SmallMouth Bass to the rescue

Well today I thought I give a lil’ Stillwater action help me drop my slump. I haven’t caught a fish with a Flyrod since November. Now I have cheated and have fished with some bait earlier this month and caught some Stripers, but it hurts my pride of a FlyFisherman. I want to recognized as a Fly Guy.

My Buddies at Granite Bay Flycasters were having a fishout at Sly Park (AKA Jenkinson Lake). This is a special place, because of the possibility to catch Rainbow, Brown, and Lake Trout (AKA Mac-daddies). Also, there are BlueGills, Large and Small Mouth Bass as well. I have been wanting to catch a Small Mouth Bass. I haven’t caught one for 15 years, back on a fishing trip in North Carolina. At that time, I wasn’t a fly guy at all. However, for me anyway, fly fishing, is like riding a bike again. I had fish before, but in 2005 I became determine to learn the ways of the Fly guy. So far, I have not regretted my decision. I feel that flyfishing is harder than baitcasting, but I find it more rewarding when you catch a fish on the fly. Also, the fish seem to fight harder. I guess it’s due to the fact that you hold the fishing line in your hand and you need to figure out how to make your line tight to hold on to the fish on your hook.

Enough of why FlyFishing is so addicting, I got to the lake around 7:30 am. I forgot that I live in the valley, so when I got there, I remember that the Sierras are about 15 degrees cooler than Sacramento. I paid for that one, but once I pumped up my float tube, I wasn’t cold anymore & I had the excitement of a lil’ kid on Xmas morning, waiting to open gifts. Of course for me, trying to get to those gifts would be a bit of hard work. Frustration and fatigue would get to me. After about two hours kicking around in this cove that was fed by a creek. I had to take a leak. I was thinking what was I doing. I didn’t see any bites. No top water action at all. I was using an intermediate line, so I decided to use my shooting head. Probably the smartest move on my part. As soon as I changed reels, my luck changed drastically. On my first hit, I didn’t know what to do. I got a hit and I didn’t know how to react. Of course I lost that fish. About 20 minutes later, I got another hit. Of course I messed that one up as well. In the process, I lost two flies, so I worked on my knots, until I got a solid blood knot for my flyline and tippet. Now I was ready for action. Also, I noticed from some other guys that were pulling in some Smallmouths, I wasn’t stripping my line fast enough. So, after casting, I would count to 10 then start to strip a bit fast. BINGO, I got a tug, which I would not let go. I was able to hook a Smallmouth, but when I got to the fish up to my tube, I reached for my broken, geto net. In the process, the Smallmouth shook off my hook. DAMN!!!!

Ok, I took a deep breath. Check my line and tried to return to the place where I lost the fish. I cast like for 5 or 10 minutes, then BINGO!!! I got another grab. This time, I put my rod straight up in the air and tried to get that line as tight as possible. This time I was able to bring the tube this fat 10-12 inch Smallie. Ok, it isn’t a world record, but I finally had busted my streak. Of course I was done for the day. I would later goto this juke-joint that was next to the lake, have a beer and want Team USA get punked by the English National soccer team. I didn’t care, cause I broke my streak (also, cause that match was only a friendly and no one would care anyways). Now, my next step is to find a stream to break my slump in moving water. Stay tune, cause I have some ideas on how to break that one. Hopefully, I won’t break a leg in the process