Sometimes You Just Never Know

 The day started out really dreary and cloudy and we figured that it was going to be a slow day.  I caught the most about 3 and they were fun, but nothing to write home about.  Walt was up to a grand total of ZERO!

So this is looking like a Once upon a midday dreary, while I fished, weak and weary....." cause we aren't catching nothing, no how, zero, nada, zilch!

So we head back up to the dam with our intrepid guide, the Professory of Fishology, who if anything is as perseverent as I am.  I drop my line in the water, with a new lure - we've tried about 4 or 5 as our Fishology professor knows all the secrets to what works on a weekend (with heavy traffic) and cloudy day (when the fish are in a "Meh," mood)!  I drop it into the water and immediately get it snagged so hand it off to Mike, the professor.  Mike tells me I have a fish and the pole is really hanging down.  If this is a fish, it's gotta be the Moby Dick of trout.  He's working the pole and I'm still not sure that I'm not hung up in the grass or moss or something.  Pretty soon the line frees and I figure that I'm out of the moss.  Mike brings the lure onto the boat, and the fish, yes it was a fish, has straightened the little hook.  

NOTE:  In the catch and release area, you are only allowed to use barbless hooks.

The barbed means that after you set the fish, at least you have a chance of keeping the fish on the line cause the fish can't back out of the hook.  Because this is a catch and release area, the fish, and game department doesn't want too much damage to the fish, but the down-side is that if the fish swims toward you the hook can easily fall out.  This means you must keep tension on the line the entire time you are reeling in the fish.  Sounds easy, but you can lose a fish very easily in the excitement if you don't work hard to remember to keep the pole up and keep the fish set in the hook. 

I sound like a pro, but just been schooled by the professor!!!

And the professor says the reason I lost the fish was that the fish was a monster fish and it bent the hook.  I didn't feel so bad, but to be honest, I thought the professor might have made that up to make me feel better.  He fixed my line then we headed right back to the same spot.  He knew exactly where I had gotten it and he was after that huge fish.  I'm not so sure.

We both drop our lines into the water, and almost immediately, Walt says he's stuck in the moss.  The prof comes over and touches his line and exclaims that not only does he have a fish, he has a monster fish.  I'm not kidding when I say they worked a good 4 to 5 minutes struggle to get that fish to the side of the boat, all the while Mike realizing that this may have very well been the fish that straightened my hook and he wants to get that fish on the boat before another hook is straightened.  He's not worried about the hook, he simply wants to get the fish on board before it gets away.  

I think Mike is more excited than we are, simply because he knows what he brings out of this river, and this is one of the big ones.  It was a very handsome male.  They got it on board, and Walt gets a great shot.

And after hardly any fish all day - one little 12-incher - and then to get this great 26" fish.  Walt is beside himself, and Mike is overjoyed.  

Obviously, this is enough to feed about 10 people, however, this is the catch and release area, and Mike, being the schooled professor in all things fishology, as well as the Arkansas Fish and Game rules, knows that this goes back in the river so that some other fisherman can have the joy of catching him.  He struggled mightily and Walt was a little concerned, but once in the water, we waited and made sure that he was recovering and on his way into another current awaiting another meal!

So what looked like it was going to be a dud day, turned out to be a monster fish day!  You just never know!