Grandson loses a giant!

[Jeff Soto]

I took my 8 year old grandson Cameron Bluegill fishing at Lake Perris yesterday afternoon. Fishing from shore with tiny jigs (beautifully tied by my neighbor and friend LedHed) and bobbers, Camo ties into a real giant Florida Bluegill. I mean a pig of a fish! He's fighting it for what seemed like a couple of minutes. This fish just did not want to be brought in to the shallow water. I finally can see this fish and it looked to be about a 12 incher! Cool! Well guess what happened? It just came unhooked! NO!! I was so upset! My grandson had no clue as to what he just lost! Oh well...He still caught several nice fish and we had a really good time.

[Jeff Soto]

You are so right Mike! Through the years, I have caught many, many fish, several of them in trophy sizes. Now, I really don't care if I catch any fish. It's the Grandkids turn. I mean sure, I love to fish and catch fish, but I get way more of a thrill when I see a young kid catch a fish! I took my four sons out when they were little and taught them the sport of fishing and now I am taking my Grandchildren! This really is one of the best times of my life!

[steve b]

He'll appreciate more the next one. It doesn't get better than fishing with Grandpa. fish or no fish. steve b

[robert b reid]

i sure do miis the times i spent with both of my granddads. they both loved fishing. one did the salt water stuff and one did the freshwater stuff. i really liked doing both types but i reall like fishing for blue gills better. great looking pics and looks like both of you had a great time.

[Christina]

At least he *did* catch a nice Bluegill! :)

And I ditto what everyone else said about the time spent between Grandparents/Grandchildren. I lived far from my Grandparents when I was young, but my Grandma took me fishing every time I visited her. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be enjoying it now if it wasn't for her!

[Don Swearingen]

An OOOOO, Opa I got one! is all the music I need. That's great. If you want to get into heaven, take a grandkid (In my case now, great-grandkids) fishing.

[James Cho]

Hi Mr. Soto,

It sounds like your fishing trip to Perris with your grandson was just great and exciting enough to share with everybody. He looks really happy in the photo. I want to have the same fun with my two young children.

I am new to bluegill fishing and went to Perris with my young children last month.
We were fishing off Marina and did not catch any on our fisrt trip. The shore where you fished with Cameron shown on the picture looks good and can you tell me exactly where it was? It does not look like the Marina. And the bait you used please. Your kind advice will be appreciated.

James

[Jeff Soto]

James...We fished several areas and caught fish at every place we stopped at. I like to fish the launch ramp cove and especially down around the Sherriff's Dept dock. Use a bobber about 3 or 4 feet above a waxworm on a size 8 Mosquito hook. Don't use more than 4 lb line. Good luck! Please let the larger ones go.
Jeff

[James Cho]

Mr. Soto, thanks a lot for your kind advice.

I have bought my kids Shimano ultralight gears with 4LB test mono line and Tru-Turn panfish #8 aberdeen hooks. Last time we used split shot rig and could not feel any bite off the Marina dock using Berkley power honey worm and Gulp Waxies... (I did not want to scare my kids away from fishing with the live worms.) I just bought Thill floats (Stealth and TG Waggler) and believe that this float will signal the bite well. May be I should try some live bait (crickets) this time.

Regarding the size of fish, I do not think little kids mind the size at all and I think they will have more fun catching 10 small fish than 1 big fish during the trip.

James

[James Cho]

Dear Mr. Soto, Can I call you Jeff?

I went to Perris this Saturday and used live baits under a float at the launch ramp cove as you recommended, and finally caught some average size gills, about 7 inches.
My two kids were so happy to see those fish hanging at the end of the line.

We all had a good time thanks to your kind advice. We panfried those gills and first time eating them and they were so good!

James