One friend leads to another. When Kent, a Postal Inspector, teamed up with FBI Agent Loren C. we always found time to go fishing. In fact fishing with Kent, lead me to meet Kent’s brother, Rex, who joined me on the lakes of Utah. That eventually led to a few days each year on the Overton Arm of Lake Mead.
Fifteen years later, Rex said his grandson, Payton, age 11, would be visiting in Mesquite and would love to go fishing on Lake Mead. Payton and his grandpa, showed up at the Fun & Sun Trailer Park, on March 14, for a day of trolling for Striped Bass.
We were on the lake by 10:00 am, armed with 6 fishing rods and reels, lots of lead line, a landing net, tackle, and a bag of anchovies.
Payton had quite a time. After several hours of trolling around Markers 18 and 19 with negative results, we headed south to Roger Springs Bay. We switched from crank bait to anchovies. The “bottom bouncer” or “Bottom Walker,” commonly used for Walleye fishing, was rigged with a threaded anchovy and resulted in putting the first fish in the boat.
Payton was quick to set the hook on the next striper and grandpa Rex coached him on getting that fish to the point where it could be netted.
This was his first fish, and he just kept reeling. In fact he reeled the “Bottom Walker” and the fish right out of the water. We had the net in the hands of the captain, but Payton kept reeling. The cell phone camera captured the biggest smile on his face.
He learned about using the live well, and placed the second striper in the well. Thirty minutes later Payton looked for the long handled net. It still remains a mystery as to whatever happened to the net. We figure in the excitement of Payton catching a fish, and reeling the fish completely out of the water, the net somehow wound up overboard.
Lots of people caught fish this past week. Bud, Walt and Junior caught 20 this past weekend going north. Bryce and Steve got 5 going south and then 5 going north. Wayne and family caught 15 this past week.
