This is a guest post by Dale Garrard, telling some great fishing tales. Fortunately, he has the photos to prove those tales. Thanks, Dale!
Couldn't decide what to do today... drive to Riggins and fish? Try and get my 17 year old out of bed to chase deer with his bow, or maybe pheasants with a shotgun on a WMA or something? Heaven forbid I do yard work. My wife said I should go back down to the river in town and give it another shot, since I'd been whining about the fish I lost Thursday night.
Why is my wife always right?
I had my fly rod ready to go, but I also had a bobber rig on a spinning rod I'd tried to figure out. I thought I'd just check and see if I could get the depth right with it for a few casts, then go back to fly fishing, since I know how to do that. I really didn't think I could catch anything with a spinning rig cause I kinda suck at it.
I tried some jigs I had tied, but I had tied them on regular wire jig hooks, and after seeing how bent the hooks got just from pulling snags free, I figured I'd better switch to a store-bought jig on a stout hook.
I jacked around with the depth until I was barely contacting the bottom once in a while, and then I decided to see if I could make the extended downstream drift work. I was just starting to feed some line for a downstream drift when the bobber hung up- which pissed me off because I really thought I had the depth dialed in. I tried to pull the rig free, but it felt like I'd hooked the bottom pretty solidly. And then the bottom started to shake its head.
Even with my spinning rig the fish gave me a nice tussle. I led it up to the bank and let it beach itself- just in time because the poor fish's gum wore out just as I got him there and the hook fell out. A nice 30 inch buck.
I'd been all alone when I was fishing, but people came out of the woodwork when I caught the fish - one lady even pulled off the main road from the bridge into the park to talk to me. Nobody ever told me that all I have to do to make friends is catch big fish. When I turned around, some guy had come out of nowhere and was fishing right where I had been. What a crack up.
By the time I'd finished taking pictures, retying my knots, and (loudly) bonking my fish over the head, the guy had moved out, and I resumed fishing. I figured the fish was just a fluke, but that I might as well give the bobber a few more casts.
I adjusted the depth a few times, and tried to get the depth right again. I tried fishing a little closer to myself, just for fun, but the darn thing got hung up again.
This fish went ballistic - run after run after run. Turned out I had my drag set perfectly. After I got him in and was working on getting the jig out of his mouth, I saw a broken off fly in his mouth. I started chuckling to myself. Yep, I caught this big 'ole fish that some loser couldn't handle.
I know you guys won't believe me - but you probably already guessed where this is going. It was my fly from Thursday night. If you look carefully at the head shot below, you can see the red and black jig I caught him on in the top of his mouth - and the apricot egg pattern I'd tied on a salt-water hook stuck in his lower jaw. I don't blame you guys for not believing it. I couldn't either. A 33 inch buck.
I figured I should get my fly rod going since I'd brought it - and then thought to myself - "what, are you crazy? you could catch a limit for the first time in your life!" I retied my bobber and jig rig, and re-adjusted my depth again until it was right. And the damn bobber got hung up again.
This fish was a major jumper. Good thing the hook was in solid, because he jumped at least ten times, shaking his head like he had a piece of metal rammed through his face or something. A guy who was fishing with his dad down the bank jogged over with his net and helped out, once I'd led the fish to the shallows. This buck was a "little" 27 incher, but was much more silver than the first two.
The guy who netted the fish for me asked if he could bring his dad to my spot, since I was done. I gave him the last of my salad shrimp and showed him how I was rigged. It felt funny, since I really don't know what I'm doing... but I guess I had caught some fish. I hadn't seen another person touch a fish the whole day - fly guys, spinner guys, bobber guys, nobody. Maybe I just get lucky once in a while? Anyway, glad I did what my lovely wife told me to do today.
~ Dale Garrard
