Went to the Ship Canal to see if the Smallmouth had moved in with all this warm weather we've been having. Was surprised that my 7 year old daughter asked to come along. It normally takes a little bit of cajoling to get her to fish with me. She fished earthworms on a bobber with no luck, while I tried some rapalas, spinners and crankbaits. I switched her over to fishing off the bottom after I saw another angler catch a smallmouth off the bottom with worms. He was nice enough to give us a syringe to inflate the worms and make them float a little. I switched over to a jig with an earthworm on it, and caught a couple of sculpin. Pretty soon, she caught a sculpin herself. I breathed a sigh of relief, because to her, a fish is a fish. She was pretty happy with her catch. Just as I could tell her patience was starting to thin, she caught a Rock Bass. I showed her how to lip a bass for the first time, so I could get a picture of her without her getting jabbed by a spine. She was pretty thrilled (especially because she out-fished me) and asked if we could go fishing again tomorrow. That's a success!

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