This weekend I enjoyed a couple days of some great fishing time with both of my boys, and then had the opportunity to explore Otnabog for the first time with a few friends. The weather was great, and of course the memories were even better!
On Friday, Rowan and I set out at Darling's Island to try and catch a few different species and practice for the Hammond River Classic that is coming up on August 16th. While I did manage to catch my first pickerel in the Hammond, Rowan kept busy catching perch and sunfish in rapid succession! It was the first sunfish I've seen caugh in the Hammond, so it was great discovering a place we could go to try for them.
Later that morning I brought Rowan to a place I know is filled with a ton of yellow perch so that he could not just catch many, but also practice steering the fish into a net I was holding. Over and over, Rowan would hook into a fish, yell "I need the net!", and then steer the perch into the net. On the very last cast (we ran out of worms), Rowan hooked one, yelled for the net, and then expertly directed the his first ever smallmouth bass into the net I was holding! Not bad for a kid who just turned 4 a few weeks ago!
The next morning, Rowan, Fynn and I all went together, met a friend and we all set out again on the Hammond for more fishing. Fynn took to the water in our 12 foot Old Town Dirigo which is way too big for him, but he did great considering! I'm trying to convince Anna we need yet another kayak (a 9 or 10 foot angling model) for Fynn but that isn't going too well! Fynn caught a few perch and a baby pickerel, but then got bored and was ready to head back. He doesn't have quite the same interest as Rowan who could stay out from dawn till dusk, but I think an appropriately sized kayak would go a long way there.
On Monday, New Brunswick Day, I met a few friends up at Otnabog Lake, near the village of Hampstead. This lake has a few grassy areas that are filled with pickerel, and rumor has it there are some monsters in there. I was hoping to break my personal record of 23.5", but the biggest of the 10 I caught was a fat 22" one.
