Teaching fishing skills to a new generation in Texas

At nearly 82 years of age, I find myself thinking about passing on the outdoor hunting and fishing skills to younger people more often. Of my six grandchildren, only my granddaughter, Demaris, really cares about outdoor sports. I have done lots of hunting and fishing trips with her and will go more often now that she has moved back to Texas.

So with only one grandchild that has my interests, I am helping others with their grandchildren. My friend, Robert Hillegeist, and his wife, Carolyn, were enjoying a very relaxed life of retirement in a beautiful home on Canyon Lake. Then, their life suddenly changed. Recently Robert and a friend made a fast trip to North Carolina to bring home two of his grandchildren. Robert and Carolyn are the legal parents now of an 11-yearold boy, Tristan, and an 8-year-old girl, Storm.

Tristan is like glue on his grandfather, Papa. They are always together. For many weeks, Tristan begged to go fishing. Robert does not have a fishing history, except fishing with earthworms on a bobber as a boy.

So, I began to take him bass fishing several times. He quickly learned casting skills. And he had great patience. He was a fast learner. But now, add Tristan into the equation.

Most of the boat ramps on Canyon Lake are now closed due to the drought. The lake is very low. So, I met Robert and Tristan at Sunchaser Ramp, [Jacob’s Creek] at first light.

It was Tristan’s first fishing trip and he was pumped. Wild might be a better word. I tied a shadlike crank bait on a pole for Tristan and a crawfish- colored crank bait for Robert. I fished a plastic worm.

About 8 a.m., Robert hooked a nice smallmouth bass. We finally netted the fish. It was about a 2-pounder.

Smallmouth bass tend to be found in the upper part of the lake on rocky ledges. The heavy hydrilla grass in the lower part of the lake favors largemouth bass.

We fished along a rocky shoreline that had a line of pond weed out to about 10-feet depth. Tristan was beginning to get casting a spinning rod down. He made a long cast behind the boat and was slow rolling it when a strong fish nailed the bait. The reel he had brought from home was not quality and the handle began to loosen. While he held the pole, I tightened the handle. By now, we had drifted with the wind into the thick pond weed. The fish got into the weeds. I horsed him out of the weeds and handed the rod back to Tristan. We finally netted a f3-pound channel catfish. It’s somewhat of a rarity to catch a catfish on a bass lure. The channel cat probably saw the shad-like lure above him and came up to eat it.

Now our troubles really began. The boat had drifted with a strong breeze into the weeds. The prop wrapped up in the weeds and we couldn’t back out. Waves were coming over the stern. I jumped out to try to clean off the prop. Robert went overboard to hold the boat straight and keep it from smashing the bottom on the rocks. Not only was the prop folded by the weeds but somehow it picked up a plastic bag and wrapped an old piece of duck tape tightly around the engine lower unit. It was a real mess.

I finally cleared the prop of the bag and tape, but couldn’t get the entire pond weed to come off. So, I jumped back into the boat and gunned the engine in reverse. Robert gave us a push and we slowly backed out of the weed bed. We picked Robert up on down the shoreline where the weeds were not so thick.

We tried to motor across Jacob’s Cove, but I had no power. Only a fillet knife was sharp enough to cut those long strands of pond weed that had wrapped around the prop.

It was not just a little after 9 a.m. and we crossed the cove to fish another shoreline. But it was not to be. A strong thunderstorm came up and the lightning was popping all around. You don’t fool around with lightening when on the water.

I have had two close calls with lightening on past experiences.

We ran for the ramp but had to wait for others who were retrieving their boats. While we waited for Robert to back the trailer down the ramp, Tristan and I got a good soaking.

That’s just part of the fishing experience. He’s learning.