Swan Lake Bassin’ With My Grandson

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Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful, a gorgeous day to get out and about with my grandson Dustin and his dad.
It’s been a while since the three of us have gotten out to go smallmouth fishing, which is Dustin’s fish of choice, plenty of action to keep a six year old’s attention span.
The water of Swan Lake was absolutely perfect as we left the boat launch with a slight mist hanging on before the morning sun would burn it off..
Heading up lake we passed the state park with it’s empty beach , this is a wonderful spot to take a kid swimming, highly recommended..
After a liberal slathering of sun screen..
Dustin got in his first cast just up shore from the state park..
 Carefully moving in and out and around the shoreline rocks, per Dustin’s instructions,  we came across a small “deck” as he called it, actually a tiny wooden float. He made THE call, “There’s going to be a smallmouth under that deck Grandpa..” and instantly , as his rubber worm splashed down, it came out from under..

 

Having shown us how it was done, Dustin was stoked to reeling them in fast and furious, but it was not to be.
More navigation orders ensued and we moved on to the rock pile that last summer yielded a “monster” bass for Gary..

However , although Gary did catch one..

it would hardly be classified a monster.

The most unusual catch of the day, and one I have never seen before, happened as we were trolling over another rock pile which were somewhat deeper than the first. Dustin decided that the orange colored wobbler would do the trick and would get down to the rocks in good shape, which it did as he predicted.  It wasn’t long before he shouted out that he had a bite.  What he caught was amazing , I have never seen it happen before…

a freshwater clam.
What were the chances of that?

Our fishing trip had to be cut short because of a birthday party that Dustin was attending.  On our way back to the launch, with the late morning sun shining in full force, we had a chance to reflect on our bassin’ trip and how really precious times like this are.

Now if I can only get him to tie into one of those landlocked salmon that are lurking in the deep holes of the lake.

I’m working on it…..

You can also find me at   http://maine-matters.blogspot.com/