Twins Trout Slay at the Vine

Fred has been fishing the Vine day after Thanksgiving for years, so as the tradition continues, we bundle up and pile into the car. We make a quick stop in T.O. and grab Babsie and head into the 30 degree fun of Lake Irvine....

We get there just before 5am, secure our pontoon, chatted briefly with Big Steve in the Tackle Shop and got rigged up...Hard to tie knots when you can't feel your hands. The girls were troopers, bundled in so many clothes they could hardly move, but still super excited and eager to get a rod in the water. Fred promised them they could drive the boat so that added to the excitement for sure.

Took us forever to get trolling in that pontoon down...Our throttle had a mind of its own and would speed up all by itself just as we would find the perfect speed...we played back and forth with it all morning trying to get it right and it never cooperated... Fred picks up the first fish of the morning none the less on a red/gold Thomas Bouyant...

I get one on my gold clown Thomas Bouyant and then Tanner picks one up on a SC Shiner. Bites were few and far between...Lots of boats but not a lot of stops. It appears that the troll is not going to get us our limits today so we decided to hit White Cliff and have a try bait fishing.

We had a bucket of crawlers, an inflator, some power bait, power worms and two barbie rods ready for some action....

First bite was mine on an inflated crawler, then Anna, then Babs gets ripped and winds in a crappie...This would not be her last either!!
Fred gets one , then Alyssa and our stringer is filling up quite nicely.

Babsie is getting bummed out because my girls are outfishing her, when she hooks up again...Another crappie!!! She finally gets her glory late in the day when she catches this beast....

The girls get sleepy and pass out while their rods are still soaking power bait....One gets lit up and Fred grabs it....So cute he was winding in that fish with Anna's rod!

Leftover turkey sandwiches, some Bad Religion and great conversation along with a steady pick on a decent grade of trout made for a bitchen day on the water.

We end up with 11 fish, Babs takes the JP with her fish just under 4lbs and the girls get their glory at the Tackle Shop! They already want to do it all again...

Most memorable moment.....My daughter Alyssa telling me, " Mommy are you proud of me and my big fish?? And look, I have fish blood on me just like you!!!"

That's my girl!!