Yesterday was my first day of summer break, and it was a good one. For those of you that don't know, I am a middle school science teacher. I just completed my twentieth year of teaching on Wednesday of this week and all of those years have been spent in public schools here in Missouri. I want to let you in on a little secret though; teachers only partially have summers off.
It's not the three month break that everyone envisions. We take graduate classes, we take seasonal and part time jobs, and we get caught up on things that our careers take us away from. Don't get me wrong though, it's awesome to take a break from teaching! For me personally, the last couple of summers I have taken graduate classes and I am set to complete my education specialist degree in instruction technology in a year. This summer, I don't have a graduate class but I have some part time work that I will be taking on like mowing yards and other side jobs. Yesterday though was a legitimate day off.
With all the rain that we have had lately I was hoping that the largemouth (and maybe the catfish) would be up in the shallows and feeding on baitfish in newly submerged vegetation. I headed to Rocky Hollow Park in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and brought a six weight and a four weight along. The six weight was for slinging streamers for bigger fish and the four weight was for bluegill in case times got tough. Thankfully I was able to use both rods and was successful on both attempts.
The bass were definitely in the shallows but weren't in the vegetation like I thought they would be. They were actually in the rocky areas of this lake. Rocky Hollow is an old quarry and while it is indeed rocky, there's not as much exposed rock as what you would think. Every bass I caught came on The Brave and the bites were violent. I don't think I missed a one bass and ended up boating seven. As for the four weight, a John Deere under an indicator proved to be lethal! Again, every fish was caught near shallow water but these fish were scattered. Some were near rocks while others were near timber and some were along vegetation. I actually completed the Northern Missouri Slam on the set up by catching a bluegill, crappie, largemouth, and green sunfish.
It was a great morning of fishing and a lot of fun. I came home and tied up a new color combination of Lunch Moneys (which will be available soon) as well to cap off a fishy day. Today though, I'm going to have to make a withdrawal from the fishing account that I deposited into yesterday. I've got four yards to mow, an article to write for the Conservation Federation of Missouri, and a portfolio to work on for my graduate degree. Hopefully we can ALL get on the water this weekend and enjoy a little fishing. Be safe if you get out and have a great weekend!
The bass from the 6 weight
The NOMO Slam from the 4 Weight
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