C
ChezJfrey
Well, haven't been fishing in awhile, but finally got back to it for a few hours on Friday...nothing. Sunday, another crack at it and one hooked/lost.
Today, stepped up to my favorite summer pocket water with some surrounding rapids. Brass spoon, colored 80% black and made a handful of casts around the nearest likely spot...a rock about 10 feet out that creates some nice seams. Nothing there, so next up is another rock about 20 feet out, just upstream of this one that again creates some great seams and some areas of respite. The first cast into this area and the spoon hits the water, sinks a bit and I pull the slack up a bit as it starts to travel down river. It only gets about 2 feet and hangs up.
I pull the trigger and get that nice feedback we're all waiting for...head shakes and some bright flashes beneath the mere 2 feet of water...fish on! Of course the fish does the last thing I'd ever want it to do...it turns left and like a bullet, starts heading to the far side of the river, which is through rapids and if it gets far enough, will be on the far side of a bunch of protruding rocks that will of course just grab my line and we'll be done with this contest.
I'm desperately trying to steer the fish downriver, but it just keeps going straight out. I have no idea how far it is, but I'm worried. I'm still pressuring to my left, down current, when the fish slows up, then turns back toward me. Yay! I'm reeling, pulling back and steering down and it keeps coming back. Pretty soon, it's in sight about where I hooked it. Still plying the rod and the fish comes closer and heads down where I want it...lucky me. It thrashes, makes a few downstream runs, but doesn't have enough gas to get back out in the danger zone. Several minutes and one elbow injury later (I bit it on the rocks during fish's second run), I have this summer in hand, and it only took 6 casts to get it
Later on, in a different stretch looking for number 2 for the day, I'm running a jig/float in a nice section of 3-4 feet, with perfect speed and nice chop on the surface. I watch the bobber slip under, then realize I have totally screwed myself. I'm camped within the branches of a low hanging tree. In fact, I have no room to maneuver the rod to lift the line and actually had to freespool to play line onto the surface to get a good drift. I figured I could use the surface tension of the extra line on the water and just whip the rod sideways in the event I need to set the hook (I've gotten fish that way before) But, now I realize I can't even do that from within the canopy! Moron...so I do the only thing I can think of...reel like mad. I get most of the line in, but way too late as after 2 seconds, the float pops back up.
I ran through that same drift several times and nothing...and later covered with a spoon with no problem, so wasn't a snag. I can't say it was definitely a fish, but I highly suspect it was. So, lesson here is to not be such a noob when selecting a fishing spot...gotta be able to set the hook. Even if the spot does look prime, it won't do any good if you can't nab the fish in the process
Today, stepped up to my favorite summer pocket water with some surrounding rapids. Brass spoon, colored 80% black and made a handful of casts around the nearest likely spot...a rock about 10 feet out that creates some nice seams. Nothing there, so next up is another rock about 20 feet out, just upstream of this one that again creates some great seams and some areas of respite. The first cast into this area and the spoon hits the water, sinks a bit and I pull the slack up a bit as it starts to travel down river. It only gets about 2 feet and hangs up.
I pull the trigger and get that nice feedback we're all waiting for...head shakes and some bright flashes beneath the mere 2 feet of water...fish on! Of course the fish does the last thing I'd ever want it to do...it turns left and like a bullet, starts heading to the far side of the river, which is through rapids and if it gets far enough, will be on the far side of a bunch of protruding rocks that will of course just grab my line and we'll be done with this contest.
I'm desperately trying to steer the fish downriver, but it just keeps going straight out. I have no idea how far it is, but I'm worried. I'm still pressuring to my left, down current, when the fish slows up, then turns back toward me. Yay! I'm reeling, pulling back and steering down and it keeps coming back. Pretty soon, it's in sight about where I hooked it. Still plying the rod and the fish comes closer and heads down where I want it...lucky me. It thrashes, makes a few downstream runs, but doesn't have enough gas to get back out in the danger zone. Several minutes and one elbow injury later (I bit it on the rocks during fish's second run), I have this summer in hand, and it only took 6 casts to get it
Later on, in a different stretch looking for number 2 for the day, I'm running a jig/float in a nice section of 3-4 feet, with perfect speed and nice chop on the surface. I watch the bobber slip under, then realize I have totally screwed myself. I'm camped within the branches of a low hanging tree. In fact, I have no room to maneuver the rod to lift the line and actually had to freespool to play line onto the surface to get a good drift. I figured I could use the surface tension of the extra line on the water and just whip the rod sideways in the event I need to set the hook (I've gotten fish that way before) But, now I realize I can't even do that from within the canopy! Moron...so I do the only thing I can think of...reel like mad. I get most of the line in, but way too late as after 2 seconds, the float pops back up.
I ran through that same drift several times and nothing...and later covered with a spoon with no problem, so wasn't a snag. I can't say it was definitely a fish, but I highly suspect it was. So, lesson here is to not be such a noob when selecting a fishing spot...gotta be able to set the hook. Even if the spot does look prime, it won't do any good if you can't nab the fish in the process
