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I finally succumbed to the fishing Gods and left the house at 1 pm. Late start and the weather was not desirable as a cool low front moved in over night.... but when the Gods call.. who am I to deny them. As I expected, there was a posse of Salmon/Steelhead gear guys out given the Priest Pool was open for Steelhead for the first time in years and the Kings were in the hood per usual for this time of year.
Full on clouds made sight fishing impossible so I was slinging blindly. Pretty quick I was wondering if I should be listening to the Gods after all and then just when I was going to change flies I saw a decent smallmouth.. 3.5 lbs at least. While that was encouraging this fish behaved like he had seen the devil himself and it was gone before I could get a cast in. Drifted down river tossing flies where I though the fish should be to no avail. Then I tucked into my old favorite spot. This is a place I fished on foot for years and doing that on the Columbia with results makes it a very special spot indeed. Well there was absolutely no current... where at times it roars. In fact the breeze blew me slowly right into a perfect position in a manner that had never happened before. I was fishing a suspending fly and I had slipped into la-la land watching numerous fish rise to who knows what? I stopped the strip-stop pattern for longer than I ever would have if I hadn't been day dreaming. That was the ticket all right and ka-pow!, fish on, and it was a toad by any standard. It went right to the air game and try to toss the fly on repeated jumps without success. Bulldogged deep, then charge off followed a quick reverse( I always tell myself he's trying to get slack on me) and another jump. It didn't work out for the fish a I got him in the net. Being alone is never easy for a photo. I figured I would do it anyway even though this fish was old and a bit rough looking as it was an old warrior and deserved some press for it's fight. I have a way to wedge the net so the fish remains in the water but unlikely to flip out of the net while I dig into my two-hand required zippered waterproof backpack. After removing the hook I decided to dunk the fish in the water.... then put it in the net. Wrong order on that proceedure. Not sure what I was thinking as I should have loosened the drag, left the hook in and put the fish in the net. You guessed it, when it hit the water it lit up and was free..... the thing was about 6.5 lbs and my thumb ain't what it used to be :beathead: Can't remember losing a bass when applying the thumb but the weight and power of the fish beat me today. It wasn't the prettiest fish by any stretch. Very dark to black with a tail that resembled and old flag that should have been retired some time ago. Hell of a fight and it makes me wonder if I need to go back just one more time given the nice weather report for the coming week... or, I could end the season on a high note.........:hmmm:
Full on clouds made sight fishing impossible so I was slinging blindly. Pretty quick I was wondering if I should be listening to the Gods after all and then just when I was going to change flies I saw a decent smallmouth.. 3.5 lbs at least. While that was encouraging this fish behaved like he had seen the devil himself and it was gone before I could get a cast in. Drifted down river tossing flies where I though the fish should be to no avail. Then I tucked into my old favorite spot. This is a place I fished on foot for years and doing that on the Columbia with results makes it a very special spot indeed. Well there was absolutely no current... where at times it roars. In fact the breeze blew me slowly right into a perfect position in a manner that had never happened before. I was fishing a suspending fly and I had slipped into la-la land watching numerous fish rise to who knows what? I stopped the strip-stop pattern for longer than I ever would have if I hadn't been day dreaming. That was the ticket all right and ka-pow!, fish on, and it was a toad by any standard. It went right to the air game and try to toss the fly on repeated jumps without success. Bulldogged deep, then charge off followed a quick reverse( I always tell myself he's trying to get slack on me) and another jump. It didn't work out for the fish a I got him in the net. Being alone is never easy for a photo. I figured I would do it anyway even though this fish was old and a bit rough looking as it was an old warrior and deserved some press for it's fight. I have a way to wedge the net so the fish remains in the water but unlikely to flip out of the net while I dig into my two-hand required zippered waterproof backpack. After removing the hook I decided to dunk the fish in the water.... then put it in the net. Wrong order on that proceedure. Not sure what I was thinking as I should have loosened the drag, left the hook in and put the fish in the net. You guessed it, when it hit the water it lit up and was free..... the thing was about 6.5 lbs and my thumb ain't what it used to be :beathead: Can't remember losing a bass when applying the thumb but the weight and power of the fish beat me today. It wasn't the prettiest fish by any stretch. Very dark to black with a tail that resembled and old flag that should have been retired some time ago. Hell of a fight and it makes me wonder if I need to go back just one more time given the nice weather report for the coming week... or, I could end the season on a high note.........:hmmm:
