I played hookie yesterday and went fishing. It was 60 degrees, overcast and windy in southwest Missouri and a good day for flyfishing. I usually fish using water structure to determine where to place my cast but yesterday I to cast to particular fish as I could see the wakes of large trout as they moved along the edge of the shallows. I was rewarded with one of my best fishing days in some time. I caught a monster rainbow 12 lbs 14 oz. He was in his spawning colors - his entire sides were bright purpley red a beautiful fish. It took me some time to land him since I didn't have my net with me and I was usuing 6x tippet. He was pretty exhausted when I got him in and it took a minute or so of moving him through the water to get him back in shape for release. I hooked two other large fish but did not land either. One managed to get under a log and subsequently loose. The other broke my line at the knot from leader to tippet. But I didn't mind losing these other fish as i was so psyched from the fish I did manage to land, and there were plenty of smaller fish to fill out the day.