carp fishing (fox chain of lakes, il)

Fathers day was awesome. It had been awhile since I was able to take Lucas (my youngest son) out fishing with me. Last week I was out in Las Vegas for a national sales meeting with my company and had no time to fish. The 5 weeks prior to that I was making a long drive out to the driftless area of Wisconsin, and didn’t want to have my son deal with 5 hours of driving. Needless to say, he was itching to get out and fathers day was the perfect day to be together.

luke's carp, i just help with holding it

We met Neal and his girlfriends father (Dan) around 7:00am. Neal’s friend Eric and his brother made it out a little later. We were all set for a solid day of carp fishing and a home cooked breakfast on the shore from chef Neal. The weather conditions changed just about every 5 minutes. We experienced everything from wind, drizzle, and blue bird skies.

a fox lake carp

The fishing wasn’t anything out of this world. We were scratching a fish every now and again, but we sure were waiting a long time in-between bites. To keep busy, my son combed the beach for shells and bugs and filled the rest of his time with throwing rocks and sticks in the water. Its really amazing how my son can entertain himself for a long period of time as long as he is in the outdoors. We were out fishing for 6 hours and didn’t hear one complaint or have to discipline my son once.

dan's slob carp

The highlights for me was watching my son catch 5 fish all on his own, other then the help I gave him holding onto his belt loop to keep him on shore. Also, watching Dan hook into a slob and running through a third of his spool on the initial run was awesome. All together we caught 8 carp, 1 small cat, and 3 drum. The fishing was marginal at best, but the company was outstanding.. What a great fathers day!

me with another carp (neal's brother luke in background)