Good Start to the New Year at Dukes

    While sitting around waiting to watch the ball drop on Saturday, I had the feeling that somebody was out having "too much fun", which would result in me a walk on spot to Dukes Creek Sunday morning; or at least that was my hope. While tossing and turning all night, I could not wait for the clock to hit 8:30 a.m. so I could call and try and fill my wish. When the time came around, I called with all fingers and toes crossed, hoping that I would be able to get a spot to fish. Sure enough, they had one available spot and without hesitation, I took it. I rolled out of bed, grabbed my fishing stuff and headed out. I got to the stream about 9:30 and probably set a world record for getting suited up. I immediately jumped in at the bottom of section 1 and decided that I was just going to stay in the river and fish every piece of water on the way up.

     The first hole I stepped in I managed to pull a few fish out, but no giants. So I moved up some and was broken off by two big boys. By the way the first two holes were fishing, I could tell that the day was going to produce a quality fish. Sure enough, when I reached the third hole, I managed to pick up a few more smaller fish and was getting ready to move when this guy jumped all over my nymph. After I chased him through two holes, he hit the net. Nobody was there to snap a picture of this big male, so I had to improvise.

With having already achieved my goal, I headed upstream in search of more fish. It didn't take long and I bumped the fish count up a little more. I was catching a lot of little guys and knew that it was only a matter of time before I would get a chance at another big fish. I managed to catch a couple of decent fish and was headed back downstream. While making my way back down, I ran into Ben Van Devender and his crew from Team Dead Drift. I talked with them about the fishing for a few minutes then Ben and I tore out to look for some fish. We took turns in each hole with different flies to try and entice a big fish to strike. After fishing to this guy for a few minutes, I managed to connect with him and wrestle him to the net. There is just something cool about watching a big fish react to your fly. As you can see in the picture, the water was gin clear but the fish didn't mind. I ended the day with 17 fish in about 5 hours of fishing. Thanks for the net job Ben!