5:30am eyes open. East wind. I can either write some code or take a few casts. I choose the latter. Throw some Starbucks in the coffee pot, step into my flip flops and I am on the beach with the sunrise. Bait is everywhere and there are some monster fish screaming through the water. I throw on a shrimp pattern. Nothing. Micro minnow, zero. Forget this, I am going big, loud and obnoxious. So I tie on a huge popper fly with a size 1 hook. I cast it out just beyone the bait. On the second strip, something massive made a pass behind my fly. He did it again on the third strip and then he was gone. I did get a peak at the fish and I think it was a BIG snook, but I am not certain. Whatever it was it was big. So, I make my way down to another pocket of baitfish. Make loads of casts with no luck and just when I was about to call it quits I hit a nice Jack Cravel. It was sweet. The popper fly landed in the water. I stripped hard. Paused. Stripped hard again. Paused. Just as I started to strip again he took a whack at the popper. So, I increased my stripping speed and that popper sure looked like a frantic baitfish. The Jack stayed on it and he whacked it again, but did not take the hook. I stripped faster. The popper fly pushed a ton of water through the air and made a lot of noise. He swirled again. I strippedfaster. Then he just went nuts on the fly. I felt him take it, set the hook, set the hook again and he screamed out line. I had all the room in the worldl, no obstructions. Just miles and miles of sandy beach. He put up a great battle. What a great way to start the day. Forget Wheaties. Flies are the breakfast of champions.
This is your BEST writing yet, Jer. Worthy. Well, at least more worthy than your dull hooks! SHAME that snooky wasn’t pierced with a razor sharp barb, stuck deep, on an arm haul that gives you tennis elbow all the rest of your life!! Arm yourself, buddy! Beef up your terminal tackle, RAZOR SHARP HOOKS! hmmm? Maybe a check with the E.A. to get their best irons is a good idea.
ps. when you said you “choose the former”,
I thought you were going to “write code”….but,… Maybe your spelling/grammar has been subconciously influenced by gregB!
hee, hee,
“Latter”,
marshalld
hey thanks marsh! – your right – i gotta sharpen my hooks. i lost a lot of fish on the salmon river because of dull hooks and the same may have been true in this case. it does make all the difference in the world – especially when fishing for bigger fish with hard mouths.
ps – see ya “latter”