Went out of catawba yesterday

I took 2 of my grandsons and a buddy out yesterday. we were told they were getting fish near starve island. We started out and marked fish before we got to the ferry crossing. sow e tried...and tried..and tried. nothing. Went over by starve. Trolled and jigged/cast everything we had. Marked fish galore. Nothing. So we headed west. Fish when we spotted fish on the finder. Nothing. We went to Niagra reef. Fished our way to it.There was a boat....looked like coast guard dragging big orange balls...not sure what they were doing. But we fished all around the reef....not a bit. Marked a few fish there. Then headed towards West sister....maybe a mile south of it too. Its where we ice fish. The screen lit up....24 fow. I anchored.A friend of mine made some hair jigs that look awesome. We have good luck on them. we had white and green with the trailer on. I up a night crawler on my grandsons hookup. Then told my other grandson do the same. My buddy hooked up. I grabbed a pole..and i heard it..'GOT ONE"! My grandson hooked the first fish. I grabbed the net...and heard it...."GOT ONE. I netted the first and dumped it on the floor. Milk pouring out of it. He put in. I netted the next....Got one...Ray my buddy hooked up. This went on like this as fast as we could get down. well..as fast as they could. I never got line in. I was busy netting....unhooking...baiting. Loving every minute of it. All were males....3 to 5 pounds. We had a cooler full then my little buddy yelled. His pole was bent over..and line screaming out. after what seemed an eternity....i netted a female...had to be 12 pounds. My grandson about cried. I gave him a hug...and said good job buddy....you are the man. I told them that we only needed 2 more. My grandson looked at me and said..."grandpa..can we put her back"? I looked at him and smiled. I told him..its your fish....you do what you want. He said...well..when we deer hunt we leave some go...for next time. Maybe we should put her back to get her kids next time too. I looked at my buddy....he was all smiles too. She is your Matt....He picked her up..and gently laid her in the lake. Off she went. He grabbed his pole and rebaited. He caught the last fish too. What a day.....a proud grandpa...one of the best fishing experiences yet....and i never put a line in. This is what its all about.


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Sounds like awesome day with the family.

Great repot! Any Perch?

Fantastic!

Great report, fantastic read, and love the interaction with the kids! Sounds like you worked hard to find them, and it surely paid off with some cool memories!!!

Wish I was five hours to the east…

That's awesome, sounds like a darn good grandson you got there and a great day on the water! Way to keep at it and get them!

Wonderful story on your grandson, sounds like someone is teaching him well...Maybe he should spread the word to let some of those big females go...no need to keep a limit of them for a picture! Just rediculous....congrats to you pappyon

It sounds like you are teaching your grandson well...very impressed with that young man...there is no need to keep a limit of huge females just for a picture...just ridiculous ... congrats pappyon

It's a great day taking kids out and teaching them what you know and getting them involved in the outdoors.They will remember and cherish that day for the rest of there lives. Great job Grandpa "pappyon" YOU ARE THE MAN!

Thanks for the great fish'n story! That's what it's all about and it sounds like you already made a lasting impression on your grandson! This day was iceing on the cake! He will surely tell his grand children about fishing with his grandpa!

Great report! Sounds like that may be a day you and the grandsons talk about for a lifetime!

Best report I've read in two years! Congrats on the great day & thanks for the story!

great story teach them young i think it will be a great year to teach the grand kids to fish with the small walleye reaching legal size. with the weather on sunday i drove out to metzgers pier the parking lot was full say 10 - 15 trailers in parking lot sat and watched few boats come in look to be walleye fishing seen the nets sticking up and jigs on poles. boats were straight out a mile or 2 nice little pack for February dont know how they did watched a few head back to meinke west. lots of pier fishermen they did not seem to be catching any thing on pier lots of fishermen on the marsh side fishing in the marsh boats in there and people fishing off the rocks last year they were getting big small mouth and large mouth and northern pike. wards canal has work being done i think they are putting a pump in there to fill the channels for the new park that park is going to be awesome with kayaks and canoe rentals opens 2017 with grand opening in spring of 2018. they already have ponds dug and got water in them over all its going to be a great year for fishing in the area last year was a great year for perch in close to shore from the pier down to little cedar point we fished 12- 20 ft of water and caught some nice fish we went no deeper then 20 ft all year filled up the freezers and saved on gas hopefully them walleye and perch stay there all year i cant wait good luck to all

Awesome Trip, Must be a VERY PROUD Grandpa. Lasting impression.

Awesome story pappyon. That's where we found them last year. About a mile south of West Sister, but it sure wasn't in February. Hope they hang around until I can get my inboard/out board in the water. I now understand of having an outboard.