Getting schooled bass fishing with my kids

With kids back from overnight camp and no school for a week, I was put on babysitting duty. As usual in our family, forced babysitting means forced fishing trips, so I took my kids up North for another short bass fishing vacation at Mijocama outfitter, figured I would give my wife a break before the school schedule kicks in.

I haven't tried fishing bass at Mijocama this late in the summer. With the cool nights up North, I figured the bass fishing would be a lot less productive than what I'm used to late in June. We got up there on Tuesday morning, headed out on the lake as out chalet wasn't ready. Caught a few really small bass as did my kids, casting crankbaits. Eventually, I hooked into the first keeper of the trip, close to 2 lbs, nothing to write home about.

After a short rainfall, we had supper and headed out for the evening bite. Took 2 of my kids on my boat, while my older son Ari took 1 on his boat. Not 1 bite for us, but Ari and Levi both managed some nice bass up to 3 lbs just before dark:

Next morning, we headed out early in hopes of a better bite. Nothing doing all day for me, Ari didn't do much better either. My youngest son Eli managed to catch one of the smallest bass I've ever seen hooked while fishing for sunfish, which were biting non stop, swarming his bait in big schools:

As the fishing was slow, I decided to teach 11 year old Avi how to properly fillet bass:

Ari finally managed a couple keepers during the evening bite. At this point, my kids all turned on me. Over the years, they have always been fighting for the privilege to be on my boat instead of Ari's, as I have always had more success. All it took was a couple slow days, and now they are telling me that I'm getting to old, and that Ari knows what he's doing more than I do. They were now fighting to get on his boat instead of mine, and he was nice enough to accept to take them, which made it a bit easier on me.

My kids spend their time off the water feeding rabbits, who's populations has exploded ever since the owner replaced his cats a few years ago:

Day 3, Ari is still crushing them while I'm getting skunked. He's letting his younger brothers fight the bass on a 4 weight fly rod he set up with a spinning reel, to give more of a fight. They managed some more keepers:

I decide to enjoy sipping some Jack Daniels with the owner while enjoying the view from our front porch:

After the Bourbon wore off, I headed back out for a last chance at an evening bite. Again, nothing doing as far as big bass, Ari manages one more keeper.

At this point, I have flashes of J.P Derose's "Getting Schooled" show flashing through my head, the kids probably won't let me hear the end of it for a while. Looks like my 17 year old son has reached fishing adulthood, finally outfishing me while guiding his younger siblings. I guess I must have done something right.