My daughter caught a bass entirely on her own for the first time. I rigged a small, brown Slug-Go on a 3/0 hook and she did the whole thing by herself:



Later, my kids went to fish in a scour hole formed by a storm drain that feeds into the pond. They started saying things like, "Dad, there's two bass down here"; "I can see 'em right in front of me"; "There's a big one and a little one"; "The little one is chasing the big one and the big one keeps rolling over on its side." Suddenly, a light went on in my head, so I asked, "Is there a round, gravel area beneath them?" They said, "Yeah, it's about two or three feet across and the fish keep coming back to it."

I've never seen bass on a nest before, so this was a fun experience for all of us. We watched the fish for about 20 minutes (while trying to catch them, I'll admit). As my kids said, the male kept bumping into the female and she would roll over onto her side before righting herself. I tried to explain that that is the bass's way of "dating" because they were getting ready to lay eggs. I'm pretty sure they hadn't spawned yet because the bass were not overly defensive of their nest, but we did see the male try to blow my kids' lures away a few times.

I've read about bass nesting habits before, but to see them in two feet of water, and literally two feet from shore, was a genuine privilege. Here's a picture of my kids trying to catch the bass:



Update: We went back on Thursday night and the bass had spawned. My older daughter caught the male off the nest, and then did her best Jimmy Houston impersonation:



Does anyone else dress this fashionably when they fish?

Nice day on the water isn't it!? I still remember Kacy my little girl getting second at the Bass Derby on Travis AFB in CA. Very cool to share the outdoors with the kids. Nice work!

John

thats awesome man

Nothing like family time.

california fish are cool to catch, know travis well, did she get it at clear lake or barryessa

No literally on Travis at the duck pond. They held a kids bass derby. She slayed 22 bass with a weightless Yum Dinger in watermelon/candy.

John

+1

What lake r u at pm me and tell me plz

Thats Sweet!

awesome post, thats what memories are all about