Drake and I had a couple of buddies named Dave and Jim as clients on Friday morning, though we just thought of it as going fishing with a couple of friends.

We were after the big pig bluegills again, using hand tied microjigs tipped with wax worms, and bobbers - custom bobbers I was dying to try.  They were stick bobbers that I cut the spring end off of, wrapped the shaft with solder for weight and epoxy coated it.  Instead of the spring to hold the line, I used a 1/2″ piece of teflon tubing, ran the line through it and pushed it over the end.  Worked awesome.  Very castable, and no line damage from the spring.

We caught bluegills.  They wanted to keep a few, so we put a dozen in the livewell, and yes, Drake stuck his snout in there and was blowing bubbles.  Go figure.

The highlight of the day was when we had the bluegills going and the two guys were lifting and swinging them to me as fast as I could unhook, let go, and re-bait.  Then, from nowhere…one guy lifted a bluegill out of the water, right toward my hand, and a Northern Pike came out of the water right behind it.  All I saw was a white grapefruit sized mouth, then 30+” of prehistoric predator cartwheeling end over end - right toward me, landing right next to the boat! 

I’ve seen them flash at the boat plenty of times, even smack at a fish on the surface, but that’s the first time one came at me airborne.  I know I screamed like a little kid.

Everyone had a great time.  Dave and Jim came by the store to thank me again, and tell us they are frying up their 12 fish tonight.

Drake and I took our vet (Dr. Diehr) and his daughter Maddy fishing Friday night.  Maddy is about 8 years old and crazy about fishing.  Last spring we took them for their first outing, and she caught about 15-20 big bluegills on spinning gear, flies and a bobber.  She learned to cast quickly,  and soon was doing it all herself.

When a chance came to take her again this fall, Drake and I jumped at it.  We found bluegills on a flat in a slight depression, and again it was fish after fish.  Maddy chose a hand tied microjig from a big box of flies, and that particular one was tied with some of Drake’s hair!  Of all the ones she could have chosen.  Anyway, the bluegills loved it tipped with a little waxworm, cast out under a bobber, and slowly dragged back.  Some of the 8-9″ bluegills fought so hard that after a while she couldn’t hold the rod up when she reeled them in, so she let her dad catch some.

 We could have kept a three person limit of 75, but she learned a valuable conservation lesson that day.  The Diehr family wanted a fish fry, so we kept 18, and caught and released (after Drake’s lick) from then on.  That day she learned that you don’t have to keep your limit, nor should you, just “enough”,  leaving some for the other guy.

It was a wonderful outing.  Rarely do the fish bite that well, that consistently, but now Maddy is 2 for 2 on great outings.  I hope Drake and I  haven’t spoiled her.  Along with so many big bluegills, Dr. Diehr caught a big catfish, and we even had a couple of big northern pike take a shot at a bluegill or two at the boat for some added excitement.

We dropped Maddy and Dr. Diehr off, and went home to clean their fish for them.  Idling across the lake, with the sun well down, I couldn’t help but think how great things were, and how lucky I was to have done this nice thing for such a great little girl. 

She reminds me so much of my daughter Brandi when she was that age.  Energetic, inquisitive, having fun and well behaved.  I thought of all the thousands of times she and I fished together.  I was also reminded of how much I miss her, as she has a wonderful career and educational pursuit going on in Hawaii, and I don’t see her much.

 Anyway, on the way home, Drake decided to jump up and sit right next to me on the boat bench seat as I was driving.  I put my arm around him and wished I could do this for the rest of my life.