Big Fish

This morning I decided to go fishing.

I pulled my little 9 foot kayak on it's home built, lawnmower wheeled cart the short distance to our local lake.

The water was like glass when I stepped into the boat and tried to slide into the put-in spot. Usually I can slip right in, but unfortunately some idiot had rolled some big rocks in the groove I had cut through the water plants and I high centered. After a lot of struggling and cussing I got out and moved the kayak off of the rocks, getting my feet wet in the process.

It took fifteen minutes or so for me to paddle out to my favorite spot. The north wind had come up and was already starting to raise a little chop on the surface, but it wasn't too bad yet. I positioned the boat so the wind would blow me within casting distance of the sweet spot, which is an underground spring that I discovered several years ago.

The trout hang out there because it's the coolest spot in the lake, especially in the summer. I found it one day when I was checking the water temperature with a digital aquarium thermometer. One small area was about 10 degrees colder than the rest of the shallow lake, and not surprisingly it was the same spot where I have been catching fish for years.

While I was retrieving the 3^rd or 4^th cast of my little home made spinner, the lure just stopped dead in the water. Thinking it was hung up in some moss or water plants, I raised the rod tip and pulled harder. It was then that I noticed my line moving through the water. I set the hook, and a gigantic trout came blasting out of the lake right in front of the kayak. I got a good look at it before it snapped my 4 lb test line and it was huge. I've caught quite a few 2 and 3 pound Rainbows out of the lake and this fish was at least twice that size. As I sat there with my mouth hanging open, the fish started a series of acrobatic jumps trying to dislodge my tiny spinner, which was still hanging from it's jaw, like Gregory Peck hanging from the side of Moby Dick.

I retrieved my line, and with my hands shaking way more than usual, tried to tie on a new lure. The giant Rainbow made another jump, coming all the way out of the water and landing with a giant splash which caused me to drop the spinner into the bottom of the boat where I couldn't find it. Finally I just put my rod away and paddled back to the dock.

It was a fast and furious fishing trip.