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| Bottom of the steps, start of trail to river. Where a cuda is wait'n for paddler |
The drive was uneventful for the most part, except, 1 little speed bump. At 4 am, I was look'n for deer, I missed that black and furry critter (sorry dude) hanging out on the yellow line...sort of...but I think he got me back. Black truck smell'n bad...guess I'll have to name it stinky face.
I arrived 2 hours before the sun was awake. Decided to try the Libby Shoal access...meaning I had to walk my cuda and gear to the river...about 50 yards I guess...down a steep flight of stairs, along a dirt trail...all this at 4am. Let's just say, after 3 trips, I was ready to fish.
Think'n the big fish would be out I decided to try a big streamer on my 8wt. I was slinging that big articulated streamer hard...I could hear it ripping past me. It was at that moment....
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| Nice Bow that fell for a sowbug |
I remembered I wasn't wearing eye protection. Gotcha!! Really the only brown that I hooked into was a stick...but it made my heart jump. So did the almost splash down I had. Slinging that 8wt, I had that cuda rock'n good. You know what they say about a kayak-a-rock'n....you're about to be swim'n. That's how the before sunrise fish'n went. But I was set on hook'n a big brown so I kept at it after the sun was up until about 8 am. But the water wasn't helping, almost 0 flow and very clear. Not the best conditions for big streamers. So I put the 8wt in the hull and pulled out the 5wt with a bugger.
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| Leaves are piling up on the water and in my net |
Hooked up on 3 straight casts...but my set sucked. 1st fish, I strip set like I was redfishing, 2nd fish, try'n not to set like it's a red, I basically set like I was hold'n an egg. 3rd fish, more of a hybrid between the 2 others...and the fish was on for a little while. I think I lost it more to it's impressive underwater yoga...head-to-tail touches...those bows are very flexible.
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| Great color and very healthy |
The bows seemed to like the bugger I was throwing and I stuck with it for a couple hours. I stripped it, swung it, and dead drifted it. I managed about 15 bows. The low, clear, zero flow conditions demanded an indicator and sowbug (not my favorite way to fish). But it produced.
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| Get'n bent |
Didn't get as many, b/c I don't have the patience to watch a bobber (I missed several b/c I looked away), but they were bigger...cool with me.
Ended up covering about 3 miles of river and caught around 25 bows, all with great color and very healthy look'n. Not a bad day for a guy trying his best to not snag himself. Spoke with several people on the river, no browns caught. I saw 2, and 1 looked like a log...they both saw me first and went real far, real fast.
Sun started to fade and I was exhausted. I had been awake 36 straight hours, and still had to carry everything back to stinky face (I found the aroma long before I found the truck). Which might explain why at one point, I looked down and saw a muddy cloud, and thought I had spooked a redfish. Ended up being a sandy bottom. Fish'n all over AR and LA maybe make'n me crazy...but I love it and fish porn!!!
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