Brig·a·doon
noun \ˌbri-gə-ˈdün\
a place that is idyllic, unaffected by time, or remote from reality
Which also fits my little secret place so perfectly it's become the spot's "code" name.. There is a small steep little creek coming off the hillside. Dry ninety nine percent of the time, in some distant past deluge it has dumped a load of rocks out into the river. Not enough to create a big rock bar like those you can spot on google earth but a tiny one just big enough to stand on. Further into the river though the rock bar extends underwater a third of the way across the stream. The only give away to this underwater bar is a row of tiny swirling circles of water in a line across the stream. Not much of a spot really. But it's in an out of the way part of the river no one fishes much so the fish have here a chance to reach their potential even if your not going to catch very many.
I clambered down the steep little ravine to the river. Sitting my pack on the diminutive rock bar I pulled on Bob and peered inside. Bob is a two inch tall clay ogre holding a quartz crystal attached to the packs zipper I bought off a witch at Yellow Springs. After naming Bob she cast a spell on him guaranteeing luck. After a couple years it seems limited to fishing, hiking and other things non-financial but I'd be lost without him out on the water. A moment of panic set in as I realized I had only a couple chartreuse metalflake grubs left. This has long been my go to color for muddy murky water. And the river now is nothing if not muddy and murky. I began to unload the pack setting boxes and gear out on the rocks. Whew! There it is, an unopened package of chartreuse grubs. Every winter I stock up on grubs in smoke glitter, glow, motoroil flake and chartreuse flake. Most years the other colors get the hard use but not this wet muddy year. My usual go to smoke glitter is barely used while the chartreuse is getting low.
I tie on a jighead thread on a grub and dangle it into the water. You could see the bright chartreuse maybe six inches down. Hmm, I squatted down conflicted. You could still see the dark braid in the yellowish mud. Should I go with braid or mono? I love the feel and strength of braid but have a hard time talking myself into using in daylight for smallmouth even in muddy water. I change spools and replace the braid with 8lb mono.
I cast and begin exploring the sides of the underwater bar. Two casts in and a dandy channel pounces on the jig.
There must be a low spot in the bar because part way across a sluice of faster water pours thru. I cast the jig and let it drift thru the slot on a tight line. Whammo! A hard strike and another great fish, this time a saugeye.
Then nothing for a long time. I paused to watch a great blue heron stalk the riverbank a ways upstream as I take out the waterbottle and sit a while without fishing. After the break I stand and cast back to where I caught the channel earlier in the day. The grub paused in it's journey downstream and I set the hook on just circumstantial evidence of a fish. The rod bent and a few minutes later I lipped an 18 inch smallmouth.
I remember thinking well this has been a much better day than I ever expected it would be, it doesn't matter what happens now. I'd regret thinking that an hour later. A strong thump on the jig and the drag began to protest. I thought wow another nice channel just before a smallmouth broke water. A very big smallmouth. After an uneventful fight I had the thing right there. Just right there, reaching out to lip it and the hook came free. It swam slowly back down out of sight. I thought for a split second of jumping on it. It was definitely a better fish than the 18 incher, But it was hard to be disappointed. Falling water, muddy water, I hadn't expected to catch much of anything today. The Fish God had smiled today.
No comments:
Post a Comment