Grinning and Bearing it '21

[fishskibum]

headed up to the refuge sunday
havent been since mid july
figured it might be a bit high and off colored with the rain
was right almost bailed for willard
threw in hopin for the best bout 9
seems pretty high for aug
and the reeder canal isnt outflowing and drying up fast

the poopers were staged up in whats normally islands in a foot or 2 of water with just enough vis to distinguish heads from tails

had a black booger lookin with a dangling red worm tail carp maul on as it worked pretty good at echo
but after a couple exit stage left refusals switch over to a dark brown raineys cap bitters thats my go 2 and puts it where it needs to be to place bends in the whip sticks

and the 1st +30''er of the day

paddled up to the next beach blew a shot one another nice one i thought for sure had eaten the straight on 12oclock coming at ya hookups are the hardest for me
Headed back downstream a few smaller fish clomping the deep water banks and bigger fish on the flats seemed to be the pattern for the conditions

found another beach cruising tanker


yup a bigger net helps

seems if i can git em in the net on the 1st time i git their heads up close enough it shortens the fight a good 5 minutes as once the feel that net after that they want to turn
but puttin em in the net hot on the sups not easy ive come to sit on the cooler or kneel and i did have one go ballistic and leave the net and manage to put the net and rod in the water and almost the paddle
paddled up to the islands across from the second outlet
and stuck a few more





on the way back tossed a few in front of a culvert that sends water from the marsh back into the bear and i think connected with a nice cat
different tugs from carp and ive gotten kittys in that spot before but came unglued before i could git it close enough to see
managed 1 more big domer on the way back and split about 2 pm

need to get back one of the better big fish bear days ive had
they seem to still be moving some water downstream
didnt go up to check the other outflow canals