
The face that only a mother could love... but hey, don't rule out fathers, either!
Happy Monday Spacefish!
How do you all like that picture of the Sheepshead above? I mean, my lord, what an ugly mug. That is the face that only a mother could love. But we’re not talking about mothers today, today is a Father’s Day weekend special! I hope everyone had a great Father’s Day weekend, and if you are reading this and you are a dad, then Happy Father’s Day to you!
This week’s report will be about a special Father’s Day fishing trip I took with my two sons and my dad. My parents recently became members of the 321 Boat Rental Club on the Eau Gallie River, so to celebrate Father’s Day, 3 generations of Robinson boys hit the water in a rental boat, and we had an absolute blast!
Make It Fun for the Kids (Of All Ages)
I’ve talked about fishing with my kids quite a few times on here over the years. They’re getting good for 4- and 5-year-old standards, but they’re still kids who are 4 and 5 years old, respectively. My dad is turning 63 this July, but in many ways he’s the biggest kid of all. He’s never been into fishing and gets bored easily, so yeah…
One thing that many of us die-hard anglers deal with is taking out our loved ones on special occasions, who may not have the patience or skill to do what we do regularly. One of the worst things we can do is to be angry or frustrated, especially with our spouses or children. That can be a quick way to turn people off from fishing. But with our children it’s not just a game of not turning them off – it’s a challenge to get them turned on.
One of the things I have done recently is either kayaking us out to spots with a higher chance of success to fish with live shrimp, which I’ll write about on here sometime down the road. Today since we had a boat, I decided to buy fresh dead shrimp from Rigg’s. You can get two full zipl;oc bags for 5 bucks, and these are great options for fishing around bridges and docks, especially when you can move to different spots.
We did not catch anything to brag about; in fact, most of the fish we caught were really small. But we caught so many small juvenile Mangrove Snapper, and a few juvenile Sheepshead. I was hoping we’d get my dad on a drag pulling black drum, but he caught his first ever saltwater fish with a Sheepshead around the railroad tracks on the St. Sebastian River.
Chum It Up
So I mentioned earlier, we used fresh dead shrimp. I had both boys and my dad, a rod rigged with 10-pound test braid to a short strand of 30-pound mono tied to a popping cork. The mono tippet from the braid to the cork helps to keep the braid from getting wrapped up when casting a popping cork. Trust me, it saves so much hassle to just go ahead and tie this on. I had all 3 setups with a cork, and under the cork about 2-3 feet of 20-pound fluorocarbon tied with a snug knot to a size 2 circle hook.
Every shrimp I’d rig, I would pop the head off the shrimp and run the hook through the neck and out the top like I was rigging a soft plastic on a jighead. At each spot, I’d also grab a handful of shrimp from the ziploc bag and chop them up and sling them out to get things chummed up. This seemed to really fire up the baby snappers on the oyster bars of the St. Sebastian River, there for a while we were catching a fish on every cast. We fished for about 2 hours and decided to go eat lunch at the Chubby Mullet, which was incredible, their burgers and homemade chips are, as the kids would say, “fire”.
After that, we asked the boys if they wanted to fish some more or go anchor up on a sandbar to play in the water, and they elected the sandbar. We spent an hour or two swimming and playing in the water, and after that, decided to head back to the Eau Gallie River and call it a day.
It was not an epic fishing trip, but it was an awesome Father’s Day celebration, and I felt really good about being able to go out and get my Dad and Sons on some fish, even if they were a bunch of Juveniles for the Juveniles!
Post-Father’s Day Conclusion
I know that Father’s Day may be over, but this would be a great time to go into Kayaks By Bo and get your dad, or husband, or brother, or friend, or whatever/whomever a new Fish Skinz Shirt, or a Yak Attack accessory, or a Bending Brances Paddle or whatever awesome thing you can get at Kayaks By Bo to make their Kayak Fishing experiences even better!
Thank you for taking the time to read this report. Don’t worry, I’ll be back with a fresh kayak fishing report next week! Stay safe, stay hydrated, and go rip some lips this week. Until next time, Tight Lines!
Really enjoyed reading your report on Father’s Day with you Dad and two children. Fishing the way it should be.
Thanks for sharing.