I've lived in SW Montana for 50 years now, but moved here from North Carolina when I was a young man. I've had some phenomenal trout fishing over the years, a lot of it done while backpacking, but I still get nostalgic about the bass and bluegill fishing of my youth. My 13 year old grandson likes to fish a lot and has decided that bass are his favorite fish. We have some bass and bluegill fishing here, but it's pretty limited for mostly small fish. After much research on the interweb I decided on a road trip to a couple of lakes in Nebraska. My grandson was as excited about the trip as i was. The trip was 1 and 1/2 days each way. We used cheap motels - actually the only motel at our destination. Parts of Nebraska are pretty remote.
The fishing was good, not spectacular, for bass, mostly 1 - 2 pounds. We also caught four whopper bluegill that were close to a pound apiece. They were a measured 10" and thick. I had wanted to catch a bluegill that size since I was a kid!
Full disclosure here: my grandson has gravitated to the spinning rod despite my influence, but it's hard for me to fault him, as that is how I started. As you can see, he caught the first bluegill on a Hula Popper, an old school lure if ever there was one. It worked well on bass too. A foam frog worked well for me for bass, and I caught my two bluegill on a black leech. The weeds were pretty bad in most spots, and surface flies/lures were almost mandatory. Unfortunately the kid lost his only Hula Popper to a large snapping turtle! We were fishing in the evening on a different, very shallow lake rumored to have some big bass. He had just hooked and fought a really nice one (20"?) but it got off at the boat. I think it was the first big fish to lose for him. A few minutes later he yelled "Grandpa, I hooked another big one but it is in the weeds." After rowing over to him I grabbed his line and felt movement on the other end. I really had to pull hard and heres's this big turtle, at least 16" in diameter, completely covered in mud. The look on our faces must have been priceless, we may as well have pulled up the creature from the Black Lagoon. It dove into the mud again and I could not pull it up again and had to break the line. The kid was sick, he lost his only Hula Popper. I told him he could tell people he lost a 25 pounder, but he failed to find any humor in my joke.
It was a memorable trip for both of us!
The fishing was good, not spectacular, for bass, mostly 1 - 2 pounds. We also caught four whopper bluegill that were close to a pound apiece. They were a measured 10" and thick. I had wanted to catch a bluegill that size since I was a kid!
Full disclosure here: my grandson has gravitated to the spinning rod despite my influence, but it's hard for me to fault him, as that is how I started. As you can see, he caught the first bluegill on a Hula Popper, an old school lure if ever there was one. It worked well on bass too. A foam frog worked well for me for bass, and I caught my two bluegill on a black leech. The weeds were pretty bad in most spots, and surface flies/lures were almost mandatory. Unfortunately the kid lost his only Hula Popper to a large snapping turtle! We were fishing in the evening on a different, very shallow lake rumored to have some big bass. He had just hooked and fought a really nice one (20"?) but it got off at the boat. I think it was the first big fish to lose for him. A few minutes later he yelled "Grandpa, I hooked another big one but it is in the weeds." After rowing over to him I grabbed his line and felt movement on the other end. I really had to pull hard and heres's this big turtle, at least 16" in diameter, completely covered in mud. The look on our faces must have been priceless, we may as well have pulled up the creature from the Black Lagoon. It dove into the mud again and I could not pull it up again and had to break the line. The kid was sick, he lost his only Hula Popper. I told him he could tell people he lost a 25 pounder, but he failed to find any humor in my joke.
It was a memorable trip for both of us!
