With the help of the great guidance provided here (thanks again to those who responded to my "fishing identity crisis" post), I felt like we were starting to get our groove on again!
Me and my son got on the water on the late side (10:30) due to a little league game. We had a tube ticket with one tube. I stuffed the 8 year old on the front of the tube and we fished from the dock to just past Pigs until around 7:30pm. I landed 11, including a couple that must have been 3 or so pounds (guessing - no scale), and my son bested me with 13.
The tube vs. boat experience has been interesting -- my initial perception was that the boat must be better because we have access to the entire lake. But with the dad-only powered tube, we were 'forced' to figure out the nuances of a smaller area which helped me to fish slower and apply some of the concepts I've been trying to master. And while landing 11 fish isn't quite mastery at Barrett, I'm not sure I would have had the same success blowing through the same area on a boat.
My son was seeing success fishing with the DC Shad (thank you @Early release ) and Reaper/Sweeper (thank you @JWall ). I got a few on a medium sized black Whopper Plopper, several on a dark green pumpkin Ika, and this small top water crawler type thing was killing it -- super fun to fish. I don't remember where I bought it or what it's called, but it was a hit when fished slow with plenty of long pauses.
All-in-all, another great day on the Big B! We saw two bald eagles, talked to some nice folks, caught some fish, refined some techniques, and it was great to get some top water action going.
We scored a boat ticket for July 7 -- me and my two boys will be on the lake early (~5am), and picking up a buddy on the dock at 10am. It would be great to say hello to some of the regulars here!
Good job dad 
