking a break from the panfish to nail bass on a topwater like the big boys.

Good day.

 

Good day 2.0.

We got enough fish to lose count and even had a couple of pike on top as well.

Edited June 24, 2018 by kickingfrog

[OhioFisherman]

Great! LOL, kids devour more food and snacks than those little raccoons! Sleeping beauties! mine had the ability to fall asleep before we would get to the corner of my road, and faster on the way home!

Did you get the " are we there yet " sound much?

[Rizzo]

awesome day Rob...love the passed out kids an the ride home

[misfish]

Priceless dude, just priceless.

[RickOnt]

Now! That's a fun day.

Good on ya  Dad

[Rattletrap2]

Way to go! Beautiful fish and  a beautiful family!

I need to get me some Bass on topwaters! The Pop R is one of my favourites.

[lunkerbasshunter]

Great job!  Those kids will remember trips like that for a life time!

Cheers!

[msp]

Good job. getting the boy on a baitcaster is no easy task

[Acountdeleted]

Holy smokes! What a great day. How big was the bass in the 6th pic? That one is an absolute pig

[kickingfrog]

9 hours ago, jerpears1 said:

Holy smokes! What a great day. How big was the bass in the 6th pic? That one is an absolute pig

I don't think it was nearly as big as the picture makes it look. We only put one fish on the scale and it might have been that nice smallie in the 4th photo. It was just over 3lbs and was about as big a bass as we got that day, except for the pike. 

Edited June 26, 2018 by kickingfrog

[Headhunter]

That was a great report!

1.0

2.0

LMAO!

HH

[PUMP KNOWS]

Good stuff!  At what age did you start them fishing?

[kickingfrog]

They started fishing has soon as they could hold a rod and not drop it in the lake.

My son was casting and reeling on his own at 5 and was fishing a zara spook on his own at 6 (I remember when I was a teenager and started learning, and then got the hang of, a walking lure and thinking what a "master" I was).

My daughter is 6 and handles drop shooting well on her own but hasn't got casting down too well yet. For the topwater lures I cast them out and then let her work the popper back to the boat while I try to get a cast in.

[SirCranksalot]

Lots of fun with the kids. I was fishing with my buds quite a few times last summer but I have to say my best day was when my wife and I took 2 granddaughters, 5yrs and 10 yrs, out 1 aft

Constant action with the mini-fish---sunfish etc.. I was kept busy putting bits of worm on etc, and my wife was busy taking pix of the 'trophy' fish. A total blast!!  

 

 

[PUMP KNOWS]

On 6/27/2018 at 4:13 PM, kickingfrog said:

They started fishing has soon as they could hold a rod and not drop it in the lake.

My son was casting and reeling on his own at 5 and was fishing a zara spook on his own at 6 (I remember when I was a teenager and started learning, and then got the hang of, a walking lure and thinking what a "master" I was).

My daughter is 6 and handles drop shooting well on her own but hasn't got casting down too well yet. For the topwater lures I cast them out and then let her work the popper back to the boat while I try to get a cast in.

That's awesome!  In 20-30 years, they'll be the ones taking you out fishing and you be at the back taking a nap.

[MCTFisher9120]

Looks like you all had a fun opener! Good to see the kids fishing we all have those memories from being kids ourselves fishing memories last forever

 Thanks for sharing!

[AKRISONER]

love seeing the kids just totally smoked at the end of the day