Was up in Columbia earlier in the week throwing flies for stripers. Saw several fish rolling, a couple came within a few feet of me, just couldn’t get them to eat. Worked a section of river that had been very productive in past years, it actually has been a couple years since I fished the river for stripers. Old holes were still there, rocks don’t move much. Finally after about 2 hours of throwing ever color clouser I had, I hooked up. Fish finally hit a chartruese clouser, had a little crystal flash and “bleeding gills” as well. I set the hook and the fish jumps and it’s a large small mouth. The fish made a break for the deeper water and gave off an accrobatic show that reminded me of a lady fish. These were no woosie jumps either, the beast jumped 2ft out of the water several times, and each time my buddy and I yelled with excitement. After about a 5 minute battle my buddy lips the fish, I pose for a quick picture and let the beauty go. We had no scale but assume it was in the 5# range. Left the river that morning with a big smile on my face and personal satifisfaction that comes from catching a personal best smallie, on a fly I tied. Didn’t matter that my knees were bashed up from falling a couple times and that when I came out of the water I have about 15 gallons of water in my waders from a couple spills I took. I was wet and bruised, but couldn’t have been happier. A memory I will not soon forget.
“Those who have the ability to make a difference have the responsibility to do so.” Thomas Jefferson
Sorry for the blackout, it was at the request of my buddy that took the picture. Didn’t think he was gonna send it to me [:0]