It had been almost two months since my last visit home and I was really missing my family in Napanee. A cold front came through this past weekend during my trip home, bringing windy and rainy weather conditions. I stuck it out on the water Friday and Saturday, but had hopes for a nicer day on Sunday to invite my parents on the water in my Alumacraft.
Sunday came around and it was a perfect warm, calm and sunny day with everything falling into place. Most times, fishing stems from early childhood with parents that are also avid anglers, but my fishing story is a little different. Neither of my parents fished. I was introduced by a family friend and have become more and more obsessed with fishing over time, now being a full-fledged "addict." My parents have been supportive and have encouraged me to live out my dream and fish as much as possible, so it’s a real joy for me to take them out on the water showing them the ropes.
The cold front that passed through meant a drop in water temperatures, which had a noticeable effect on fish activity. This time of year when targeting largemouth bass, I stick with structure (lily pads, weed clumps. floating weed mats, docks and fallen trees). In the heat of the summer, fish relate to this structure as a means of cover and also as an ambush point.
A later start on this bright sunny day allowed the suns rays to warm up shallow shorelines areas by a few degrees and get the fish active. I started my parents off with topwater frogs: a hollow body frog for my dad on a bait-cast setup and a soft plastic toad rigged on a 5/0 Gamakatsu EWG Superline hook for my mom on a heavy spinning setup. My dad felt more comfortable with the bait-caster, while my mom preferred spinning.
Dad had the first hit on his frog, but unfortunately it came unbuttoned before we could get it to the boat. The bass weren’t quite inhaling the frogs at this time, so waiting longer before setting the hook was key. A few missed fish by each of us drove the point home, although we weren’t yet seeing a ton of action on topwater early in our day. We decided to move to weed lines and fish deeper water. My dad brought his first fish of the day to the boat on a spinnerbait, which happened to be his very first northern pike. Exciting!
I fished for part of the day bringing several largemouth to the boat, and was thrilled to catch a nice four-pound, one-ounce bass on a punch rig in less than a foot of water holding on a floating mat. After this, I decided to just enjoy watching my parents fish and focus on getting them into promising-looking water. Back to the pads and slop as it was now nice and hot out, and I had hope that my parents would get the chance to reel in some topwater bass, the most exciting in my opinion.
We ventured into some new water, and worked the shorelines with pads, mats and grass mixed. I had my back turned but heard a huge blow up from my mom’s side of the boat, quickly turning to see that her toad had been snatched under by what appeared to be a good fish. I called out "Wait, wait, wait!" instructing her not to set the hook yet. She waited and then set at just the right time. I saw her rod tip dancing and knew it was game on. She played it out perfectly, kept the rod high and brought it to the boat. Uncovering the grassy beast revealed a four-pound, eight-ounce largemouth. My mom now had the biggest of the day, and her biggest fish to date. A very exciting moment!
As I was tidying up the boat and getting ready to head to shore after our day, I heard another big splash and turned to my dad, who was battling out a nice largemouth. It was a great visit home and a successful day on the water for all. I look forward to our next fishing trip together.
Ashley Rae’s website is www.SheLovesToFish.com and she can also be found on social media at www.facebook.com/AshleyRaeFishing or twitter.com/SheLovesToFish. For videos, go online to www.shelovestofish.com/p/videos_5.html.