Time to Take the Kids Fishing
 

Since most kids get bored fishing when the bit isn't really hot I always consider summer to be the best time to take them since the White Perch are stupid hungry it seems. And they can always jump in the water for a few minutes of fun if the fish develop lockjaw somehow.

Yesterday I took the kayak out again and was able to catch a ton of decent White Perch (biggest at just over 11 inches) in shallow water on nothing but one old metal lure.

Also, yesterday was the first time I kayaked out in any real deep bay water. It wasa little weird at first since it was really hard to check for any forward progress. I was paddling against the tide and wind it deemed, and with all of the landmarks being so far away it was near impossible to feel like i was actually making any progress.

Oh and the waves and boat wakes were considerably more obnoxious out there.

Tons of fun, but I'm sore today for the first time from paddling.

Any better details ?

Depth - rough area ?

Yeah I guess I could clear that up. :)

About 4' of water, in the Little Magothy River. The river has silted in so much there aren't too many places much deeper than that. Really close to the inlet.

Today I went a little further up the Magothy River. I launched at Lake Claire (private beach right next to Fairwinds Marina) and went about a mile upriver on the south side. Same thing; found 8" to 11" fish in water less than 5' I'd guess.

The only way I have to measure depth is by sticking my paddle in the watder until it hits bottom. :rolleyes:

Sweet! It looks like those tasty morsels are setting up in their summer positions and giving us a back-up plan for when it gets windy. Thanks!

I agree about white perch and kids being a good combination. Livelining is also a winner if you can get near a school of fish. Anna also really likes the late summer trolling for macs, rocks, and blues. We find some surface action, set up 2 rods with planers and clarks or drone spoons and she does the rest and there's a nice breeze from the boat moving.

i think the main things for kids are finding some good fishing action and short trips, or at least breaking the trip up into shorter parts.

BTW -the Youth Angler of the Year contest for 2013 is up and going. It's easy to enter and can be done 100% online. I understand there are some very cool prizes being offered by local charters/guides but haven't seen official announcement yet. Keep your eyes open for this!!

Anna has entered one rockfish so far, and so not very many points yet. I'm looking forward to school letting out and us pursuing some new (to her) species before her camps start.