Split from Is "The Truth" owed an apology? thread

[mainbutter]

Last weekend I decided to go fishing. My girlfriend's parents' have some property up in Pine County, and the Pine River runs through much of it. We've been spending the spring and summer gardening up there, and have been up there almost every weekend. Despite this, and despite loving fishing, I have not taken the opportunity to fish this little river at all this year. In the past I've had luck digging up some worms from the garden and going fishing at its most basic - a worm on a hook. I've had moderate luck, particularly last august, when it seemed that the warmer temperatures moved panfish and both largemouth and smallmouth bass out of the lake and into the river, I assume in search of cooler water and more oxygen. Last year I took up fly fishing, and have had a blast hitting up local lakes for topwater panfish. I thought I'd try the same thing on the Pine River, so I set out with a little #10 panfish popper tied with rubber legs and a small marabou tail. The river is roughly 20 feet across in most parts, and with steep banks that make for severe depth shifts when rains come through. Luckily the water was about knee to waist high, with 4-6 foot holes in some places, which tends to make for good fishing conditions. I descended into the river, and began casting upstream. I'd work the holes carefully, found some small forests of green oxygen-producing grass, and worked the shoreline paying particular attention to eddies and current seams. After an hour of slowly moving upstream, I grew a little discouraged. The river looked wonderful, I could spy small minnows that would make great panfish forage, but I still had nothing to show for it. I switched from topwater poppers to a home-tied slow-sinking mini-streamer with shredded flashabou for enhanced light reflection. Two casts later, I see a swirl and set the hook. The fish is tiny I can tell, and my first instincts tell me it's probably a creek chub. There are schools of these baitfish all over this river system, and despite being only 3 inches long on average, they're more than happy to take the flies I use to chase bull bluegills and large crappies. However, when I bring the tiny thing in close, I was amazed to see that it was a FINGERLING NORTHERN PIKE! I mean, this northern couldn't have been more than three inches long, I've never caught one that small before. I was half tempted to keep it and put it in an aquarium, but unfortunately that would not have been legal, and I doubted my ability to keep it alive during a long drive back home. After that first catch, I was encouraged to keep fishing. I turned around and went back downstream, casting along the same area I'd fished before, working my way home again. I reached the point where I first entered the river, and decided that it was too nice of an afternoon to go inside quite yet. I continued downstream all the way to a road and bridge that marks the eastern boundary of the property without landing another fish (but did have some creek chub swirls that didn't take the whole fly). All in all it was a great day, despite not catching much, I felt proud to not only add a new "smallest northern pike" I ever caught to my list of lifetime catches, but also that was my first northern on the fly rod. Perfect weather, playing in the river, fishing, catching something memorable.. just a wonderful day.

This weekend I'm going to give it a shot again.

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