Had some good weather this last Thursday for our weeknight tournament, it was on a lake that usually produces quite a few fish, and I needed a partner, so I decided to take Lake with me so he could fish in his first tournament. He was so excited when I told him that I wasn't sure I could get him to take a nap before we left, thankfully he did because I'd been at work the night before and needed to sleep too.

 

He did pretty good casting and retrieving his baits, had a couple good blowups on a plopper but I think they scared him because he'd stop reeling each time it happened and they'd let go before he'd start reeling again. I lost him once the snacks came out, he got up and made a few more cast each time I'd catch a fish, but he was pretty busy snacking and talking to any other boat or kayaker that came close enough to talk to. We got to talk and just enjoy a nice night on the water. He loved the clip on hat light when it got dark, not so much when the bugs started coming to it. 

 

I don't remember a time recently when I missed or lost so many fish in such a short period of time, but I'm positive I lost way more fish than I caught, and I caught quite a few. Some of the fish that I missed or came off felt really nice, which really stinks on a lake known for small fish. I found one school of fish blasting bluegill on a shoreline between two brushpiles that were all way bigger than average but I couldn't get any of them to bite even when there were bluegills getting knocked in the air everywhere. 

 

I was pretty happy with just getting to share the experience with him, I was pretty shocked to find out that nobody else had done any good and our little bag of fish was enough for the win!

Awesome

Sweet!

We were asked recently "what is feels like to catch a 10# bass".

 

The look on that boy's face is worth more that any big bass!

 

What an awesome night. Congrats!!

Sounds like a heck of an experience for the youngster and you as well! Way to make some great memories! The world needs more of this!

Awesome job!!

1st tournament and gets his first win!!

Too cool!

Cool pics and awesome name that kid has! 

he looks like a pro to me.nice!!!! if I fished tournaments I would want to borrow him way to go LAKE!

17 hours ago, DINK WHISPERER said:

Cool pics and awesome name that kid has! 

We had an agreement that if we had boys I got to name them and if they were girls my wife got to name them (within reason). That's how I ended up with 2 boys named Lake and Finn. 

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

We had an agreement that if we had boys I got to name them and if they were girls my wife got to name them (within reason). That's how I ended up with 2 boys named Lake and Finn. 

I won't lie, when I first read the thread title, I thought you were referring to a lake that had never had a tournament on it before ?

I am envious of you @Bluebasser86 I can’t wait for the day to have my son fish a tourney. Congrats on a timeless memory!!!