Here today, better tonight

[Zig]

The USPS has it made. 1.5hrs. for lunch.................do you have any idea how much fishing I could get done in that time?

Probably 1hr. worth.

And I did - by proxy.

I had a few shipments to go out a few days ago, and was greeted with the "We'll be back at 12:30pm" sign on the door. It was 11:20am.
I had ZZ (my oldest) along and asked him if he wanted to get some fresh fish for lunch.
He needed some persuasion, but finally gave in. I grabbed a rod, some Berkley Honey worms, a bucket (shore angler's livewell), and the camera.
We spent the hour at the IWLA pond again, fishing a mud flat for what I hoped would be some 'gills moving from their summer haunt to start feeding more often in preparation for a time of less.
By fishing a 1/64oz. jighead tipped with a yellow Honey Worm, 27" under a slip float, ZZ managed to handle 8 'gills. Six(6) of them went into the bucket for lunch, and two(2) of them went back - not making our minimum slot size of 8". Considering the fact we were fishing a stiff breeze and high, bluebird skies, I think ZZ did fairly well.
What started as a very short fishing trip, turned out to be one of our most memorable.
It started with an unexpected catch:

Was fueled by ZZ's newest PB 'gill:

Any guesses as to the specs on this one?

Lunch had to wait until after the biology lessons were over:

I took the opportunity to explain parasites and diseases to ZZ. The example shown is the common Black Spot disease we have in our smaller waterways locally.
Thankfully it didn't keep us from enjoying a fresh meal for lunch:

What I find during the filleting process still interests me more then actually catching the fish. Maybe it's my yearning desire to learn, or maybe I'm just a dork. There's just something intriguing about stomach contents to myself. I use them to learn the lifestyle of the fish I catch:

What I find most interesting about these is the shear diversity of the contents between the different fish; even though they were all caught within a 20 yard area, all females, and all relatively the same size.
(All the fish we kept had egg sacs in an advanced stage of re-absorbtion)


Later that evening

I was faced with yet another open hr. of time later in the day, so what was I to do then grab GZ (my youngest) and enjoy the time with him by the water. This time I grabbed two(2) rods, and the camera.
As we crested the hill at the pond, my heart sunk. The conditions we experienced earlier in the day had taken a 180 degree swing. The water lay dead still, and the barometer was rising. The very first thing we noticed is the fish knew things had changed as well - they were on a major surface feeding binge!
I reset the slip stop on GZ's rod to suspend his jig just under the surface, and I swapped out the slip float I had in favor of a much lighter, foam, strike indicator (designed for fly fishing rather then spin fishing). I knew from experience, any kind of surface disturbance was going to send the larger 'gills for deeper water. I was hoping by setting my jig behing this indicator 12", I would be able to keep the presentation as light as possible.
It was a painful lesson for GZ, as the less-then-subtle splash down of his float did absolutely nothing for his catch rate. After I handled fish #11, I offered for him to at least reel one in on my setup so he wouldn't forget what they felt like. (We share a common love of harrasment between father and son)

Short, dark video of what the evening was like. Take notice how many fish I miss before I get a solid hook set.

[OldBaldGuy]

You gotta admire any writer who can make the transition from appetizingly prepared sandwich to stomach contents without missing a beat! LOL

[Bruce Condello]

This is one of the single greatest lines I've ever seen in print...

"What I find during the filleting process still interests me more then actually catching the fish. Maybe it's my yearning desire to learn, or maybe I'm just a dork. There's just something intriguing about stomach contents to myself. I use them to learn the lifestyle of the fish I catch:"

Bravo, sir.

Between laughing my tail completely off--and nodding my head rapidly up and down--I'll probably need physical therapy.