08-21-2013, 02:21 AM
My wife and I were invited to go with my oldest son and his family (his children and their spouses and children) to Lake Powell on August 15th through the 19th. The trip was to be a water skiing, water surfing, sight seeing trip for fifteen people with two large sports boats. However, I took my inflatable raft along in the hopes that I might be able to get in a little fishing. I also took a small motor for the raft.
On our second day of the trip I discovered that some of my grandchildren were interested in fishing. So while the rest of the family were playing card games, eating, swimming, and exploring the area, I was able to take a series of short fishing trips with interested grandchildren. I took three grandchildren in my raft at a time, and equipped them with some fishing rods and showed them how to catch fish. With that little experience they were "hooked". Several of the grand-sons loved the fishing experiences. However, I was especially surprised to see how my grand-daughters, ages 5, 6, 7, and 9 loved the sport. Some of them kept asking me if we could do some fishing again even while they were involved in the "planned" non-fishing activities of the following days.
I introduced the children to fishing using curly tailed jigs. I used one of the Tube Dude's bright red minnow head with a chartreuse curly tail. I tutored each child, one at a time, on how to use the jig. All of the children in the first trip caught small mouthed bass on that jig. In the second group, all of the children hooked into fish, but not all of them landed their fish. When I discovered that we could do a little fishing after dinner on the following day from the shore, I bought some anchoves and all who were interested joined me in trying to catch some strippers. However, all we caught were catfish. We caught a lot of catfish on the anchoves, but no stripers. On the last day of our trip I got up early in the morning and trolled with some crankbaits near the camp. I first used a deep diving silver Thunderstick and caught some beautiful stripers. Then I used a shallow diving Berkley Frenzy in a shad color. I don't believe they make this lure any more. Anyway I caught more stripers and small mouthed bass on that lure.
We were caught in a terrible storm Saturday morning around 3 a.m. that devasted our camp. It was so hot on Friday that some of our family members were caught in the storm because they were sleeping in the boats or sleeping outside on cots. However, everyone helped those who were caught unprepared for the storm. It was sort of a good "bonding" activity.
On Monday when we returned home on son was involved in a serious accident coming out of the canyon before entering Spanish Fork. I was several cars behind him, and another car in our group was several cars behind me. The fourth car in the group had left earlier. The car a little distance from our son was involved in a head-on collision. He was inevitably going to hit one or both cars in that collision. However, he miraculously drove his car and boat into the mountain avoiding both cars. Our son is an airline pilot and has great reflex skills, but the end result was nothing but a miracle. He totaled his truck, but everyone in the truck escaped with only minor injuries. As near as we can tell, the two trucks that were involved in the head-on collision was the result of an impatient driver trying to pass another car when conditions were not appropriate for that action. The accident blocked traffic "into and out of" the canyon for two and a half hours. The trip was one I will remember for a long time.
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On our second day of the trip I discovered that some of my grandchildren were interested in fishing. So while the rest of the family were playing card games, eating, swimming, and exploring the area, I was able to take a series of short fishing trips with interested grandchildren. I took three grandchildren in my raft at a time, and equipped them with some fishing rods and showed them how to catch fish. With that little experience they were "hooked". Several of the grand-sons loved the fishing experiences. However, I was especially surprised to see how my grand-daughters, ages 5, 6, 7, and 9 loved the sport. Some of them kept asking me if we could do some fishing again even while they were involved in the "planned" non-fishing activities of the following days.
I introduced the children to fishing using curly tailed jigs. I used one of the Tube Dude's bright red minnow head with a chartreuse curly tail. I tutored each child, one at a time, on how to use the jig. All of the children in the first trip caught small mouthed bass on that jig. In the second group, all of the children hooked into fish, but not all of them landed their fish. When I discovered that we could do a little fishing after dinner on the following day from the shore, I bought some anchoves and all who were interested joined me in trying to catch some strippers. However, all we caught were catfish. We caught a lot of catfish on the anchoves, but no stripers. On the last day of our trip I got up early in the morning and trolled with some crankbaits near the camp. I first used a deep diving silver Thunderstick and caught some beautiful stripers. Then I used a shallow diving Berkley Frenzy in a shad color. I don't believe they make this lure any more. Anyway I caught more stripers and small mouthed bass on that lure.
We were caught in a terrible storm Saturday morning around 3 a.m. that devasted our camp. It was so hot on Friday that some of our family members were caught in the storm because they were sleeping in the boats or sleeping outside on cots. However, everyone helped those who were caught unprepared for the storm. It was sort of a good "bonding" activity.
On Monday when we returned home on son was involved in a serious accident coming out of the canyon before entering Spanish Fork. I was several cars behind him, and another car in our group was several cars behind me. The fourth car in the group had left earlier. The car a little distance from our son was involved in a head-on collision. He was inevitably going to hit one or both cars in that collision. However, he miraculously drove his car and boat into the mountain avoiding both cars. Our son is an airline pilot and has great reflex skills, but the end result was nothing but a miracle. He totaled his truck, but everyone in the truck escaped with only minor injuries. As near as we can tell, the two trucks that were involved in the head-on collision was the result of an impatient driver trying to pass another car when conditions were not appropriate for that action. The accident blocked traffic "into and out of" the canyon for two and a half hours. The trip was one I will remember for a long time.
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