We Had decided to go to the lake with friends who ended up cancelling due to relatives from Anchorage paying them a surprise visit the night before.
I think His wife really did not want to go and the relatives made a good excuse.
So a friend of my wife's and her 10 year old son Shade had been invited and as luck would have it decided to go along with us due to our later than first planned start time.
Shades mom adopted him a few years back.
His mom used to run a daycare and Shades dad dropped him off one day and has never come back(he was in jail for some time that we know of).
His biological mom apparently doesn't want to take care of him either.
Whenever he is around us he is a pretty good kid. His brother (his adopted moms biological son from a previous marriage)isn't into fishing but Shade enjoys it.
His mom just did not want him stuck in the foster care system so she adopted him.
Getting him out fishing is something his single mother cannot afford right now and does not have the equipment for.
She is just finishing up a teaching degree and will graduate this spring.
We first had to stop and sign Shade in for the local stores ice fishing derby.
Now the road in was a mess and Thankfully I had brought along a bucket of dry traction sand for the one hill this helped another vehicle get out clearing the road for us and made it much easier on our way out.
Our first spot was slow and we ended up with 4 fish.
We then headed to another spot and cooked some corn dogs on my buddy heater.
It was also slow but we caught a few more fish.
I decided to set up the Salmon Bear self setting rod holder a short distance from where we were at.
Then was distracted by the now ready corn dogs.
My wife then asked me to check out some old holes for signs of blood etc. to see if we should move again.
At that point Shade decided to fish another hole next to my Salmon Bear.
As he got there it went off and it was fish on for the 10 year old kid. He sure acted as though it was a good one.
I was coaching him on getting the fish in when it's head came up and I knew it was a good one.
The line broke as he tried hoisting it out of the water. Luckily I was able to reach down and got a hold of the fish.
It was nicely hooked in the corner of the mouth with one of my custom made jig heads.
Turns out it was big enough to be a derby contender for now anyways.
I hope he holds on to the lead for the rest of the month. He was so excited.
The Salmon Bear is a winner and I will be leaving the JawJacker at home from now on! It just can't compete with the Salmon Bear and it's improved hook setting system.
