Another Trip To Hale Reservation
After a painfully long fishing drought, I finally got to fish today up at Hale Reservation. We arrived at Noanet pond at about 4. Seeing the bucket brigade had commandeered the dock we usually start at, we moved to a different spot. No big deal, plenty of room to shore fish at this spot. Things started out pretty slow, although my brother caught a couple pannies on his new fly rod. Eventually, my dad hooked into a lunker on a spinnerbait. The fish fought like a tank and did not give up. We were able to get him in, however. The spinnerbait he was hooked on got DESTROYED! The wire was bent almost completely straight from the fight of this fish. He was 4 3/4 according to the scale. A recruit from the bucket brigade even came over and took a pic of my dad with the fish! While my dad and brother were handling the fish, I managed to get a rattle trap stuck in the rocks about 50 feet out. Damn. After quite the effort, I got the lure out and didn't lose either of the hooks. I eventually moved to a nice big dock and started throwing a swim jig. After less than ten casts, the jig gets hammered and I set the hook. I can already tell it's a big one. I called to my brother as I was fighting the beast. I was getting more and more excited. The fish got super close. And then... he.. jumped. The fish completely left the water. I could tell he was at least 4 1/2. Then the hook came out, flying through the air and barely missing my brother. The word that left my mouth was a loud one. But oh well, back to fishing. That was really it for the afternoon, and we left before the rain hit. Great afternoon overall.