We're leaving for Wyoming on Friday. That means I won't see the river for a few weeks. By the time we get back, it'll be in its Summer space. Low, warm water. High grasses. Maybe some hibiscus. I wanted to get out in it one last morning before we left. The water's still high and muddy. The bass seem to be settled below rapids or along the shallow water along the banks. This one inhaled my slider and immediately took flight. He was in only a foot of water, right along the bank. He fought hard down stream. Jumped a few more times and after a long fight, I finally landed him. My personal best smallmouth bass - 21", I was lucky enough to have a good friend along to snap some photos.
This river has some beautiful water and some beautiful fish. Get out and enjoy it.
2 Comments
Check out the newest issue of The Drake Magazine (Summer, 2017), for my latest essay on fly fishing, Shank's Tavern, the Susquehanna River, and my close friend Steve.
"freely drifting, I prowl the woods and streams Summer is here. Nettles are in full throttle. I walk through them when I'm looking up, paying no mind to my steps, tramping towards the next fence or bend in the stream, trying to avoid another groundhog hole. It's never intentional. Sometimes necessary. Cold water soothes the sting, but long after my legs are still mottled with the red scratches of their thin hairs. Though, just the other day, I thought I was in the middle of a field of nettles, mixed in with high grass, but soon realized it was mint. The breeze filled with the cracked leaves and I rubbed some on my fingertips and on the fly I was casting. Another day, last week, I found myself walking the banks of Penns, watching for the air to fill with bugs. It was morning, which I tend to enjoy fishing more than the evening. There's an anticipation that can last an entire day in the morning. The evening offers a quick spike in the denouement of the day. It's subtle and reassuring but there's always a solemnity in it for me. Looking up, I realize my shoulder just passed through a cobweb full of Green Drakes. They got caught as they were leaving their branches to drop eggs into the water late last night. Some of their wings still twitched. I promised Whitman a long walk today. We explored a couple of ponds set back from the trail between a copse of trees and a cornfield. There, he could bark at the ducks and I could throw a popper for bass. Check out the latest issue of Susquehanna Life Magazine for my essay on the Susquehanna River, "Bringing a River into Focus". |
|