Stoddard (report)

[chefwhofishes]

Braved the rain yesterday and went fishing for the first time in weeks. Me and a buddy went up to Stoddard and fished the slough. Got up there around 1:00 and fished the few access spots that there are on that water. Immediately I landed a nice 2# rainbow on a small sucker minnow. My buddy landed a nice brown, about 15" on the same bait. The rain picked up pretty good around 2:30 and the fishing slowed down. I switched to a 2" shiner minnow on size 6 hook. Let it drift down the tunnel and wham! With about 15 feet of line out i got into a nice brown. He splashed around in the tunnel for a minute or two and then took off up stream towards me. My line was going slack pretty quickly, so i yanked my rod up with enough force to break the top line guide off my rod. By now I was pissed off, wet, and down another rod. While I was busy gazing at my mangled rod, Mr. Brown decided to wrap my 10# fireline around some underwater brush. I pulled on my end and he pulled on his end for a little while with no progress being made by either of us. After 10 minutes of hassle with this fish, and already being soaked, I decided to brave the 4' across stream and went in after him. I untangled my line and proceeded to drag that damn fish up and out of the water. He was tired and I was tired. He swallowed my bait and hook, at this point i began the surgery, My plan at first was to release this old boy and catch him next weekend. The look in his eye was fear, for i had just pulled him out of his dark, cozy tunnel, and out onto the muddy, rainy bank to be sacrificed. We said our goodbyes and i ended it quickly for him. I am he won't be able to fight another day in that stream, but the damage was already done. I will do him justice on my BBQ grill by adding butter and salt. Final weight 5lb. 9oz. Final length 25"

This is my version of the old man and the sea;

"The young man and the stream"
[signature]