It was scheduled to be three consecutive days of fishing.

Thanks to some friends it would be night fishing from the dock of a wharf on old river south of the Lake Charles Country Club, then a late afternoon boat trip for reds and specks in the outreaches of Prien Lake and finally early morning bass fishing in a pond.

When the grandkids come to visit you have got to keep them active. It’s expected.

Especially from 12 year old Max. Twelve months a year he’s on the go with school, football, basketball and baseball. When there’s a break, we pick him up for a few days.

Fishing is what he likes. Fishing is what he gets.

This time he brought buddy Emmet with him.

Tell Max he’s off for three days of fishing, he plans for it.

Both came with two rods and reels and each had a well-stocked tackle box.

The only fishing gear I had when I was 12 was a cane pole I cut from a stack in the woods in back of the house, a line that was about 2 feet longer than the pole so I could straight-line it out in a flip for bass in creeks I would wade and fish.

Max and Emmet had the three-day trip well planned.

On the way to Lake Charles, they figured which tackle they would use on which trip.

It wound up they didn’t need any for night fishing.

The tide never showed and bait fish never turned up under the lights. Gars were numerous and they tried snagging them with topwater baits without any luck. Still it was midnight before we gave it up.

The next day, rain and winds canceled the afternoon boat trip on the lake, but their fishing got a reprieve.

The rain was stationed in the lower part of the area, including Lake Charles, but was being pushed northeast by a wind off the Gulf.

North of the city it was cloudy but no rain.

The decision was made to take a run at the Sunrise catfish ponds just south of DeRidder.

It would be my first trip there and I didn’t know exactly what to expect. 

A call got information that the ponds would be open until 6 p.m., bring your own bait (shrimp it was) and it would cost if you caught fish (no catch and release).

At 3:30 p.m. the boys were fishing in one of four large stocked ponds.

A supervisor at the ponds just about guaranteed them that they would catch fish. “Just hook on your bait, throw out and wait,” he said.

Catfish stocked in the ponds are a hybrid of a blue and a channel.

Max caught the first one and it was the largest at 6 pounds, 11 ounces. Emmet caught one that weighed 5 pounds, 4 ounces and they wound up with 10 cats, none less than 2 pounds. The total weight was almost 40 pounds, filling the ice chest in just about an hour and a half of fishing.

The cost of the catch — pay per pound — was handled two ways: take what you caught and clean them yourself or have them clean the fish for a little higher cost.

I opted for the second choice and never regretted it, especially after I had downed several fried filets an hour after we had returned home.

That night the two spent a good portion of the time mapping out their strategy for the bass they would catch the next morning.

Max opted to start with a watermelon-colored worm, and go from there. Emmet for a topwater popper.

Together they wound up catching about a dozen bass a pound or more and half-dozen large bream that hit plastic worms.

Max said it was the best three days of fishing he has ever had. Emmet agreed.

Granddad like what they said.