The Herter left me hurtin'
Alright, I went out this morning to an urban lake that's virtually in my back yard and thought i would throw around a wolly bugger on my fiberglass 4wt that I am allowing to break me in as I relearn this fly tossing stuff... My leader is all knotted, I caught my hat twice, my shirt once, and my crotch once, No fish... I just couldn't get a good cast on it no matter what.
Then the bugs came out. LIttle white mayflies came and fell to the water. I was so *** i didn't have anything that matched. I only have about three small flies one is a #26 nymph ( Purchased only because it's so ***** tiny) a #20 that looked like a more developed version of the previous mini fly, and finally a #18 something or other that I couldn't tell you what it's called- I should really take pictures and notes so I can tell you what the heck these things are.... ( I'm thinking about learning to tie flies just so I remember what I'm throwing...)
I took the bigger of the three, closest I had to what was flying around, strapped it on and let her fly....
It flew like an angel. No wind knots, no low casts, nothing but picture perfect, smooth, tight, gorgeous loops stringing out that leader and floating the fly back to earth with such a soft landing I swore I snapped off my fly.
Then the beast nailed it.
Let me clear, I haven't caught a bloody thing with a fly EVER. Never had a bite to speak of up until this point. So when this giant slurping white whale came out of the lake engulfing that fly and snapping it's mouth shut with an audible 'pop' before belly flipping back into the waters from whence it came, I nearly **** myself, dropped my rod and bid the lake good morrow.
however, all I managed was a "gah!" and a line strip that brought the line taut and the tip down. Then I let go of the line and listened to the reel spin out.
The fight was a while, and attracted the male members of a family that were fishing about forty yards east of me. ( Daddy, waht's he doing?" "Fly fishing" "What's that?" " It's how you fish for trout" yup... not me, I fish for whatever is going to bite- not that they do....) the boy was asking his daddy for a fly rod as the fifth minute rolled around. I finally got it up to the surface and realized what I had- a white amur, about 36-40 inches long. What the **** it was doing pounding my fly I had no clue, but there he was, about four feet from the bank when it did something that looked like it slapped itself in teh face with his tail fin, left side first, then in christian devotion, turned the other cheek.
The twang I heard when it went tot he right cheek was horrifying. the fluorescent line shooting back at me was a let down and the swirl of the monster retreating left me with little left to do than flop on my but and proclaim, " I don't believe it, and I was holding the blasted rod... "
wil I become a fiberglass fanatic? probably not. Am I hooked? yup. Only thing left to do is get mor hours so i can buy more flies. Little ones. Lots of little ones. and... that floaty stuff. Maybe I'll catch something I can take a picture of. That'd be a hoot!
Lesson learned: four wt fiberglass is crap for wolly buggers- but bitty flies? yup...
( Bythe way, the kid will be searching for a TFO Bug Launcher. His dad is taking him to Bass Pro Shop today to look into a casting class on teh 23rd, and they have my number- Just in case.)
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