We had plans to spend the day on Memorial Day as a family on the boat. My youngest son came into our room on Sunday night sick as a dog so there went the family boating day plans. My oldest son, Harley, was obviously very disappointed; and asked since we could not go out as a family could he and I at least still go for a quick shark fishing trip? My wife and I discussed the idea briefly and she said go for it and within a ?-hour we were out the door.
On the way to the shark hole we made a quick stop and with a couple throws of the net Harley was up to his ears picking up menhaden off the deck and dropping them in the live well. When we arrived at the hole he insisted on catching the bait out the live well, baiting his own hook, and casting his own line, not bad for a young 6-year old.
We set out three rods on the bottom and picked up several sharp nose and a black tip all in the 10 to 15-pound range. Action was pretty steady when Harley asked if we could go and try for a spot tail bass. He didn?t have to ask me twice. With a limited amount of time we tried a dock close by without luck. We then took a ride to another dock that I knew held fish. We got anchored up and Harley cast right up next to the dock. During a slow retrieve the rod doubled over and fish on. We were using lighter outfits than we had used for the sharks so he was able to handle the rod by himself a little better. I still held onto the rod for him while he reeled. After multiple long hard runs Harley whipped the 33-inch channel bass. A quick photo opportunity and he helped me revive and release the fish. Harley smiled from ear to ear as I told him how proud I was of him and with his success of catching such a nice fish. He was disappointed his younger brother was not there to witness, but also knew if his brother has not been sick we would have been playing on the water not fishing.
Captain Tim Pickett
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