My next-door neighbors, Jessica and Rob Jones, have four sons. Three of their sons live at home and next door to us. The fourth son is Jessica's stepson, Austin, and lives with his mother in Lancaster. The other three boys, Dalsyn, Masyn, and Karsyn, all like to fish, especially Dalsyn and Masyn Jones. They would often stop over to visit with me when I would come home with my G3 over the years. This past Spring, before I was fishing solo trips, Masyn had asked me if I would take him in my boat fishing for smallmouth bass. Masyn is twelve years old and heading into seventh grade this school year.
Jessica's cousin, Ricky Graybill has been taking the boys shore fishing for Flathead catfish. But fishing for Flathead along the shoreline is not an easy task and only Dalsyn has landed one this year.
So, the other morning when Karen and Ricky showed up to watch the boys while Rob and Jessica worked, I asked them if Masyn could come with me to the "Pequea Boat Launch" to fish for smallmouth bass on Lake Aldred. After giving Jessica a quick check-in call, Karen got the go ahead to let Masyn join me... Our first smallmouth bass adventure!
Masyn and The G3 at the Pequea Boat Launch
We got to fish from around 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (5 hours). We actually caught our first bass on our second cast. It was a beautiful 16.25" smallmouth that bit a War Eagle 1/2 oz. spinnerbait... It was the first of about ten bass that grabbed our bass lures throughout the day.
The sky was partly cloudy and the water temperature was showing 74.7 degrees on my Lowrance X-65. The Safe Harbor Dam was dumping a lot of stained-green water and had up to eight gates opened... A ton of water filling the lower pool. The dumping siren was going off quite often while we were there. The Safe Harbor website indicated that the water level was being kept at 168'. 169' was the overflow level at the Holtwood Dam Flood Flashboards.
As we rounded the corner of the pool below the dam and into the rock garden, I gave Masyn my Daiwa 2500 with a 5" Senko on a 5/0 Gamakatzu worm hook and a 1/8th oz. worm weight that was Texas rigged. Well, that was the trick for Masyn's first smallmouth bass of the day...
Masyn's First Smallie of the Day
Although she wasn't a monster, Masyn was now on the board and even started to get smallies to hit his spinnerbait on his baitcaster. He ended up finally catching his very first smallmouth bass on his baitcaster!
You can see that he is now smiling... He had only ever caught a bluegill on the baitcaster prior to this first smallmouth bass.
Masyn Smiles After First Smallie on Baitcaster Combo
A Second Baitcaster Smallmouth Bass
As the day began to wind down, I wanted to take Masyn to "Turtle Rock" to show him the "Susquehannock Indian Petroglyphs". He told me that he had heard about these rock etchings at Pequea Elemetary. This was the first time that he had ever been on Lake Aldred to see these world famous petroglyphs...
Masyn Checking Out The Susquehannock IndianPetroglyphs
Susquehannock Indian Petroglyphs #2
We had a great day fishing together for our first trip together on my G3. Julie had made us a couple of scrumptious sandwiches and had also packed us a nice lunch. We had taken a break around 1:00 p.m. to eat lunch and reviewed our first half of our fishing adventure while eating sandwiches and hydrating ourselves.
I am sure that this will not be our last fishing adventure together. Masyn's older brother, Dalsyn, is also excited about fishing with me in the near future.. I'll have to try to do my best in balance the fishing trip for the remaining Summer.
Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad
