Working for a Big Bow

Things have been crazy for us at OSF.  We’ve appreciated the emails and for the continued feedback.  Posts won’t be as numerous as we’d like over the next couple months but we promise to make up for it!! Thanks for checking us out!  Here’s a quicky from D.

Homework. Not the kind we dread, but the kind all fly fishermen love. The homework of scouting out new water and planning a trip. I remember hearing rumors about a place a few hours from my hometown, the rumor was simple…big bows. I looked at maps, studied any info that I could find and asked around to those I figured would know about the location. Planning, tying, reading about tactics and thinking about those rainbows was an everyday occurrence. The time eventually came when everything was planned, fly boxes were full, and the weather seemed perfect for big fish.

It was a cool summer day, overcast and gloomy with chance of rain. It was know or never, I packed the car and took off. After driving a few hours it was fishing time! Cast after cast, hour after hour nothing happened. Almost every fly a person could think of was cast and recast in hopes of hooking into something big. Frustration was starting to set in but it could not break the determination to hook a rainbow over 10 lbs. Walking around a lake and fishing every inch of water was starting to fatigue but the rumors had to be true right? After about 10 hours of fishing without even seeing a fish or having a bite it was time to call it quits and head home. It was getting late and a long drive was still ahead but what could one more spot hurt? The rocky shoreline dipped into a small cove at the outlet and since it was on the way back to the car I figured, “One more go here could be worth while.” With a reddish leech rigged up, I began casting once again. It was only about on the 10th cast when the leech was attacked.  Line starting peeling off the reel with no apparent sign of stopping. After maybe 5 minutes roughly, a 28 inch hen was netted and dream became reality! I will never forget the beating it took to get that fish and perhaps that is what made it so special. Big bows are one of a kind and as you can see by the goofy expression on my face this fish was worth all the effort.