tiger stripes

Tonight I headed to a spot I hadn't been to in a long time. But it had been eating at me for a while, thinking it would be good this time of year. The place has the fact that it is a real pain to get to going for it. You first kayak down the river for a half mile or so. That's about as far as you can go and still paddle back up to the truck, otherwise you have to float for eight miles or so to take out. From there I then take off walking/wading down the river for a half an hour or so before I reach the spot. As far as I can tell there really isn't a better way to get there. But it's worth it. Two riffles and a big bend pool with a strong upstream eddy that's thirty yards across. In other words a wintering spot with adjacent fall feeding riffle. Way upstream where you leave the kayak is where everyone goes when they are "getting away from the crowd" so that also helps to protect this spot. Fishing was pretty slow with just a couple small bass to show for all that work till this girl hit the classic clear with glitter three inch grub. A cool old fish with half of her lower tail fin missing, a scar from an old wound low on one side and a pot belly, tiger stripes and an attitude. In other words she was beautiful.