I made the annual trip to the Alma Fishing Float with the Goodhue HS kids on Friday. About 35 kids and 6 adults went fishing, not expecting a lot because of the rain. The rain stopped just as we arrived, and the fishing started. Usually, I am busy enough helping some of the kids where I don’t get to fish hard, but this time, one of the seniors, Josh Dahling, helped out. So, I was in the water, losing crawlers within ten minutes. I watched as two nice Sheephead were caught, and then saw a three pound Smallie come to net. I did nail a three pound northern, and then I stopped catching fish. Fortunately, many of the others were starting to ‘frenzy’ themselves. For the middle three hours, kids were catching northerns from 3 to 6 pounds, some half pound perch, and a bunch of smallies & largemouth. Mix in one crappie over a pound, a sucker for good measure, and a couple of white bass, and we turned it into a reasonable day. Only one walleye caught, and it was only 10″, so it is growing into a trophy over the next couple of weeks. Most fish were caught on orange or chartreuse jigs, blades, or spinners. It didn’t make much difference what size. The northerns & largemouth were on the shore side of the Float, everything else was in the stronger current. The picture is of a 4 lb 14 oz Smallmouth caught just East of the Float. A good day for everyone, and a proud day for my brother-in-law, Bruce with his trophy. He released it to be caught again after the picture.
