And this, folks, is why you play the game...
Here’s yet another prime example why fishing is so damn awesome: Our good friend from across “The Pond,” Richard Masters, fished the River Ribble near Lancashire in Northwest England last week. Unfortunately, the river was still high and pretty much blown out following a recent flood — and the fishing was lousy.
Masters says he threw hardware in the muddy water all day without success and then, on his way home the next morning, he made a quick stop along the river to get a feel for the new 5-weight trout fly rod he had just purchased…and then a funny thing happened:
” I was keen to see how the new rod cast before I went home, so I put on a small Dunkeld fly,” he says. “Then, I hooked this salmon on the second cast! I guess the fish don’t read the books…”
The bright salmon ran Masters downstream 100 yards before finally being subdued 10 minutes later. After a quick photo, the fish was back in the water…
The River Ribble as she looked when Masters' Surprise Salmon came calling...
And that’s what is so cool about this sport…you just never know when the magic is going to happen! Anybody else have any of these to share?
Ray Fairfax says
Last July in Southeast AK, five of us hiked into a Dolly Varden honey hole for some fun. Upon arrival, 5 weight flyrod in hand, I noticed that the previous night’s rain had transformed our hole into Chumland. Several hundred Chum salmon lay stacked like cordwood. Somehow, I actually managed to land nine of those beasts that afternoon by using 15lb fluorocarbon leader. The next day we went elsewhere for dollies and I blew my flyrod to smithereens horsing a 20 inch Dolly to shore.
Last week we were back in Southeast AK. While fishing with a 10 to 20lb rated mooching rod my wife hooked a large halibut. Too big to put in a 16ft skiff with 4 people aboard. We towed it (in reverse – so the prop wouldn’t cut the line) 1/2 mile to shore, finally beaching it. Beat the thing so hard with the fish bat that the lens popped out of it’s eye. I can send photos if you’d like.
Ray
JD says
Cool stuff! The big hali sounds like Hawg of the Month material! Send pix!
Justin W. says
At that age it was a monster indeed. This is especially true for Cache Creek! Unfortunately the largest cat I’ve ever caught was only 22lbs and it was caught in a little cement pond in Fairfield (Civic Center). I need to get out to Clear Lake more often so I can break that record. Maybe Nights Landing will offer some hope. It’s only a few miles from my new house. :)
JD says
An 11 pounder must have looked like a friggin’ monster in those days! Good stuff!
Justin W. says
When I was in 4th grade I spent the summer with my grandparents who ran the Postal Office in Rumsey. Being so close to Cache Creek I couldn’t help but spend the majority of my time turning over big rocks in search of hellgramites and using them as bait to catch catfish. In the evenings my grandpa would take me to the old boy scout camp and as most notice fisherman do, I would cast as far as I could assuming that the further I cast the more fish I would catch. You all know the type. One day I was getting bored catching the tiny cats that are so good for frying so I asked my grandpa what would happen if I cast closer to the river bank. He just smiled and said “why don’t you try it and see.” So I lobbed a hunk of clams attached to my #2 hook into the water no more than 4′ from the bank. Within moments I was battling what turned out to be an 11lb blue cat. That was the largest fish I had ever caught up to that point so you can imagine the excitement. Sometimes you just never know when a fish is about to create a lasting memory.