I had fun fishing. That's a rare thing these days. Burnt out. Tired. Stressed. But I had a little free time one evening between the end of work and the beginning of...more work...so I decided to wet a line.
It's not been a productive fishing season thus far, relative to past years. This is largely attributable to weather patterns, but let's not forget my mental state - I've broken two rods this spring after having not broken one in about seven years. Just thinking, in both cases, in two different swamps, that I could force that lure loose from that beaver dam with just one more...snap.
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| Weedless lures are the call here |
It was good to get out this time and just fish. I fished hard, and a bit nervously, but it worked. I had fish on the line quickly, almost all bass, and they were chasing my lures all over the place. Catch. Release. Catch. Release. Catch. Release. It was so much fun. Toward the end of my allotted time, I saw a six pound (or so) fish, somewhere close to 20 inches, following my lure as it passed by a log on each retrieve. I switched up to a bigger lure (5 inch black floating pin minnow) and with a few twitches, the Big Boy was blowing up the water right behind it. Suddenly, an 11 inch largemouth swooped in and grabbed the lure - on several other fishing days, I'd have been thrilled to land such a fish. Even in the moment, that irony wasn't lost on me. Nervous, actually shaking, I tried again and again.
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| Big lure, tiny bass |
The big fish kept giving chase, short striking as if out of hesitation, before another smallish bass would fly in at top speed, grab the lure, and give me a fight. After five bass in a row (some as small as six inches) while targeting a different fish, I gave up, and had to get out of the swamp and out to an evening meeting about a wetland restoration project.
It was great. I tried to remember how many fish I caught, and I couldn't. They all kind of melted together, along with the smell of the swamp, the sound of the tree frogs, the sight of big snapping turtles, and deep breaths during an evening afield.