My boy’s itch to fish has had him asking for a while now to go bass fishing out of our boat. We have worked a few of the local ponds and ditches with somewhat limited and mixed success, but have landed a few nice bass on artificials. We got a chance with a day off of school before Thanksgiving Day, and made plans to try Lake Trafford. With cool conditions we left late morning and arrived to a stiff breeze out of the north, as we surveyed the boat ramp for our first adventure to the lake. The ramp was very serviceable for our 20’ bayboat, and we were off fairly quickly to the north side of the lake for any protection we could get from the wind. We picked up a few dozen minnows and a dozen shiners to go along with the various lures we already had tied on. Kolton started throwing a small rapala as I rigged a few minnows on corks. We were warned that the lake was shallow and that was the case. It looked very fishy around the small islands of grass and reeds where we started fishing. First fish was a small gar I caught on a shiner. Next fish was another gar this time for Kolton.



Then he got his first ever crappie, also known as a speckled perch.



And that was all we were able to find after fishing all around the lake. Still not bad for our first try on new water, and we had a great time and continue to make awesome memories.