Friday my brother came in from Sanger, we packed up the car and went and picked my son up from middle school. We were on the water from around two to six p.m. with no luck other than the occasional yellow or white. We couldn't even find a dink.
We fished road beds, bridges, and chased the birds and wind. Was feeling pretty low as my brother had drove in from north of D/FW for his first trip to Fork and I couldn't even find a fish.
Then we started in the creeks and as it began getting dark I flipped a 3/4oz black/blue football head jig with a Lake Fork Hyperfreak trailer out from under a floating dock. Soon as it hit I set the hook and thought I'd set it on a pylon or strut instead of a fish, then the drag started ripping. Fishing 15lb mono I thumbed down on the spool a little but let the drag do its work and kept the rod bent as it swam parallel and towards the rear, taking my rod tip with it. Circled back and went under the boat and started bringing it back when there was a thump from the gator hull. That fish had slammed into the bottom of the hull like a whale trying to capsize a harpoon ship. I just knew it was a good one and a few seconds later when it broke surface and my son netted it I was ecstatic.
Weighed in at 8lb 2oz and just over 24 inches. My old PB was 6 1/2 lbs so not only was I happy over breaking it, and catching a great fish, but I'd also set everything else right in the world. You see prior to this my 11 y/o son's PB was just shy of 8 lbs and for about a year since he caught it I've heard no end of it. You couldn't talk about fishing without hearing about how he had caught a bigger fish than his Daddy. This was a good day.
So we took pictures, which for the most part turned out horrible, and released it. I've got to learn how to take better pictures in the dark, the flash ruined about every pic, but that's another thread.
So we break out of the creek and start fishing some channels where the creeks dropping off into the main body and we start catching them as fast as we can chunk and wind. I'm spending more time with the net, trolling motor, and trying to anchor/tie off and my brother and son are pulling them in one after the other with several double hook ups.
We're throwing swimbaits over fish suspended at the drop off and my brother hooks a fish which beats his old PB of 7lb 7 oz. We'll debate forever on the official weight as it weighed in at 8lbs and kept bouncing between 1oz and 2 oz. Now as I had caught my new PB of 8lb 2oz earlier in the day I was arguing his was 8lb 1oz and he was arguing it was 2oz.
So now my son is really hearing it, as my brother was never spared when the talk of who had the biggest fish came up. Then I caught a good 7 lber and my son asked me how I was reeling it when it struck. I told him I was reeling real slow and letting it sink.
He said, "Like this Daddy?" as he reeled and then begin started yelling in excitement as he set the hook. He's yelling, "NET! NET! NET!" and we're thinking he has another 4 or 5 lber because at 11 and not yet 100lbs himself every fish is a monster...
Then I look over and see his rod tip in the water and he's bent over holding on with the rod backbone at about 30 degrees. He's straining to hold it up and just as I think he's going to throw a leg over the back of the rod and sit on it my brother gets to him and puts a hand under the rod to give him some support. The fish starts surfacing and the boy just has a hell of a time getting it to come up that last few feet but we do get it in the net and immediately my brother and I know we're in for hell. The scale shows it at 9lb 2oz and it's 25.5 inches long.
He'd beat us both by a pound less than two or three hours after we'd finally topped him. Additionally Sulphur Springs Middle School has a fishing club which he belongs to and they had a competition going on for the biggest fish of the month and it was November 30th. We were pretty sure he had it won with a 7lber he'd caught earlier in the evening but now he pulled in an additional 2 lbs of grace room.
He was laughing so hard he couldn't stop for the pictures. Thankfully it was one of the very few pics that the flash didn't totally ruin.
Kid couldn't even hold it up. Kept having to put a hand under his and raise it up to chin level and jerk my hand out real quick to snap a pic as the fish fell down. Not sure if he was laughing more at that or the fact that we'll hear endless banter over this from him forever. But we can't really complain. A day of fishing with family that puts 3 overs and 3 new PB in the boat and leaves your thumbs raw and bleeding from holding them isn't one you can complain about. Overall we caught 20 with only two weighing in under 3 lbs. Most were 4-5. By far best day of fishing I've had in my life.
Edit: If you enjoyed this post and wish to contribute to a great cause, a cause which helped encourage my son to go out fishing this night, please read this thread and if you find yourself so inclined contribute any old gear to my son's fishing club. 
The kid's grin says it all!![[Linked Image]](https://imageshack.com/scaled/large/837/rcng.jpg)