What the Heck was That?!!!

my latest trip, copied from my blog (where you can find more pics)

It’s Tuesday afternoon, my cell phone rings and the voice on the other end asks “Where are we fishing tomorrow?” It’s Average Joe Fisherman Scott. “You’re able to go this week?” I ask. “Yup, all clear!” he replies. And just like that my excitement for this week’s outing doubled. Those of you who are a regular reader of this blog know that I, as of late, have been fishing by myself. It seems the other Average Joe Fisherman have been too busy to fish. This is completely understandable mind you. I have been a loaner most of this season because of work pulling Scott in a different direction, family obligations for Tim, and kid’s soccer for Donny P. Wednesday however it sounded like I would have company and that was a good thing.

My work day came to an end Wednesday and I ran out of there like the building was on fire. It was time to get my trout on! It is funny to me that, while I fish week after week, my excitement to do so never diminishes.

The goal of this outing was to put Scott on some bigger fish since he has not had the opportunity to fish as much as I have. I decided that Scott and I should fish the same small creek I fished last week due to the success I had. If you have not read that post, you can find it here – It's About Time!

We both “geared up” quickly and began walking the bank of a large river in search of the mouth of the creek we would be spending the evening on. To mix things up a little we decided to fish some of the bigger river. The stream was slightly stained with increased water flow because of rain the area received the night before. The fish were eager to participate and we caught six fish, a combination of brown trout and rainbows, between us in a matter of minutes. Once we arrived at our destination we found the trout there not to be as accommodating. In hindsight we should have kept fishing the bigger river. Scott and I did manage a few nice fish though.

On the way back to the truck Scott and I decided we would walk down to a canoe launch that was located a short distant from where the truck was parked. The idea was to cast the largest spinners we had into the deeper water of the bigger river to see if something large might be interested. The air was cool to the point where you could see your breath in the headlamp. Did I mention we were wearing headlamps? Well we were. The moon was almost full and provided plenty of illumination and an eerie reflection upon the water. We shut off our headlamps before we arrived at the canoe launch and gently eased our way out into the river, feeling the bottom carefully so we would not trip or stumble. We began to cast once we were in the middle of the river. The waist high water crushed my waders to my legs. The water felt cold and thick. A few casts, nothing, a few more casts and still nothing. We moved a little up-stream and cast again. There was resistance at the end of my line, it was a tree. That cast apparently got away from me and I needed Scott’s help to un-lodge it. Finally I was back in the middle of the river and able to cast again. I cast toward the right bank into what I thought was a deep undercut but was actually only two inches of water. I could feel that I had snagged something as I retrieved my spinner. Upon casting the spinner into the shallow water it snagged a large maple leaf that was submerged by the bank. I retrieved the leaf fast causing it to surface and skate across the water. As the snag approached the end of my rod I could clearly make out the large leaf in the moonlight. I slowed down my retrieve ready to lift my rod tip. A large silhouette of a head rose out of the water directly in front of me and tried to inhale the leaf and spinner. The fish was so large and startled me so that I screamed. Scott, standing right by my side, seeing the whole thing transpire yelled, “What the hell is that!” The fish dove back below the surface causing the water to suck downward producing a loud “swoosh” noise. Startled, I back pedal quickly kicking a submerged log and fell backward. One wet ass later Scott and I were back in my truck laughing like lunatics at what had just happened.

I have spent several minutes while at work, probably more than my boss would like, considering what kind of fish that could have been. Salmon? It is very unlikely. Pike? The strike was not consistent with a pike strike. Loch Ness monster? I sure did react like it was. Big brown trout? That was the only option that made sense. Needless to say, I now have a date with this brute before the season is out! I’ll be packing a larger rod and some type of top water lure. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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