Super Duper Smallmouth

I had one heck of an adventure today. I went back to the spots visited on Monday on the lake, hoping for some pickerel and maybe a carp. One was going to happen, the other not so much. But some crazy stuff would make up for that.

Fairly shortly after I arrived at location A Mr. Big showed up, shoveling around in the leaves. The water was clear and he was nicely visible.

I made my cast, presenting my fly very gently... right on the Carp's back. He had moved forward about a foot. The reaction was rather fast, and the only sign of the fishes presence was a boil and cloud of silt. Oh well. It happens. On to the next goal. That was achieved fairly quickly with three powerful pickerel, with some other species in between. I talked a bit with the land owner. I really appreciate his generosity in allowing me to fish there. It is a great spot.

So I had achieved my goal, and done a little more. What good angler stops there? I moved to a good Bass and Perch spot. There I caught a few small fish before meeting a gentleman (I think his name was Mark? I'm so bad with names.) who told me how he had caught an enormous carp on a Doritos chip and a couple maggots.

Right after he stepped away I lobbed a long cast. A few figure eights into the retrieve there was simply resistance. Then that resistance shook its head. Then it jumped. The animal throwing spray around the end of my line was a Smallmouth worthy of admiration. With that first jump my heart stopped. I could not mess this one up. Losing this fish would be quite the bummer. The fight was as a Smallmouth should be, with stubborn runs and fantastic Acrobatics. I am willing to say that it was easily as good, if not better, then the fight of a big carp. It was certainly more active. Eventually that big thing came to hand, and what a gorgeous fish it was. Long, and with exceptional girth: probably pushing six pounds. I went over to show the fish to Mark, then returned it to where it had come from.

The patented RMLytle big fish face, as well as the lucky Lane Trap Rock hat and flannel shirt.

So hey, a very nice PB Smallmouth, good Pickerel action, plenty of other species. Why not stop while I'm ahead? I stayed and caught a bunch more perch and one more good smallmouth. On another note, two people asked me where I was from today. Apparently I have not yet shed that Western PA accent.