Today I fished with Mark P. and his 9 year old daughter Hanna.  For the second time in 2 weeks I have had the pleasure of fishing with a Father/Daughter team for a birthday gift. Whatever we can do to make a fishing outing for kids a good memory is a must. I knew I would have to work for fish today because they are on the move.  It was a welcome surprise when the first pole out, baited with a small gizzard shad, buried up under the boat before the second pole was out. Hanna wasted no time cranking on the reel(with Dad keeping a hand on the pole) and catching her first Hybrid/Striped bass weighing an impressive 6 pounds.

The bite slowed after a while and Hanna requested that she may catch a Bass. So what choice would anyone have but to help her fulfill her birthday wish and try to find a bass!  We pulled up on a  main lake point and lowered our down-lines baited with gizzard shad at different depths.  Hanna wasn’t content with letting the pole sit in the rod holder so she picked one up and began to reel, then drop it to the bottom, then reeled some more.  It wasn’t long before she let it be known she had “fish-on”.  Sure enough she put the smack down on a 14 inch Spotted Bass.

As pictures of her caught bass were being taken another pole buried-up and Hanna was once again in the hot seat. This time something was different in that the pole stayed down.  It was obvious it was not hung on the bottom but the fish stayed down.  After Mark increased the drag, the fight got going and Hanna pulled with all she had. At last the net scooped a respectable Flat-Head Catfish. The look on her face I will never forget as she asked “what is that thing??”. I can tell you this girl is one heck of a fisherman and a sportsman, it was so cool when she asked me to “let the thing go back”.