The Night Game
A night of firsts for my fiancee. I took her out last night for a) her first shot at fly fishing after dark and b) her first experience with bass poppers. It was a beautiful evening, mostly clear, moonlit sky, warm but not oppressive and just enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitos at bay. As the sun went down we did pretty well, catching smallish bass and a few nice gills. While there was still enough light to see, Marguerite worked on getting the hang of casting the bigger popping bug (she's used to casting nymphs and bluegill flies) and working it on the water. As it started to get good and dark the quantity of fish dropped, but the trade off was bigger fish. I got the first one, about a twenty inch channel cat that ate my deer hair frog that I had cast up under some overhanging branches.
about ten minutes later, Marguerite had something with some size to it eat her popper and take off for parts unknown. This was far and away the biggest fish she'd had on the fly rod to date and was surprised enough that she forgot to give it line and it broke off. We tied on another popper and a few minutes later, working the edge of a weed bank, she was rewarded with another big swirl on her fly. This time she set the hook, then fed line as it charged out into open water. She played it perfectly this time and after a couple minutes and a lot of splashy jumps, landed her first big largemouth on the fly.
We fished a little while longer, caught a few more fish, then called it a night. I think I was more excited about her fish than any of the ones I caught myself. What a night!
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<sorry 'bout that Guys! Inside joke!!>
