8/6/15 Creek Trip with Friends

Malachi, Larry, and I hit a creek on Thursday after work to fish for Smallmouth and Pike. The two of them had never floated this section of stream before so they were understandably excited to get on the water. Malachi fished with spinning gear all night and had some very consistent success on Rock Bass, Smallmouth, and even caught a Pike. Larry and I struggled with the fly rods for a while. Eventually, the fishing picked up and I had plenty of good action on a large streamer. At one point, I threw my firsy cast to a good looking pool. As I was stripping the fly back to me, I could see a Smallie behind it chasing with every twitch of the fly. I let it sit for a second and the fish inhaled it. I set the hook and almost right away the fly came out of the fishes mouth. I quickly cast it back and in a split second a different and much larger fish came up and just absolutely smashed my lure. After a long and crazy fight ,I landed my biggest Smallmouth to date on a fly rod. The fish was just short of the 19'' mark. It was a beast and was just absolutely beautiful. What a privilege to get the chance to catch and release such a magnificent fish. It was certainly the highlight of my trip. Larry continued to struggle and actually managed to break his fly rod at one point. I hope he is not deterred and will continue to come out fishing with me! He is still very much a beginning kayaker and is having trouble controlling both the kayak and his fly rod at the same time. It can be a difficult endeavor and I'm just now getting to point where I am pretty comfortable with it. I ended the night with a nice 14'' fish and Malachi caught a small, hammer handle Pike. It was a great night on the water.