My Best Fishing Trip
By: Eric Griffin
Dateline: 6/28/99
As I am writing this, I am just returning home from the best fishing trip of my life(so far). It was also my first time on a real boat, except for canoes and big wooden paddleand steam boats. It was my baseball coach and his son who invited me, and I graciously accepted the offer.
He picked me up around 8:00 am on today, May 30th. We launched the boat from the marina that I usually bank fish from. The next thing I knew, the boat was in the waqter and we were heading up Fish Creek, on our way to Saratoga Lake. This alone was fun. We reached a point with a nice gravel bottom, and Lucas, my friend, said that this was the "hotspot".
We started fishing and after a few perch and sunfish, Lucas pulls up the biggest bluegill I've ever seen. It is NY State Angler Award size, and he is going to enter it. They only need to be 1#, and this was over double. We fished for a long time there, and Lucas ended up with 2 more BIG bluegill, and a few rock bass. My coach pulled in some nice perch and a 12 inch largemouth in this time.
I casted a jitterbug over some weeds, and immediatly a pike started chasing it. It never hit it, just followed and stared. It did on two separate casts. It never bit.
We then left to go pick up some more of their family, and came back to that spot and ate some lunch. After lunch, I started casting out a worm, and felt a huge hit. I couldn't tell what it was, only that it was BIG. I fought for a little while, then brought it in closer. Then it started jumping. Bass for sure. But what kind? I brought it up closer to the boat despite it's fighting and the line it kept taking out. Lucas netted it. I turned out to be a 16 inch smallmouth bass, my biggest ever, exceeding the 15 inch largemouth that I wrote about on this site earlier. Without a camera, I took one final glace, and let him go.
We ended up with a livewell full of fish, and later in the day I hooked a 10 inch smallmouth. On the way home, I thanked my coach for taking me, and told him it was my best day of fish! ing ever. He promised me that he would take me again, and I can't wait.
Fishtales One Year Ago: 06/29/98 - Catfish Secrets - Mike Anderson shares his secrets for baiting up a hole for catfish - with a picture.
