# Ah, That's Better! (Proud Daddy)



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Still enjoying the long break from work, there have been many quick outings to the Provo River and other local spots, with some success for smaller browns and white bass, but my big day trip on Monday left me longing to hold a big trout again.

If I go more than a couple of weeks without a 20 inch fish, I start getting the shakes, my veins throb, and my mind starts to go. The symptoms were severe enough that I felt the need to pick my boy up from school yesterday and head out to Strawberry Reservoir, hoping to trap some minnows in a spot I've been hunching on and possibly catch some pig trout in the process.

Well, the spot turned out to be full of mature chubs, which had no interest in Ritz crackers or trying to fit into my trap. They were very aggressive to attack just about anything I was throwing for trout though. Several were caught on lures, biting and chasing every cast, but usually unable to get their small mouths around the hook.

Using a worm was super effective for them too. One nightcrawler, used over and over, was able to pull in about 15 of them before it was mush. The only thing I caught trout on was a minnow, which two smaller rainbows found.










Though they were small, my second was quite colorful and had all its fins intact, a rarity for stocked waters.










Considering the fast action for the unwanted chubs (all released after skipping off a rock), I thought this would be a great time for my boy to work on his casting.

Being only 6 years old, his desire to do anything besides reel in for me hasn't been very great until just recently. Much to my delight, he's been wanting to cast on his own a little bit more, each time we get out.

So with his worm/bubble rig ready to go, he sent his cast a short distance out and instantly had a hook up. Here's a quick video of him reeling in his very first solo fish, a Utah chub.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZycxVmX ... ture=g-upl

Good for him!

After that, it was obvious that the minnow trap wasn't getting any love, so we decide to try trapping some at Currant Creek Reservoir, while we still had some sunlight left.

Arriving at the dam with about an hour of light left, we hurried out to a good spot where I've had success from recently and started casting. The Gulp! minnow was getting hammered by the tiger trout which were out in force, regulating the shiner population along the dam.

Quite a few were landed and I stopped taking pics of them, since they were mostly the same size.



















James wanted to get in on the fun, so I handed the rod off to him. After some quick coaching as to how to retrieve the Gulp!, he tossed out a sorry little cast of maybe 10 feet. Hoping he wouldn't lose my gear, but satisfied that he'd stay busy for a few minutes, I turned to check the minnow trap

Within seconds, I was very surprised (but thrilled) to hear some heavy splashing behind me. Holy crap, he somehow hooked into a thug male tiger, over 20" in length. The colorful beast was full of fight and really gave James a workout.

I watched intently and shouted encouragement while he battled it for about 30 seconds, even getting it unwrapped from a submerged log. Then I started rolling some video where the rest played out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77-FJs1 ... ure=relmfu

Tough break, but that's fishing. It was really hard not to just grab the rod and handle the hard part, but this was his fish and I felt it was important that he did all the work on the retrieve. Landing it would be nearly impossible for him, so I was ready to assist there, just as a guide would be ready with a net for a client.

What an exciting moment! Heartbreaking, but enough to give him a taste of why we anglers do what we do. He'll be back for more now! He really made his old man proud for handling it as well as he did, as if I wasn't already proud to have him there with me.

A little more practice and those "Father and Son" trips I dream about will be a reality...

With that in the past, the sun was melting into the horizon and I felt the need to capitalize on the insane sunset bite that we'd been experiencing.

A quick grab from the minnow trap provided a nice fat shiner and it was gobbled up as soon as it hit the water. The fish on the other end was very nice, but it won the battle in a rare case of breaking me off at the knot.

Another minnow provided yet another quick grab, but I failed to set the hook. This repeated itself one more time before finally getting something to stay on, a 21 inch tiger trout. Nice catch from Currant Creek, my second largest to date.










James, being such a big boy now, demanded that I let him work the camera for me and took the next three photos.




























It was a great evening and my nerves can settle now, having caught something of size again. The kids had a great time and were all smiles as we boarded my mobile fishing office and departed for home.










Thanks for reading and Happy Fishing, Humans!


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Always a great report. Way to get the kids involved. Some of my best fishing memories are with my dad and that was nearly fifty years ago.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice report there. Nice fish there to bad about your boy losing that nice fish.


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## EvilTyeDyeTwin (Aug 9, 2011)

When the line went from tight to pure slack I had painful flashbacks. -#&#*!- **O** Sucks when the big ones get away...sure that kept the kids "flame" for fishing up....but not nearly as much as landing the one that makes the daddy jealous! That kid is gonna hook and land some big fish in his future...way to go father LOAH.


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## EvilTyeDyeTwin (Aug 9, 2011)

Forgot to mention that the video of the kids very 1st fish is great. The way you said, "and its a chub" was too classic. Wish I had a video of my 1st fish..insted it is just a picture...but at least I got that. Too bad his 1st fish all by himself was not that Tiger! Next time!


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

EvilTyeDyeTwin said:


> Sucks when the big ones get away...sure that kept the kids "flame" for fishing up....but not nearly as much as landing the one that makes the daddy jealous!


Jealous indeed! His tiger was bigger than mine, I think. My former largest tiger from CC was just under 20" in 2010.


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

And its a chub! LOL. I just heard the audio as I was cookin lunch. Made laugh pretty hard! Great job and glad to see that you can catch fish "closer" to home. As if and yeah right, CC is a far drive to me! 

Look out for Loah's "Mini Me" or "little Loah". When he gets old enough to post he better have a username like that. Too bad the bar will be really high to beat hs dads reports! Just waitin for the role reversal. In time, in time.


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## poiboy (Nov 18, 2010)

Always love reading your reports. Great job with the kids, but you know they will have the bug, the itch to fish often when they become adults. They will hate work days when the weather is nice, they probably hate scholl if they see you packing for a trip. That's awesome, isn't it? I have a smile on my face everytime my son wants to join me.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Well Done.
Enjoy your children while they are young.
They grow up way too quickly.


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

Very cool. Might be time to switch your name to LOAGT. (Lord of all giant tigers)


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## richard rouleau (Apr 12, 2008)

i thought fish live minnows in utah is illeagal


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

It is. A couple of firm whacks on the head with my snips is usually good enough to kill them, but I always tear a gill out, just in case.

Add to that, I was in full view of the ranger station and made sure to "show" my method of kill toward anyone that may have been scoping me.

Nowhere did I say I used a live minnow. That would actually be pretty annoying, watching my line move and thinking I've got action, but it's just my darn minnow again.


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## dartangion (Jul 2, 2008)

Great post, I agree with what was said above. My greatest fishing memories are with my dad growing up, your son will remember that forever, it's a great thing!


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## americanforkdude (Sep 13, 2007)

Nice report, can't wait for my kid to hit that age. Your kids smiles are priceless, good job on that. I'm sure they'll remember the trips the rest of their lives. When they are little, everything seems 10x better then what it actually is. A 20" fish in 20 years they'll be remembering as a 30" fish, or at least that's how I always remembered fishing as a kid.


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