Girl Power

Beautiful Sunrise on Lake St. Clair

I have one daughter that loves to fish.  I have had her on some ponds and catching some stocker trout on a few local streams over the years appropriate to what she can handle.  She's growing up too fast.

My little adrenaline-junkie.

We were supposed to get out for a day and fish for redfish while we were in South Carolina a few
weeks ago, but the rain kept us away from that. She literally cried when that day was canceled.   As I was kicking around where to take her for a day, I started churning on Michigan's Lake St. Clair.  This smallmouth bass fishery is legendary and is just the kind of thing a young person would really enjoy for a day...non-stop strong feisty fish.
That should make for a day we will always remember.

We met up with world class fly fishing guide Brian Meszaros of Great Lakes Flyfishing for our day on the lake.  Brian is well known all over the USA as the go to guy if you want to fly fish Lake St. Clair.  He is recognized nationally as an expert on muskie fishing on the fly and speaks regularly on the muskie and smallmouth bass fisheries of Lake St. Clair.  Brian's reputation proceeds him and it was a no-brainer who to call for this trip.


Old pro

One of the difficult things in fly fishing with kids is that it takes them a while to grow into the gear.  Chelsea can cast up to about a 4wt rod, but much bigger than that and they are just too cumbersome for her tiny frame.  Smallmouth bass require a little heavier gear on the fly, so we decided it would be better to let her spin fish for the day.  It was a good choice.

 

Chelsea took quickly to the spinning gear.  Brian had her tossing tube jigs and the fish were super receptive.  She landed 2 smallies and a largemouth at the very first weed bed we fished.  She hooked fish pretty much non-stop after that.

Her biggest dilemma of the day was that she is such a lite-weight that she really struggled with setting the hook.  Unlike adults though...she just took it in stride.  She was happy to have the fish on the end of the line and went on to make the next cast.  Her attitude in that situation caused me to take pause and think about how irritated I've been when I lost a fish.  She reminded me how I should just

Bent

appreciate the day.

It was great seeing her progression over the day.  Early in the day Brian and I both were helping her cast.  By the end of the day...she did not need us at all.  She's just that kind of kid.  She wants to learn and wants to perfect things.

We did have to draw the line at letting Chelsea land her own fish at the side of the boat.  We observed several muskie follow smallies to the boat.  Lake St. Clair is well known for it's huge muskie and they love to eat bronze backs.  We decided keeping her hands out of the water might be a good idea.

1000 words

When it was all said and done, Chelsea far out-fished her old man on Lake St. Clair.  She reminded me several times on the way home and made sure she told her mom and sisters at the dinner table.  She was proud of her day.  We indeed made good memories.

At the end of the day on the way back to the truck, Chelsea grabbed my hand as we walked.  I asked her if she enjoyed the day?  With a big smile on her face, she said, "Yea, when are we going fishing again?"  It doesn't get any better than that.


A pig we both enjoyed!

Dad's, our days on this earth are short.  Get out with your kids and experience life with them.  These are the days that we make the bonds that allow us to mold their character.  My parents are divorced. My dad was not in my life every day.  I realize what a privilege it is to be with my kids every day and get to be intertwined in their lives daily.  No one loves to fish more than I, but at the end of the day if we have truly left our family behind, well, we've missed the boat (so to speak).  Pray for your children today and then just go and live life with them.