I traveled up to Texoma on Wednesday with my daughter, Amanda. We got checked into JoeBear's place and launched about 5:30 to do some prefishing prior to taking out the kids on Thursday. We checked out some spots, but there was no action until about 8:30 that evening when we got into a school of fish up top near Soldier Creek. We ran back to Little Mineral at dark where we met up with NoSweat, Loco Piscado, and Kerry Neal. After doing all the prep work we needed for Camp Cavett, we finally got to bed at 12:45.

The whole crew got up at 3:45 to catch bait around the boat stalls at Little Mineral. Axman was already throwing his net when I launched at 4:00, and all of us struggled to catch any shad. Amanda and I had 13 shad in the tank by the time I had to put my net away and make the run to Catfish Bay to pick up the kids. Arriving at the docks at Catfish Bay, I struggled to find a way to tell Jeff Lyle I needed bait. So did the rest of our crew, but about 10 minutes before the kids arrived we came clean and asked Jeff to help us out. I owe Jeff and Sunshine George a big thank you for putting enough shad in my tank to set me up to have a decent day on the lake.

Amanda and I met our kids - Ricky, Travis, and Willie - soon after the buses arrived and unloaded. As we left the docks I was feeling pretty confident. After all, I had found some fish the day before, I had plenty of shad, I had put kids on fish the year before, and I knew if I was struggling all I needed was to ask for help on Channel 69 and someone would take care of me. That feeling ended as we idled out of the 'no wake' area when Ricky asked me if I was a 'real guide' or just 'somebody with some other job'. I told Ricky that I was not a 'real guide', but I had never had a bad trip with Camp Cavett kids. This was a true statement, but I left out the detail that I had only fished Camp Cavett once.

We ran south out of Catfish Bay. As I crossed under the railroad bridge, I decided to avoid the 100 plus boat show at Alberta and go find my own fish. I went around Washita Point, headed for Mac Creek, but slowed down to check out a spot where Amanda and I had graphed a few fish the day before. They were there, we got the rods out, and before long Willie had the first fish of the day. At least 75% of the pressure went away with that fish, now all I needed to do was find a couple more for Ricky and Travis. Ricky caught the next one, but then the action slowed to a stop. I could see the boat show at Mac Creek growing, so I decided to go over and check it out. I pulled up with Sunshine George, and as soon as we started our drift Travis caught his fish. Now the pressure was completely off, I could relax and enjoy myself. It was fun to see JD show up with about 20 boats in tow, and I got to fish along side Fuzzy and Axman for the first time. Willie came through for me by catching a nice eating size catfish (y'all know I'm no striper fisherman), and I managed to hook 3 stripers on topwaters so each of the boys got to reel one of them in as well. We had to leave them biting and head back to Catfish Bay for the 11 o'clock rendezvous.

If you have a heart the laughter and smiles on all the kids faces back the docks makes all the work and lack of sleep worth it. I don't care who you are, seeing those kids whooping it up after having fun fishing makes you need to keep the sunglasses on.

Afterwards, several of the guides and the other volunteers had cheeseburgers at Alberta Creek, then I drove my daughter home and turned around back to Texoma for two more days fun in the sun.

I fished with Loco Pescado and Kerry Neal on Friday, and we put our plan together for the Saturday Camp Cavett trip. Ron had given Kerry some advice on where the shad were plentiful and easy to catch, so we went to bed Friday night thinking we had a sound fishing strategy. Kerry fished with me on Saturday, and Loco Pescado once again braved the kids on his own. We headed up the lake at 4:00 to catch bait, and I was thinking how nice it was going to be to make 3-4 throws and be done with it. Wrong! The shad that had been so plentiful at this spot were gone, and the best we did all morning was 3 in the net. I met Sparky while we were there, he sure throws a pretty net, but if the shad are not under the lights the result is the same as with my tacos. The end result of all the work was that Kerry and I started the day with 20 shad and Loco Pescado had an even dozen.

The Saturday Camp Cavett experience was organized differently than the Thursday one, but it was just different not bad. Kerry and I picked up our kids, as did Loco Pescado, and we fished the Alberta Creek area all morning. There was a tremendous boat show in the area, but we still managed to catch fish and put a few more smiles on kids faces. With runs to Alberta for fish box ice and potty breaks, we were able to make the shad hold up until it was time for the 11 o'clock weigh in. My two guys were excited about racing the cardboard boats they had built for the 11:30 race, so we dropped them off to make the finishing touches on their boats prior to the big race and headed back to Little Mineral.

I'll be back next year for sure. Did I mention I'm tired?

Here are a few pictures of the action.....

Willie with the ice breaker....



Travis with his first...



Ricky gets us to the 'all catching point'....



Willie and his catfish....



This is the crew I took out. My daughter is on the right, perhaps dealing with the boys all morning caused the look on her face? Check out the boy's hands and you get a clue what is was like on my boat.



Finally, I was out of room in on my SIM for Saturday's trip. Here is the one picture I was able to take...



Hope y'all can make it next year!

Way to go Joe. I wish I could have made it. I will be there next year. Looks like you did the kids good again this year.

great job Joe, glad yall had a fun day. Sharon

Great job Joe, Its easy to see you and you're daughter put smiles on those kids faces.

Great write-up Joe, another great Camp Cavett experience.

Great job Joe and all...enjoyed seeing you all again and especially thanks for your time with the kids...joebear

Outstanding !

David Lee I wish you could have been there again. The night before Camp Cavett was just not the same without you and Boston Bob. But I really started missing you about the time I made my 121st throw with the casting net.

Amanda says she wants to learn how to throw a net. I told her next time we're out with someone who knows how to throw one I'll make sure she gets a lesson.

Hope to be apart of it next year. Good job sir.

I am sorry I had to miss it!!! Sounds like an awesome outing. Hopefully I can be there next year. And it's probably good that I wasn't there anyway. I tend to make people stay up later and drink more "adult beverages"!!! It might have been a no sleep night for us.

Bob

CapnJoe,

I had three kids on my boat Saturday. We fished from Alberta creek to TI point. I tried everything but we couldn't catch any. We used live shad, jigged and trolled but we couldn't get a bite even though we were graphing fish.

Do you anchor when you use live bait? How do you rig it and how deep? I'm very disappointed I couldn't put the kids on fish. I'd like to do better next year.

iwannablikeron,

Those boat shows really screw up the bite. For the Saturday trip, we knew that the mouth of Alberta Creek would be full of boats by the time we got out there with the Camp Cavett kids, so we had already decided to fish the east end of the railroad bridge and see if we could catch a few active fish before the crowd moved over there. I anchor if I have to, but with the light winds and scattered fish we were able to set up a drift (I have to use a drift sock to slow my BayStealth down and keep it parallel to the waves) and managed to pick up two or three before we got covered up with boats and the action stopped. Next we moved to another spot away from all the boat show people and picked up a couple more.

I try to set my depth at the point where I'm seeing active fish on the graph. That was about 15-25 feet on Saturday morning. The distance from the reel to the first rod guide is about 2 feet, so you can estimate your depth pretty well by counting 'pulls'.

As for rigging, most people use a swivel with about a 2 ounce weight (egg sinker) above it when drifting. A glass bead between the swivel and weight will prevent the weight from weakening the line at the knot. Below the swivel I tie about a 4' fluorocarbon leader, and attach a 4/0 (high dollar ) red circle hook.

Others may do it with some variations, but generally most people rig this way.

I wish we had met on the lake. I did see Omar Cotter and spoke to him before the kids showed up. Perhaps next year the TFFers can meet out in front of the docks about 6:15. That way we can get to know each other's boats so we can help each other out once we get the kids on the lake. It helps to have a marine radio. I used mine both days to stay in contact with the other Camp Cavett fisherman. Texoma is such a big lake that you can fish all day and not see someone you know that is on the lake at the same time. The radio solves that problem.

I understand why you are disappointed, but I'm sure the kids you took out had a fun day anyway. Catching fish is just the iceing on the cake. We put pressure on ourselves to catch fish, but the kids are having fun regardless.

Is this always the first week in July? I would like to come but couldn't this year due to other co-workers already scheduled off.