Out With A Bang

A fishing trip fell through this week when my Dad caught the sickness that has swept through my family. With a day suddenly open without commitments we decided to spend the day together and do a little fishing as a family. The usual haunts were tempting, but we decided to try something else and head to a new location. The hope was that we could cross a species, or two, off the Utah Grand Slam list and have some fun together.

Yes, it was cold

After a long drive we found a solid 5 inches of ice but no real depth. The good thing about the ice not being too thick is that you can drill a bunch of holes and move around. Unfortunately, it seemed like everywhere we tried we found the same 4 feet of water. Not knowing if any spot was better than the other options, we tried to spread out and hedge our bets. 

Nice spread

Atley hooked up with a white bass for our first fish of the day! While we were hoping that it would be the first of many, it didn't start the catching how we had hoped.

Proud of this kid

This guy is always happy

Another move before lunch had us pretty hopeful because the shore had quite a bit more structure, but the water wasn't any deeper and the fish were still being shy. Right when the boys had pretty much decided that lunch time had arrived I finally had a hit and made good with a large mouth bass (a species I'd previously checked off the list) that at least got the skunk off of me. 

Not a bad bass

It seemed like a good note to end on and we made the boys happy with lunch. After that we did a little exploring but didn't find any better options for fishing than the areas we'd already hit. With that we decided to change gears and find a place to try out my christmas present, a Smith & Wesson 9mm. 

I like this gun

A good day out with the family, even if the fishing wasn't all that we had hoped. It seemed like a fitting way to close out 2016. 

Hope you're as lucky,

Kidder

Good times