Local Summer Smallies

This morning Cheryl told me that the C-ster has been wanting to go fishing with me.  She asked if I thought I could find a few fish close to home in a place the whole family could go.  I had an idea, but I had no clue if it would work out.  It turns out that it worked out great!

The C-ster and I with my biggest Yakima River smallie yet!

During the summer the lower Yakima River is a nursery for little bass - and I mean little.  Most of the larger fish migrate back into the cooler Columbia River.  A few medium sized fish stick around though, and those were what we were after.  Fishing today was as simple as can be - light spinning rods and 3" grubs and tubes.  Luckily we were able to locate some fish, and between Cheryl and I we caught a dozen or so little bronzebacks in a couple hours.

The C-ster and Thing-2 were super excited to touch the fish.  The sound track to this picture is "eye - eye - eye".

  I love smallmouth.  Although most of the fish are small, they fight like crazy.  The fish above bent the ultralight rod to the grip, and even took out some drag!  Even more fun, today's adventures took place less than ten minutes from home, it was a cool way to spend a hot summer morning, and as you can tell from the pictures below, everyone had a great time!  Cheryl got to fish quite a bit and did well, but our pictures of her didn't turn out too great.

The C-ster.  He reeled in his first fish today, and he had a great time wading (to his belly button - holding my hand - don't worry) and "swimming".

Thing 2 loves the "-iver, -iver, -iver."  She's a cutie pie!