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Salmon Video

My phone rings at 6am Sunday morning. It's Jeremy. "Boz lets fly fish some local water, you in?" Twenty minutes later we were on the road towards my favorite local river which had just seen some heavy rains days before. We sipped hot coffee and caught up on tales of fish hooked and lost this summer as we made our way out of Portland, Maine. We both agreed that it would be nice to enjoy a laid back day on the water and still have time to enjoy the afternoon at home with friends and family. We arrived at the first pool and rigged up. We covered every corner and crease of the pool with various nymphs and streamers and saw a few fish roll, but they were not falling for our usual tricks. We agreed that these fish had seen flies recently and set out for a new spot down the road. The deep slick we arrived at looked like just the ticket, and we set out to work the run hard. Twenty minutes of casting with no Sign of fish and I smacked my fly on the water in frustration. Then I saw a swirl! Strip, strip stop. A big male Landlocked Salmon came charging up through the whiskey-like water and nailed my fly! "Fish on" I shouted as the Salmon danced across the

pool running and leaping to throw the fly. A beautiful male Landlocked Salmon came to hand and was released back to the run. Jeremy congratulated me on a fine fish and I told him how I smacked the fly down on the water. We spoke of the territorial nature of these Salmon as they prepare to spawn, and concluded that a Sunday Smack-down approach should piss them off enough to get them to take our flies. Boy were we right! Five minutes later it worked again, only this fish was different. I smacked the bright fall soft hackle streamer down as hard as I could disobeying years of soft subtle presentation tactics. Again a long torpedo-like shadow burst through the water in anger. Twitch, twich and Slam! There she was and even bigger than the last fish! I began foolishly horsing the fish toward shore, when Jeremy arrived at side. "Easy Boz! This one is a monster!" He was right! Until that fish slashed across the pool I hadn't completely grasped the size and beauty of this fish. Her runs slowed down so I figured she had tired out and began to work toward shallow water. She went ballistic! Thrashing and leaping out of control, I put the pressure on and she responded with a series of powerful drag slipping thrusts from her tail. She fought recklessly near the end, until finally tiring out, I tailed her. I held her up for a quick photo and before I thought Jeremy had the shot she sprung from my hands! I dove hard, face first trying to regain my grip but she was gone. I was soaked and bloody knuckled from the rocks before me. The fish was gone. Even though I had dropped the ball Jeremy hadn't. He got a few good photos before she slipped away. For which I was grateful, as this was by far the best fish I'd ever landed on this River. Thank you Jeremy! Later that day we met up with my wife and some good friends. My buddy Jim assured me that that fish should’ve been his. And my wife just smiled when she heard the story and said I earned it, knowing how many days this river has kicked my butt. My wife said, “Savor it.”