Jack and I loaded up the boat and headed north to fish Summit Lake State Recreation area this afternoon. It took about 45 minutes from Omaha, but man was the drive worth it! We started throwing grey pepper-flaked senkos (weedless and carolina rigged) on our Cajun Custom Rods (http://www.cajuncustomrods.com/) about 4:30 PM under a high overcast sky, and after about 20 minutes of fishing … we started catching … and boy did we catch fish today! In all, we landed between 20-30 fish (mostly bass and 1 surprise), of which we had a legitimate 8-10 Nebraska largemouth bass that were “keepers.” The keepers ranged in size from 15 1/4 to 19 inches, and all bass were “football bellied” and heavy. All fish were released shortly after catching them, but I put a few in the live-well for about 30 minutes or so to see if they’d spit out a bit of their lunch … so we could se for ourselves what they were eating. Shad … and little minnows that look like “glass minnows.” The sky was a bit overcast and we got a few light sprinkles around 5:15 PM or so. Water was aqua-green to coffee stained depending on where you were … the stain in the western part of the lake as wind was anywhere between 5 to 15 mph out of the east. We fished about 20-30 yards off the bank and pitched the senkos to holes in the grass mats or just to the edges of the weed lines until around 6:00 PM. Heck, if I didn’t know any better … I’d say these fish were hungry. Another point to note, the lake was relatively light on boat traffic and folks in general … a good thing seeing as today was Saturday. I mention this because usually the little Nebraska lakes that I have fished on Saturdays are essentially parking lots with traffic … not here, not today … and it was real nice for a change. Then we headed to the eastern end (near the damn) to get out of the wind for awhile and try our luck there … same results, but this time with crankbaits. I threw a silver sexy shad-colored lure (running fast at 5-8′) and Jack threw a bronze perch-colored lure (3-5′) … we both kept hammering the bass. About 7:00 PM, I threw my lure into about 6 feet of water (about 5-10 feet from the dam bank) and saw the swirl come off the bank … then it was on! I knew from the hit, the tug, and the fight at hand that surely I had a Nebraska trophy largemouth hooked up … this thought ran threw my mind as the fight took a solid 3 minutes … around the boat, around the motor, diving again under the boat, another loop around the boat … and deep too … and finally the big fish gave into to my custom fishing rod … coming up from 15 feet of water … like reeling a cinder block hooked to my crankbait … straight up and slow. I called for the net at some point during the fight knowing that Jack would be ready when I had the fish worn down. With a few more cranks and a steady high rod tip … Jack lowered the net and then … “Surprise!” What we had on the end of the line was a monster channel catfish. All in all, the catfish weighed in at just over 12 pounds and measured in at 28 3/4 inches. I’ve had cats hit bass lures before, but not like this one today … this cat was mean hungry and he hammered that crankbait … all six trebles in his mouth … not lipped, but engulfed (reminded me of the way you see the great whites on TV hammering those poor seals off some remote African coast). We had a few fishermen that we were close to, so we meandered their way for a photo of Jack and I with the big catfish … so we would have the proof for mom … and then let the big fish swim away … to raise havoc with the lake populations again.

After the excitement of the catfish, we tied on frogs and started our way back to the boat ramp … long-casting to every patch of weed, muck, algae, and grass mat we could find. Yep, hungry Summit Lake largemouth bass … and they hammered the frogs too! I think we caught our last bass this evening about 10 feet from the boat ramp before we put the rods down and readied the boat for the pull out and drive back to Omaha. What a fantastic day fishing with my son … I know he’ll remember today forever and I’m just glad I got to be a part of that memory. I wonder, will he remember how many fish we caught? how beautiful the sunset was? or will he remember today because of the “surprise” catfish who thought he was a bass for an afternoon? No matter, I’ll remember the smiles and good time spent with my son fishing … and be thankful that not only did we have a good time, but that we were using custom-tuned fishing rods that can handle whatever happens to be on the end of your next cast! Take a kid fishing and tight lines!  BTW: here’s one of the “pot-bellied” largemouth landed we landed today at Summit lake SRA in Nebraska.  Check our CCR Gallery out and see other pictures taken from today’s fishing trip.