Great day with the kids

[Coosa]

I recently got custody of my 15 yr old twins and took them on their first real fish and float. We have been a few times in years past when they were quite younger but they wernt real great with the poles and paddling and it usually just turned into a float trip. I really wanted to get them on some smallies. We dont have a lot of smallmouth options in our area and I usually head south a couple hours to chase them but I do have one 9 mile stretch on a little hidden gem of a stream within 30 min of the house. One phone call to my dad to see if he could shuttle us and it was on. I was nervous because while this stream has some really nice fish and  has treated me well the past few years,  it has also given me some terrible fishless days. There were chances for severe storms later in the evening but I felt we would be ok and could probably get off b4 they hit.  We got to the river at about 10 am. B4 climbing in I threw one cast to the other side of the river. It was a long shot and I threw it about as hard as I could. As soon as it hit the water.....BOOM! 20.5" largemouth! 

After that the kids jumped in the canoe and i hopped in the yak. After a couple more blow ups in the first hole I told the kids its gonna be a good day! I threw a weedless topwater type bait on my daughters pole and whopper plopper on my boys. It didn't take long for my son to land his first topwater smallie. My daughter struck out for about an hour. I was reeling fish in left and right on the spro rat 40 and starting to feel bad for my daughter. I took my rat off so I could try to find something else they were hitting that she could fish with. I opted for ol ned. Now I despise fishing a ned rig, especially when a good topwater bite is on, but as soon as I tied it on I floated by a big log and dropped it in as I passed by. Tic Tic.....BOOM! 20" Largemouth. That was followed by 5 more smaller fish on consecutive casts so I took her topwater off and hooked her up with the ned. Didn't take long for her to start reelin em in. Then the boy says, "you got another one of those?"....haha. I hooked him up with a ned and put my rat back on. We continued to kill it all day. My boy ended up playing navigator for my daughter most of the day so he only caught 3 fish but Macci ended the day with 17 fish, mostly smallmouth. I landed 47 with 4 largemouth over 19". My daughter caught one with a funny spot. I THINK I've seen this b4 but never paid much attention. She asked me why this fish has a birthmark. As we neared the end of the float the skies were getting dark and I could hear thunder in the distance. I told the kids it's been a good day let's paddle this out and get off b4 we get hammered by a storm. By the time we got to the truck it was moving in fast. We loaded up and the kids hopped in the truck. As I finished strapping down the canoe I was walking to my door when it just instantly started pouring rain. IT WAS PERFECT.

[Coosa]

[Coosa]

[Coosa]

[Gavin]

Incredible! Good for you and them! Keep the good times rolling!

[mixermarkb]

Much better than video games, good job! 

[timinmo]

It doesn't get much better than that.  Great time for you and the kids.