Saturday I helped my sisters move. We finished at about 3:00pm. My special lady was out with her parents so I was sitting around with some time on my hands. Even though it was in the middle of the day, I hit the river. I figured a few hours on the river was better than a few hours sitting at home watching TV. I may have been wrong, it was so hot and muggy outside. The heat was oppressive, but the fishing was awesome, to my surprise. I caught a nice bass on the first or second cast of the day. I thought to myself; it's going to be a great day on the river. I fished up river and caught an awesome fish like an hour or two later. This fish was 17-18 inches and an easy 3 lbs. I took a few pictures of the fish and knelt down in the water to release the fish (unharmed of course) and kerplunk! My camera fell out of my pocket into the water! I grabbed it as soon as it went in, but it was soaked. I took out the battery and opened all trap doors to let water out and air in. So those pics won't be available for a little while, if ever. This camera has gotten soaked before (I fell into the grand last spring) and worked fine after it dried out the last time, we'll see if I get that lucky again.
Yesterday (Sunday) I went out mid day after having brunch with my special lady. Much like Saturday it was really hot and sticky. I was constantly sweating and being beaten down by the sun. I have some funny looking tan lines from my shirt sleeves and gravel guards. I hit a new section of river, it was hard to access and the bottom and long with the water was pretty muddy. I fished hard and hooked one average sized bass below a riffle, I fought the fish, brought it in near shore where the fish wrapped my line around a dead fall near shore, it was just enough leverage to allow the fish to throw the hook. The fish was gone. It was a sporting fight, this time the fish won. I moved by car up river to a better location. I fished all afternoon without so much as a bite. Finally I changed flies and started drifting a small crayfish fly through some medium fast water. I hooked a creek chub or two and kept fishing since this was the most action I'd seen for hours. I thought I snagged and pulled the line to free it, the line pulled back, fish on! This fish fought an awesome fight, it was a beautiful aerial display. I wish someone was with me to take photos of the fight as it was spectacular. I brought the fish to hand and took a good picture with my cell phone's camera. The picture is posted below.
From the river it was time to clean up and head down to Little Italy for lots of pasta and fine Italian deserts at the Feast. It was a hot busy day, but it was a great day filled with awesome bass and the best Italian food in town!
