Let's Be Outdoor Boys Today
A Fishing Story
My son asked to watch “Outdoor Boys” yesterday, so I said, “Let’s be outdoor boys today.”
We loaded our fishing gear in the pickup and headed toward the bait shop near the river. The bait shop parking lot is full of patrons. You see, it’s a legit old school bait shop with a bar. Right next door to the bait shop is an old marina on the Illinois River's backwaters. It allows anglers shore access to what is referred to as Meyer’s Pond, but it all connects to the river system.
We baited our hooks with night crawlers and, for the most part, did not have any luck. My son didn’t mind not catching any fish. At heart, he is a naturalist who loves gathering shells from the riverbank.
Illinois has a two-pole limit, so I decided to start casting out a spoon to see if I could catch a bass, perch, sauger, or anything else to pass the time. And, boom, I did land a large fish!
My perspective is skewed when it comes to rivers. I grew up in the middle of two river valleys: the Mississippi and the Illinois River. The Illinois River is the small one that empties into the Mississippi River, so naturally, I’ve always viewed it as the small river. Well, for most folks, the size of the Illinois River is also monstrous, so I’m fishing the river—there’s a monster in here, right? I need to have the gear to get a monster!
I brought the TFO Traveler rod with the Shimano Miravel reel for the river. It has 30 lbs of braid and 20 lbs of fluorocarbon leader. I took some time to read the water and noticed some disturbances on the surface. I cast my line directly over the top of the water movement. The game I teach, casting, Backyard Bass, has even improved my casting accuracy dramatically. I floated the line perfectly ten yards behind the water movement. I started to reel in my spoon.
I generally use two different approaches to fishing a spoon to make it dance and flash in the water. I raise the tip of the rod up out of the water and reel in the slack, or I put the tip down toward the water and move the spoon in a left-to-right fashion.
I was employing the first method, and smack—I had something, and it felt big! I started adjusting the drag to help tire out the fish, but I also had strong line, so I started to finally crank on this fish. My son starts yelling, “That’s a big fish! I told you we should fish here!” Okay, buddy, didn’t you want to watch this on TV?
I finally wear the fish out and get him to shore. I finally caught one of those monster bass! Nope. It’s a Silver Carp.
I sent a picture to a co-worker, and he asked, “Did you use a net?”
“No, I caught him on a spoon.”
“Oh, I didn’t think that was possible.”
I replied, “It’s possible, but you must snag the fish!”
So, yes—in case you’re wondering, my casting accuracy allowed me to snag this fish using a spoon.
It’s funny how the thrill seems to melt away when in your mind you have a prized fish on the end of your line, only to bring it to the bank and realize, nope, that’s a trash fish.
