My wife, Linda, always marvels at my perfect memory of the details of every fishing trip but that I can’t remember how to get somewhere we just went 2 weeks ago. Thursday night will be one of those fishing trips I won’t ever be forgetting.
Linda and I had two of our granddaughters, Lola and Olive, all week. My daughter called it “Nana and Momo camp.” They couldn’t wait to get to go fishing on Momo’s boat. Thursday night looked like the best chance at the beginning of the week so we planned to try some perch fishing. It blew all day out of the WSW and I heard reports of 2 to 4’ waves with an occasional 5-footer. It seemed to be dying down a little so we took our picnic dinner of Drug Mart subs and Giant Eagle fried chicken and pasta salad and off we went.
It was still white caps on Lake Erie and the wind didn’t seem to be dying down so we ventured out around the protected wall on St. Anthony’s side in Lorain. As soon as we anchored in the only smooth water (which was only 20 feet) the bite was on. Both girls felt bites and both Linda and I knew what they were. The Gobies were cleaning the hooks as soon as they hit bottom.
What really surprised me was how excited Ollie was when she hooked into a fat 3” Gobie. She was so excited she was jumping and screaming how this was her first fish and she said she was so happy. Soon Lola had one on and was just excited as Ollie. I thought about all the perch trips I have had when those pesky gobies frustrated everyone on the boat. I may never look at a gobie the same way again.
After a few more gobies everyone was ready for a boat ride. After the boat ride we headed back to the dock to put out a few rods while we feasted on our dinner. Somehow a bottle of white wine found its way into the cooler, so Linda and I shared it while we just soaked in the beautiful time with our granddaughters.
After dinner we noticed the line was swimming away on one of the rods we put out at the dock. Lola reeled it in and a nice feisty little sheepshead took off with it and put up quite a fight while Lola reeled it in. Naturally Olive wanted one too so while she wasn’t looking I cast the sheepshead across the water and she got to reel it in, too.
We then pulled out all the bread and crackers we had and the seagulls and ducks kept them busy for half an hour.
We finished the night off with a Frosty at Wendy’s and the last thing they did before they went to bed was thank us for taking them fishing. No walleye or perch report, but maybe just the best fishing trip so far this year.
Better to be lucky and blessed than good and tonight I feel both very much.
Captain Moses