The week began with a trip to my favorite local pond at Marble Cliff. The weather was shaky all day and pop up storms were prohibiting my fishing from going from morning till dusk. Every time I loaded up the car, I'd have to take notes from Patches O'Hoolihan in hopes of avoiding the downfall of rain that stood between my Jeep Cherokee and my garage. Dodge, duck, dip dive, and...dodge. After an hour of disappointment, I literally said "F*** it", and threw on a raincoat and hopped in the car. With the possibility of more storms popping up I decided to stick close, and so I snuck into lovely Marble Cliff and threw out a line. Five minutes in of casting a white closer minnow and I landed my first picture worthy fish. Bluegills were off the charts with my small bead headed nymph so I decided to throw on a bigger fly and go for some of the hogs I knew lurked in this community pond. A couple casts in and got a hit. Missed it but knew the fish were beginning to pick up activity. Started stripping the fly again, letting it sink more than usual, and got a strike from a good sized bass. Line went tight and I was in for a fight. Off of a 4 wt a good sized bass really puts on a fight, and as raindrops began to drizzle down, I landed this good sized bass about thirty minutes in.
(I'll take it)
Off to a good start my morale was high and I continued to toss the streamer. I thought the luck would continue, but with the off and on rain and the high winds, both casting...and catching...became a little more difficult. I was able to land a few more gills, all around 7-8", but nothing huge. I decided to put away the fly rod and get out the spinning rod. With a rapala crank bait on the line, shit was about to hit the fan. First cast, boom! Reeled in about a pounder, and tossed the line back out. Ripping it right through the path of my first fish, I snagged the lure on something on the bottom of the pond. As I tried to maneuver the lure out of the possible log or branch, the log began to move. Wait...what the hell. It wasn't a log....it was some goliath of a fish. I was speechless. Rod was bent over and I had to let the fish run a little, and after one hell of a fight, I pulled him onto shore and got my thumb in his mouth. I was alone, and as embarrassing as it may sound, I legitimately jumped up and down when I had the beast on shore. Trying to take selfies on my phone, I propped up my "ifin" and took a video, and as I posed for the camera, my heartbeat was close to 200. A new personal best, which measured right at 22", and had to be near 5 lbs, I held the fish with more joy than a hockey player with the stanley cup.
Fuckin' A dude...
As bad as I wanted to get it taxidermied and have it hanging above my bed, I gotta support catch and release so hopefully some other kid can catch this pig of a fish. Soak it in people, soak it in...
Now back to family and friends. First off, went fishing to a friends private pond in Dublin and was able to catch some good sized bass. Accompanied by my girlfriend's father, he was lucky enough to catch this big 13" crappie, a fish we were not expecting to catch. Using a rubber minnow, he was on fire, and the crappie were all over it. Such a fun fish to catch.
Lastly, previous LOTF legend Garrett Powers' brother was lucky enough to head west and fish the Green River in Wyoming. With guide/friend Dan Kloos, Petey Powers was able to connect on some beautiful browns and bows. I got this picture and couldn't help but share it...
Another week in the books, and another week of excellent fishing. To conclude the post I have two things for you.
1. Watch this video, has nothing to do with fishing but it's just a classic :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP1-oquwoL8
2. Thought I'd take the whole MW Fly/Suburban Fishing to the next level and customize possibly the first shirt of many. Definitely a test run but hope to make more. Any thoughts on color combos, logos, etc, just let me know. If anyone is interested in getting one just let me know! Text or FB, whatever works. Watch out Hollsiter, here comes Abercrombie and Fish.
Till next time...
Tight Lines,
-CL
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