Ryan Edde (7mmMag) bought his daughter a Scenic City Catfishing Trip for a Birthday present (although I think I know who REALLY wanted to go catfishing. :grin: )
But Kirsten and Kayla (sp?) were up bright and early to hit the water. With no generators running at Chickamauga Dam, it was a VERY slow start. That's tough on youngsters but they hung in there and we enjoyed watching some generators kick in at 8 am.
After TVA rang the dinner bell, it was on. Not a fast and furious bite since we missed the "early phase," but we were hammering eaters in fairly regular fashion, and the Edde ice chest kept filling up.
It got hot and we took a break for the girls to go swimming... then they were very patient while me and Dad spent an hour or two with the big rods in search of a big bite, that didn't materialize.
My big fish bite has been way off.
THAT IS until we went back to drifting light tackle so the girls could fish. Great story here ... 7-year-old Kayla's rod bowed down and it looked like she'd hung the bottom. Dad took her rod and was actually trying to break the line, but it was awkward because he was still holding his rod as well.
I said, "Here, give it to me."
I took Kayla's rod, felt it throb, handed it back to Kayla and said, "That's not the bottom. Reel your fish in."
Dad and Kayla were shocked... but the battle ensued. It actually went on a bit too long for Kayla and Dad had to (or got to ) take over. It really was a very mean fish, fought hard to start on the bottom and get into some structure. At one point Ryan said, "I'm scared to death." He's fished a lot but had never had anything like this on the end of a light line. Ryan persevered for nearly 30 minutes and "patience over power" put the 26 lb. blue in the boat.
High-fives and photos, a couple of more drifts with a couple of more eaters, and the girls had all the fun and sun they could stand. 7mmMag was going to "hand off" the fish for cleaning and consumption to Thor3030. But I told him the young ladies deserved a few filets for dinner. They were impressive. There's not many little girls who would stick it out for a hard seven hours on the water, in August. I'm just glad that one very special fish decided to reward their efforts, and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!
But Kirsten and Kayla (sp?) were up bright and early to hit the water. With no generators running at Chickamauga Dam, it was a VERY slow start. That's tough on youngsters but they hung in there and we enjoyed watching some generators kick in at 8 am.
After TVA rang the dinner bell, it was on. Not a fast and furious bite since we missed the "early phase," but we were hammering eaters in fairly regular fashion, and the Edde ice chest kept filling up.
It got hot and we took a break for the girls to go swimming... then they were very patient while me and Dad spent an hour or two with the big rods in search of a big bite, that didn't materialize.
My big fish bite has been way off.THAT IS until we went back to drifting light tackle so the girls could fish. Great story here ... 7-year-old Kayla's rod bowed down and it looked like she'd hung the bottom. Dad took her rod and was actually trying to break the line, but it was awkward because he was still holding his rod as well.
I said, "Here, give it to me."
I took Kayla's rod, felt it throb, handed it back to Kayla and said, "That's not the bottom. Reel your fish in."
Dad and Kayla were shocked... but the battle ensued. It actually went on a bit too long for Kayla and Dad had to (or got to
) take over. It really was a very mean fish, fought hard to start on the bottom and get into some structure. At one point Ryan said, "I'm scared to death." He's fished a lot but had never had anything like this on the end of a light line. Ryan persevered for nearly 30 minutes and "patience over power" put the 26 lb. blue in the boat.
High-fives and photos, a couple of more drifts with a couple of more eaters, and the girls had all the fun and sun they could stand. 7mmMag was going to "hand off" the fish for cleaning and consumption to Thor3030. But I told him the young ladies deserved a few filets for dinner. They were impressive. There's not many little girls who would stick it out for a hard seven hours on the water, in August. I'm just glad that one very special fish decided to reward their efforts, and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!
