The family headed down to Roaring River State park for Easter weekend.  We camped friday and saturday night.  The weather was great after the Friday night showers moved through.  We got up on Saturday and lazed around until about 9am and headed to the river for some fishing.

We went to Zone 1 just below the hatchery where soft baits are allowed.  I decided we would use powerbaits with weights upon the recommendation of the park store guys.  The basic rig is to sink a small hook into either a powerbait worm or egg.  Put a small split shot weight about 18 inches up from the hook.  The technique is to throw the rig into the river and let it sit.  Sounds great for kids right?  Not really.  Kids desire constant movement and want to reel it in and cast it again.  The constant action proved counter productive by having to untangle the mess caused by the split shot weights and 18 inches of line below it to the hook.

I wasn’t having much luck with Powerbait (others were) so I decided to put on a green maribou jig with a black head (used successfully at Bennett Spring).  My spinning rod is a short 5 foot rod with 2 lb line.  The jig worked great.  I tossed it through the riffle and on my second cast, I hooked a fish.  With this knowledge, I rigged the kids poles with the same jig and made it easier for them to cast.

We caught 4 fish total on Saturday.  MB caught her first trout. Late Saturday I found that if the jig had more movement, it attracted more fish.  As you reel, give the rod tip a shake.  We called this the palsy technique (no offense to anyone suffering from palsy).  I caught a good size trout saturday afternoon in a riffle and when we cleaned it, I noticed 3 different colored powerbait worms in its stomach.  Those fish were definitely not picky.

We cooked the fish over coals that night.

The recipe is simple, bacon, lemons, salt and pepper.  The fish only gutted and heads removed (leave fins and tail on, but you can remove if you like)  Place in a grill basket and cook until the bacon is charred crisp.  The bacon serves as a layer of protection for the skin of the fish.  To eat, the skin will come off easy.  Fork the meat off of one side and the spine and bones will pull out in one piece.

Sunday, we went back to zone 1 again.  Primarily because there is a playground nearby for the kids that get bored.  Not on this day.  Everyone caught fish.  The kids rods had 4 and 6lb line to start but I rigged up 2lb line and this proved to be the trick.  Those fish are skiddish with heavier line.  All in all we caught 9 fish using the green jigs.

The kids caught fish.  I caught my limit within an hour and helped the kids catch some.  Cooper graduated from a closed faced Zebco reel to using a spinning reel.  He used the same rod and reel that I learned on.  It was my dad’s Eagle Claw ultra-light with a light weight Shimano reel.  The rig is so old that the rod has 2 repaired spots where the graphite rod broke in half (my dad did that in 1985).  The reel is so old that it still clicks when you reel.  It’s a great rod and reel combo.

Even Emmie got in the action.  I would hook a fish and let her reel it in.

We all had a good time and would go back.  Roaring River is a great place to fish with kids.  The environment is easy to manage.  The river is not too wide and very accessible.

Tags: Fishing, Roaring River, Trout