Panfishing With Kids

[sandmannd]

I'm not really familiar with lakes as I spend most of my time on the River or Mille Lacs. I called up Matt Johnson from and asked his advice. He told me hands down to go to Lake Minnetonka and told me which bay to choose and exactly where to go. Thanks Matt for the great advice and the spots, it made the kids' day for sure!!

My daughter Lizzy had a sleep over on Saturday with her friend Jameria (who has never been in a boat) so I said we will all go fishing and get you some fish. They got me up by 7 and were jumping around to get heading out. We packed some food and made our way to Minnetonka. The landing in the bay was very busy but we managed to find a parking spot. I will say that those who park their cars in spots that are there for trailer parking will chap my hide!!

We made our way to the first spot Matt told me about and managed some panfish. Jameria caught her first fishing shortly after getting there and missing a few fish.





It was pretty windy in that spot and, even with an anchor, was hard to hold our spot. So we made a move to a side of the bay that was blocked by the wind. It was very weedy there but you throw your line out and it went under the minute it hit!! We were using small jigs with gulp alive maggots and tried some green crawlers as well. They missed a lot of fish, mainly cause they are 4 and 7 but caught quite a few anyway. Jameria didn't want me to help her set the hook or cast or anything, so she lost a few more. Lizzy would let me cast and I would set the hook right when it hit the water and just kept going.

Lizzy caught a nice fish but wouldn't hold hit so this is the only pic I got of her with one.



It was a great day and the girls had fun driving the boat and fishing. It was a blast to take them out. Of course they had to pose for a few pictures.





On our way home we stopped at Burger King and I let them play at the play center. They decided they should have another night of sleep over and I was fine with that. Got home and they played all night and then sacked out.

I had every plan to get up and hit the river this morning, but gotta say, these girls wore me out this weekend. I opted to stay home, get up and make them all pancakes and have some fun with them. So far, it's been one of the best Memorial Day weekends that I can remember. It will always be a special one to me because I got to spend the majority of my time with my daughter Lizzy.

Thanks to all the Men and Women who have and are serving. Because of you, we have the freedom to enjoy our time together.