Birthday Fishing x 3

I awoke a little later than normal this morning, and Nathaniel's truck was already gone. He had left just before daylight to meet a friend for a morning of fishing at a lake just up the road. Nathaniel turned 17 today, and birthdays and fishing tend together around here. He and his friend each caught one bass.

It was a little odd having Nathaniel already gone for his first round of birthday fishing, but I got in on round two. Traditionally, assuming everyone is in town, we'll do at least a lap around the ponds nearest home on a birthday, and Nathaniel, Asher and I did that this afternoon. The bite wasn't crazy good by any means, but the boys each caught a bass and I caught a few bluegills.

About half an hour after we got home from that outing, the same friend Nathaniel fished with this morning picked him up for round three, at another pond. He's still gone and I've heard no word, so I don't yet know what they caught. I know he's be happy to be fishing for the third time on his birthday, though.

Celebrating 10 Years with 10 Trout

Asher's first fish of the morning, this brook trout, took an Ugly
Bug I had tied with fur from a stuffed dog named "Shad Fly."

The final trout I caught yesterday afternoon was nothing special, except that it was number 10 for the day. Asher and I been on nine for a while and really hoped for one more. We were celebrating Asher's 10th birthday, so finishing with 10 fish just seemed right. We were getting hungry and little chilly, though, and it was getting kind of late. I'd called last cast and truly was not planning to make another, and I probably had 10 feet left in the retrieve when the fish hit.

Trout No. 10 for the day came on the
called final cast of the afternoon.

I had wanted to take Asher to a trout stream, instead of doing the regular local pond outing, for his birthday, but on the actual day I was battling a prohibitive bug and he was on his way downhill quickly. Yesterday, one week later, we both felt a lot better, so we made our birthday trout outing and had a big time climbing rocks, wading in the river, enjoying spectacular fall colors and even catching some brook trout and rainbow trout.

If you happened to read my post about "Shad Fly," the stuffed dog I recently bought from Goodwill for $1, a jig tied from her fur produced Asher's first trout of the day, which is the one pictured above. My best success came on an Ugly Bug that combined Kenneth fur and peacock hurl.

We capped the day with a dinner stop at a Chinese buffet in Murphy.

Birthday Fish

It seems I might have told Autumn a story on her eighth birthday. You see, I told her she had caught a warmouth, a species she'd never caught before. Having looked at a couple of comparative photos and habitat descriptions this morning, I'm pretty sure she actually caught a green sunfish. Either way, it was a kind of fish she'd never caught before and her first fish as an 8-year-old. She caught it on a Rebel Teeny Wee-Craw after seeing fish movement near the bank and casting in that direction.

Birthdays are often fishing days around here, and yesterday was no different. Autumn went to Moccasin Creek State Park, stopping to feed the giant trout at Mark of the Potter along the way, and fished a bit in the creek, Lake Burton and the catfish pond, which is next door on the Lake Burton Fish Hatchery property.

The catfish pond produced a few hits, but no hooked or landed cats, which is rare. It's late in the season, though, and I don't think they keep a lot of fish stocked in the little family fishing pond when there aren't many people fishing.

We started at Moccasin Creek (her fishing; me watching), which is a youth/senior citizens stream within the park. We didn't linger long, though, because as is usually the case, camping senior citizens were camped out in the most productive areas, leaving little opportunity for an 8-year-old girl to catch a trout on her birthday.

She caught her sunfish, which was our lone fish, from the lake itself, close to the mouth of the creek.

Autumn finished her time at the park on the playground, and then we wrapped up the birthday fishing outing with sandwiches and sundaes at McDonald's on the way home.

Birthday Bass & Bluegills

Birthdays and fishing often go together around my house, as I fairly commonly take my children to a nearby pond for a while on their birthdays. Yesterday we sort of turned things around, with Nathaniel, my 16-year-old-son, taking me to the pond. We fished out of his johnboat and he ran it. I just sat in front cast. He also dragged a canoe down the hill and launched it in the next pond down so we could make a lap down there and hit some different water. (Bass in photo came from the middle pond.)

We enjoyed perfect fall weather yesterday, and the fish were even kind enough to join the celebration. We caught a dozen or so fish, most of which were bluegills, in a couple of hours of pond play.

I also spent a bit of my birthday with my wife at Lawrenceville Bass Pro Shops, picking out some bug-tying stuff that was a present from Sarah, my oldest daughter. I hope to wrap a bit of the new stuff on hooks today and use it to catch trout tomorrow, but maybe that's a different story!

Birthday Bluegills for Eli & Dad

A birthday celebration around here often includes a trip to the pond, and No. 5 for Eli was no different. He put in a request for such an outing weeks ago and had remained hopeful it could work. Eli's birthday actually isn't until tomorrow, but we decided that the bluegills didn't need to know that, and I'm happy to report that they did their part in adding to the big event. We ended up catching five fish, which seemed kind of fitting since Eli is turning 5, all by vertical fishing with ice jigs tipped with worms.

Cheetos and Powerade served double function as refreshments and face paint, with the Cheetos performing especially well in the latter category.

Eli also carried a camera and helped me with photos, along with taking over as captain for a while. I was impressed by his resolve to figure out how he needed to pull or push the paddle to make the johnboat go where he wanted it to go. The johnboat tends to spin a bit, even with an experienced paddler, but Eli got us all the way across to the pond to the place where we put in and take out once he decided that we had fished long enough.

It was a nice outing and a big success, I'd have to say. I'm thankful that we had such nice weather. His mid-November birthday is a little bit of a wild card for good fishing weather.

Birthday Outing & Big Brother's Bonus Bass

Nathaniel says he got the present when he took his younger brother Asher on a bass fishing outing for Asher's birthday. In truth the outing itself was a great gift for Asher, now 9, and he did catch a bass of his own, which he unhooked by himself with just a bit of brotherly coaching. And Nathaniel even let Asher drive the boat a bit for added fun.

Nathaniel did get a gift of his own when a big bass decided to eat a little worm and served up a pretty serious tussle on 8-pound test and medium spinning gear. The boys estimated Nathaniel's bass to weigh about 8 pounds, and having looked at several photos, I think that's a good guess. It had a huge mouth and was thick bodied and well conditioned.

The fish hit a 4-inch Green Pumpkin YUM Mighty Worm, rigged on a Jewel Squirrel Head and fished on a Lew's Laser SL Speed Stick combination and 8-pound-test line.

As soon as Nathaniel hooked the fish and realized it was a good one, he slipped the camera off his neck and gave it to Asher (which I appreciate), and Asher did a nice job of documenting the fight, along with getting some good hold-up shots of Nathaniel with the fish before they slipped it back into the pond. Since I can use some of those photos with my stories, you could say that I too get a present from Asher's birthday bass fishing outing, and I wasn't even there!

Birthday Bluegill Outing

Birthdays often are fishing days in Samsel-land, and today was no exception. Time didn't allow for a very long outing, but in truth a short fishing trip works best for a 4-year-old birthday boy. A short men's outing just before dark also gave the girls just enough time to decorate the dining room with streamers and balloons and to put out the cake and presents for when we returned. Eli caught one bluegill with just a teeny bit of help from his brothers.

Georgia Ice Lures & Birthday Bream

When birthday plans allow, we often find ourselves on the way to the pond for a little Samsel-style celebration. Today, which is Asher's 8th birthday, proved no exception. If possible, he wanted to spend some time fishing, and as it turned out, a few hours at the pond were possible.

Lap one yielded noting, despite three of us throwing some pretty dependable producers around shoreline cover. Nathaniel had gotten Asher to dig some worms while we were still at home, so we decided to see if the fish were still in summer mode and holding away from the banks. We figured out last winter that when the fish are offshore in the little ponds where we fish, we often can catch them by positioning the boat in the middle of the pond and presenting ice lures straight down, right at the bottom.

The ice lures worked beautifully today, and we caught more than 20 fish, all from the middle of the pond. Most were bluegills, but we also caught a few bass. Ice lures that produced included Lindy Toads, Bugs and Micro Slick Jigs, plus a Darter, which produced a nice bass for Nathaniel. We often use rattling spoons for bass when we "ice fish" around here. Nathaniel tied on the Darter when he didn't see any spoons, figuring it might work just as well for a noisy vertical presentation, and sure enough it produced the best fish of the day. The only other lure that produced today was a Watsit Grub, which I fished tight to the bottom, just like the traditional ice lures.