City Boy Catches First Fish!
by Mr BFSH
Netting the Fish
10 Year Old Keenan McDonnell Lands 3 Rainbow TroutIt's always a pleasure introducing children to fishing. Previous posts by various contributors have expressed the shear joy in watching a child's reaction to catching a fish. For me, this week was no exception. With family visiting the area from the big city of Edmonton AB, it was opportunistic to take my 10 year old great-nephew out fishing. He does not get the chance at home to fish and he was showing some interest in learning how his uncle Dave does it. Although Campbell Lake has been on the slow side (compared to last year) and the fish aren't the size that I thought they would be this year, I pretty much believe that it's pretty hard to get skunked at Campbell Lake (although I have seen it, twice in the last year). We headed out from my place (Keenan had a sleep over) just before 9am. Keenan was full of energy after a good nights sleep. When we got to Campbell Lake there were 3 mild surprises... 1) very few mosquitoes (as compared to 2 weeks ago)... 2) the water level had dropped dramatically, back to it's normal level rather than it's full level... 3) There was no competition... hardly anyone on the lake. Keenan helped me get the boat off the truck (no small feat for a 10 year old but he did well) and I set up all the rods. We brought a spinning rod for him to use but I made a management decision before we hit the water that he was going to try fishing with a fly rod (I would do any casting required). Naturally, a breeze had come up but we were anticipating that it would subside later in the morning (which it did). After filling the boat with all of our "stuff" we started for the north shore. On the way over we put out a wet line with a Booby Fly but the wind came up and we had to put my little electric motor into high speed to avoid being blown down the lake. No bites on our way across lake and noticeably... no surface action. This was strange to me because there is usually an abundance of surface activity to witness at Campbell Lake on any given day. There were no insects on the water or birds flying either. It dampened my spirits a bit but we were on the water and past the point of no return. Once on the north side we put the sinking line away and put out 2 floaters. Keenan got the one with the strike indicator and a chironomid while I worked the naked floater with a micro-leech. It wasn't too long before I had a couple of strikes but no permanent takers. Keenan's line wasn't picking up anything so I contemplated a change. There were some small caddis skittering around so I threw on a tom thumb. Sure enough, first cast he got a rise but still no fish. We anchored and cast awhile with little success. We were lucky enough to observe a mule deer doe feeding at the side of the lake, oblivious to our presence. In the air, a couple of bald eagles started circling around lunch time and shortly after they showed up, a turkey vulture also appeared, circling above and generally staying clear of the eagles. We finally started getting into fish just before 12:30pm and the action started to pick up. The fish seemed to be rising to a few of the caddis and there were a few chironomids hatching (water temp = 63F). After breaking the ice with a very small fish, I started to hit some 14" fish and before lone Keenan got his first fish, albeit a small one. It seemed that trolling/drifting with the with was the best way to get some success so we continued to to so for the remainder of the day. Keenan ended up catching 3 fish himself and also netted almost every fish I caught too. I thought I was going to lose him (his interest in fishing) after being skunked the first 2 hours but the flurry of activity early in the afternoon renewed his enthusiasm and we ended up fishing until 4:30pm. During the day Keenan learned how to set a slipping strike indicator, net fish and identify a few insects while observing them in close quarters. The sedges were particularly abundant and they displayed bright green thoraxes that were imitated by a few of the sedge patterns (to his amazement) that I had with me in my sack. We did try a sedge pattern for awhile and had a couple of rises from some small fish but none actually took the fly. The other marvel we were involved in was a mini-twister or wind funnel on the water. It came out of nowhere as I notice the trees on shore in a frenzy. When it hit the water, the funnel was about 50' from us and move through a bed of emerging bullrushes. Our boat was immediately spun 180 degrees and whisked down the lake, there was little I could do. Some of our loose garbage were blown right out of the boat, as well as a large bag of flies (over 150 flies)... luckily they floated so we went back and got them after the wind subsided. The weather got hot in the afternoon and the forecast said hot and sunny for the rest of the week... maybe the fish will get a little more active for awhile before the summer doldrums move in near the end of the month. If you get the chance... take a kid out fishing... there is so much for them to learn and so much enjoyment in watching them perform. It's an activity that you can enjoy for a lifetime! Other Kids & Fishing Posts
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