Teaching Cal to fish

After a couple of Elite tournaments and an Open, it’s time for some rest and it’s time to spend some time with the family at the house.

This time off is a real good deal as far as I’m concerned. After a couple of Elite tournaments and an Open, it’s time for some rest and it’s time to spend some time with the family at the house.

I fished hard and my place in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year race is improving. I’m standing 36 right now. I’d rather be higher but I figure if I keep my head down and fish as hard as I can, everything will take care of itself when Classic time rolls around. There’s no point in worrying about every little detail before you need to do so.

This midseason rest and relaxation doesn’t mean things haven’t been busy around here, though. My morning was dedicated to installing Power-Poles on my boat. They’re well designed so they go on fairly easy but there’s still some work to them, and work is a four letter word when your son is sitting on the dock waiting for you to take him fishing.

He was doing that today. I don’t know if I felt sorrier for him or for me. But hey, it could be worse. I could be in a position where I couldn’t take him at all. Besides, this is Guntersville. They’re always biting somewhere out there.

I can’t say that one activity with one of my kids is more fun than any other. Like most parents I love all my children and generally enjoy doing what they want to do. I get a lot of pleasure from giving them pleasure. Nevertheless, it’s really neat to teach a youngster how to fish, especially when that youngster is your son.

We’ve spent the late morning and early afternoon — we didn’t get started until almost noon — chasing them from place to place. Cal put two in the boat right away. They weighed at least 4 pounds each. I’m hoping he gets a couple even bigger than that by the end of the day. I’ve attached a photo of one of his fish so you can see what I’m talking about. There’s no faking that look on his face.

We’re hoping to fish as much as we can this week but I have to admit that much of my time will be spent getting ready for the grand opening of Chris Lane Outdoors. That’s important, too. It’s on Friday of this week.

It seems like there’s always something to do or a decision to make when it comes to running a tackle shop. And every one of them seems to be important. I’ll be glad when my mom and dad get here. They’ll help put things together. We’re having a fish fry in the afternoon. Dad’s going to do the cooking. That’s a big job. With him doing it, I know it’ll be done right. That takes a load off my mind.

Next week we’ll talk a little about late spring and early summer bass patterns. The grass is getting thicker and the mats are getting bigger every time I look at them.