Father's Day Fishing Story Contest Winners!

Thanks to everyone who sent in stories about fishing with their dad, grandpa, and others for our Father's Day Fishing Story Contest. There were so many great entries, thank you so much for sharing them.

Congratulations to our winners!

• 1st Prize: Wyatt Moore
• 2nd Prize: Gregory Bernardi
• 3rd Prize: Russell Shica We Ellis
• Honorable Mentions: Charles Johnson, Bill Nelson, Ed Smith, Dillon Thompson, Tommy Vang, Tony Varela

The winning entries are below for you to enjoy. Winners, we'll be contacting you to send you your prizes!

Thanks again, and a very happy Father's Day to everyone.

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Fishing with Dad Fishing Story Contest Winners

1st Prize: Wyatt Moore

Hi, my name is Wyatt Moore and I'm 16. I am entering into the competition for the best fish story with my dad. I am going to start out with some background about me and my dad. I first started out fishing with my dad at a really young age. I was brought up in a family were we would do a lot of camping and outdoors activities with my dad, mom, sister and I. For almost each holiday I got out of school, and for many weeks over summer, we would go fishing and camping all over the place. Fishing has been my lifestyle ever since. My story starts out like this:

I was about 9 or 10 years old when my dad and I decided to go fishing one weekend. He woke me up around 6:30 to get out to Shadow Cliffs lake at 7:00, so we could get a dock we wanted before the daily local fisherman and weekenders took all the good spots. After his routine of having a cup of coffee before we go and about 3 in his thermos we set off to shore fish. At that time we didn't have a boat but we made it work. We get to the lake, which is Shadow Cliffs, and we see a good spot down on the last dock. This wood dock has been their since as long as I can remember and it definitely showed. The pole holders were worn down in the dock, the wood had tons of names carved into it and it was sinking low into the water. After we set up our gear we then bait our hooks with rainbow and chartreuse powerbait to try to catch rainbow trout or thunder trout in the lake. Fast forward to around 12 in the afternoon and we have already caught two thunder trout and one rainbow trout. We have the fish on a metal stringer attached to the side of dock hanging in the water. As a kid, my attention span is pretty limited naturally. So I then decide to go over and play with the fish on the stringer. My two poles are next to me and I occasionally glance over to see if I get a bite. I am playing with the fish on the stringer and in the corner of my eye I see my line go tight extremely fast and my bobber go flying up. Then all of a sudden my pole takes off and gets pulled from the pole holder. It goes flying into the lake and all that my dad, the two other guys on the dock and me can do is just stare at the pole holder were my pole used to be. You might be thinking that a boat snagged it or something like that but their were no boats or people swimming even close to us. After looking around dumbfounded for a minute we then reel in one of the other poles and put a spoon lure on it to try to hook it off the bottom. We try this for about an hour with no luck so we decide to go home because it was getting hot and the bite was down. A week later we repeat our routine of getting up early and we go to the same dock we were just on last weekend. After not getting any bites my dad switches one of the poles with bait on it for a lure. He is casting the lure out and on the second cast he snags something. We joke about how he snagged my pole but we both think its just some weeds. As the lure comes closer to the dock the tip of a pole shoots out of the water. Instantly a smile creases our face and we start laughing. It was my pole that went into the lake a week ago. This is just one of the great memories I had with my dad.

2nd Prize: Gregory Bernardi

Last year, my father in-law and went fishing in the Delta along the Sac around Vierra's Resort. We usually go for stripers, but with the first salmon season is a few years, we decided to try our hand at it. Neither of us had ever targeted salmon in the Delta, so it was our maiden voyage. We trolled for about an hour or so, zig-zagging our way through the mass of boats that was comparable to the parking lot at Disneyland. All of a sudden, his rod bent in half and the reel started to sing! He set the hook got himself seated and ready for the fight. The fish started breaking water, taking more line. He faught this monster for about 15 minutes before he got close to the boat. The fight was still on for another 10 minutes. Between me trying to snap pic's with my camera phone and steering the boat and him fighting this goliath, we failed to notice the rest of the boaters stopping to watch us. Just as the fight had neared 25 minutes, the fish rolled on his side and appeared to have given all he could, as had Vince. I had made several attempts earlier to net him and failed, now was my chance. I scooped him up, he was too big for the net, his body was bowed and his head and tail were hanging out of the net. I go to lift the net and the handle started to bend. As I regripped the handle, he got his second wind, flopped out of the net, leaving the hook imbedded in the rim of the net, freeing himself! We both just sank in our seats. We then heard the groaning of the on lookers, resounding "Awe man" and "Holy Crap". We finished up the day without one more hit. Loaded up, stopped at BassPro, returned the net I had bought the night before and bought a BIGGER NET!

3rd Prize: Russell Shica We Ellis

me and my father were fishing on the Pacifica Pier years and years ago and my father decided that we should do some crabbing also and im just a little 10 year old kid with his pops and i go and started throwing all his crab nets over the sides.... I never tied any of them down! he was just looking at me and he just started laughing! i was crying but he laughed his ass off! He was my hero! he's gone now... died @ 56 years old. 3 tours in Vietnam. 1 bronze star 2 purple hearts and 1 heart that was bigger than his whole life! love ya pops~!!!

Honorable Mentions

Charles Johnson

 My pops and I never spent much time together when I was young but he bought his boat 4 years ago and we go out almost every Friday. Told him the other day if he passed on I would be good. Nothing like being on the water with your dad. Catching fish or not. Love my pops.

Bill Nelson

About 4 years ago my dad and I made the trek to Lake Alpine to do some fishing. We fished from the bank for a little while with no luck. We walked up to the marina and decided we had better rent a boat. We got all the gear in the small 11 foot boat and headed out to fish. We cruised up by the dam and didn't have any luck so decided to putt on over to the east end of the lake. As my father, a rather heavy man, sat and tried baiting his hook, I was fishing spinners. My dad was positioned on the left side of the boat, but should have been sitting in the center as the boat size was small. I got up and nimbly headed to the back of the boat to flip out my lure, and I flipped the boat over, both my dad and I went into the drink. The water was freezing, and my dad thought he was going to die because his feet weren't touching the ground. The cell phones were soaked, the digital cameras were soaked. I managed to get the boat back over and dove for the fishing gear and recovered it. I couldn't stop laughing. I laughed like I have never laughed in my whole life, and needless to say my father was less than amused, and I didn't care, I couldn't stop laughing. I tried to explain to my dad that he should have been sitting in the center of the boat, and he insisted if I hadn't stood up and ran to the back of the boat we wouldn't have flipped. I laughed some more, both of us had to strip down to our boxers and try and get our clothes to dry out, and I laughed hysterically. 

As we sat there with our teeth chattering and the wind blowing, a woman was fishing in another boat, she saw all that happened. As we sat there freezing with with our wet cell phones and cameras, she pulled up what looked to be a 10 pound rainbow that she had caught trolling and proudly exclaimed " look what I caught". Adding insult to injury she proudly displayed a trophy fish. My father smarted of the injustice. To this day my dad will not get into a boat with me, but I did manage to take him fishing recently, and he never mentioned that cold day fishing at Lake Alpine. We never caught any fish that day, but I have a great memory of the day my dad and I went swimming at Lake Alpine. As I get older, I realize fishing isn't always about catching fish.

Ed Smith

I was fishing with my Grandpa in an aluminum boat when I was 5 or 6 years old doing just about everything but sitting still. Grandpa told me if I wasn't still and didn't stop hitting my rod on the side of the boat we wouldn't catch any fish. That's about the time I caught a nice bass. Grandpa didn't catch anything that day and  never lived it down. This was in 1959 or 1960 on Shasta Lake in California.

Dillon Thompson

Me and my father went to a small pond up near Angels Camp ,CA to trout fish at around 8,000 feet of elevation. When we got there the fishing was slow so we waited till evening. At around Dusk, the shad started to jump and my father said, "Cast right there, son" and so i did (with a Blue Fox Minnow Spin) and i immediately felt a fish that felt like it would pull me in the water at the age of 10. I pulled and pulled and reeled and reeled until i got it to the shore which is where the fun got started! I was so exited that i jumped up and down until i some how unhooked the fish and started running in circles! So my dad jumped on it wrestling it in the mud until he had it in a bear hug! It turned out to be a 3 1/2 pound- 22 in. rainbow trout. And that is my favorite father son moment of all.

Tommy Vang

When I turned about 4 years old, my dad would take me fishing with him but not all the time because he'd go overnight and come home with a giant fish! the fish he'd mostly bring home was a sturgeon, and i used to think it was a dinosaur fish because of the hard bony scale on its side..My first big fish I ever caught with my dad was a Carp..It was humongous!......My mom also is a great fisher woman she catches some big fish too! And till this day we still go fishing together . When i get older I'm gonna take my dad on the best fishing trip ever...! i love my dad for teaching me how to fish...

Tony Varela

When I was a kid I grew up with my grandfather on Cuttings Wharf Rd in Napa half mile from the Napa river. I moved to Santa Rosa with my mother when I was six. But just about every weekend my grandfather would drive to Santa Rosa to pick me... up and drive all the way back to Napa to take me fishing at the Napa river. The man had a huge collection of fishing tackle and I think that is probably way I have over 50 rods and reels, fifteen or so tackle boxes, a couple for each style and water. By the way he never ate fish "ever", he just loved to fish and taught me everything he knew. We lost him in the early 70's but I have never forgot what he taught me and a day doesn't go by that I don't think of him.