new personal best

[flyfish_88]

Yesterday a buddy and I decided to go out and do some fly fishing. We had to wait till late afternoon to go and I almost canceled our trip numerous times. Boy am I glad I didn't. We got to the river around 3:00. It was beautiful outside and we couldn't have asked for better weather in mid January. We both started catching fish right away. After two decent browns I started to get very frustrated because I had already had to untangle my line and broke off three flies in the first 30 minutes. I hadn't cast a fly rod much in months and I was a little bit rusty to say the least. After an hour I was finally finding my groove again and started hooking into a good number of bows and browns. Nothing big but I was just happy to be out casting my rod again. I would have been totally happy to call it for the evening but was so glad I didn't. My last fish I hooked into was a new personal best. I just about crapped my drawers when I saw him come out from depths and take my fly. I was so paranoid of breaking off because of my recent history that afternoon. Took me almost 20 minutes to finally land the pig. While trying to land the fish I had been whistling and yelling for my buddy who was up stream and around the bend. He never heard me and I was gonna have to go get him. After finally landing the fish I worked my way upstream crouching the whole way to keep the fish in the water. While doing so I tripped on a rock and went head first into the to river. The fish swam out of my net and I thought he was gone. Luckily he was still hooked and I was able to rope him back in. Now soaking wet I finally got my buddies attention to come take a picture for me. We never got an official measurement but he was an inch or two past three 22" mark on my net. What a fun trip it was. The lost flies, getting soaked, and the sore knee I have today from my fall was all worth it. Its going to be a great year!
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