rsimms, Parksville, Trophy Spot on F&F, Feb. 22, 2015, shsimons

[FishNews]

I was off the water for week during the severe winter weather and I was going "Bonkers!"<br /><br />After my last float & fly foray to Parksville with jimwarden, shsimons said he was itching to give F&F a try.<br /><br />We launched Sunday about 8 am. I first gave Sam a quick F&F casting lesson. He's a quick learner.... a VERY quick learner. Off to the first spot. Sam casts his F&F across a sloping gravel point... jiggle, jiggle, stop... jiggle, jiggle, stop... jiggle, jiggle, stop... gone!<br /><br />His very first F&F cast in his entire life and he's hooked up. emoEek I'd already told him, "If we get ten bites today, it'll be a good day." One cast, one bite. We boat and picturefy that healthy spot and Sam casts again while I'm putting water in the livewell. Before I can get done and make a cast, I hear Sam grunt, turn and see that he is hooked up AGAIN!<br /><br />The first two F&F casts of his life and he catches fish. Absolutely unbelievable! emoWorthy <br /><br />He finally slowed down and let me fish... and then it became time to grind it out. No more fish a long while until we visited a sweet spot. I switched lures, trying a little 2-inch white Powerbait minnow imitation. From that point it was "Game on" for me... it wasn't one right after another, but I put five healthy spots in the boat. After a couple of hours Sam was ready to visit some new water, but I had to make one more pass over the sweet spot.<br /><br />My float went down and it was "Fish on!" With my F&F gear... long, light action rod and 4 lb. test line, you never really can tell how big a fish is initially. It only becomes obvious based upon how long it is before the fish agrees to show itself in the clear water. This bad boy (or girl) had me back-reeling bigtime (I don't trust drags) until it finally decided to clear water with a massive "Kersploosh!"<br /><br />Me and Sam both said "Holy Crap!" (or words to that effect). You couldn't have fit a straight pin up my hind end from that point forward.<br /><br />About halfway through the battle, knowing it wasn't going to be over anytime soon, Sam whipped out the iPhone and rolled video. I am SO proud he did that. I'll cherish this video until my dying day.<br /><br />I told crazyaboutbass (our resident spot expert) that as for F&F, that fish is 2nd only to a pair of back-to-back 6 lb. smallies I caught on DH once. And it is easily in my Top 5 fish catches of all time. What a rush! I think you'll ENJOY SAM'S VIDEO. The only scales I have are for 50 lb. catfish, so I couldn't get an actual accurate weight. The fish was 22.5 inches long and 15.5 in girth. I'm not a big TARP collector, but I'll be claiming one for this fish. Crazy says she would have been about 5.5 lbs, give or take. But Sam and I agreed, the weight doesn't matter. The experience of capturing such an incredible fish, the way we caught it, does.<br /><br />We (or I) caught a couple more fish, but everything after the beast was anti-climatic.<br /><br />Now back to Sam, who caught two fish on his first two casts. The young man never caught another fish all day long. emoBawl <br /><br />Float & Fly is great fun, but she can be an evil mistress. In spite of it that, or perhaps because of that, life is good and getting better everyday.<br />