Get Hooked
By Dave Sheedy
�They will hit today for sure,� I said turning to my fishing partner. He nodded his head in agreement. Minutes later he landed a good smallmouth bass, the first bass of the year. After releasing the fish he looked at me and said �When are you gonna get one?� I laughed and jokingly said that I would hook into one this cast. The sunfish didn�t know that I was joking though because at that very moment I felt a tug on my line. Tim looked over at me and walked to my spot to take a picture. I proudly held up the sunfish next to my reel and after the picture was taken I slipped him into the water. Normally a sunfish isn�t something I get excited about, but this wasn�t normal for me. I inspected my equipment, first my line, then my leader and lastly the tiny bits of feather tied onto a hook. I was fly fishing, and I just landed my first noteworthy fish. I didn�t know what that little prince nymph hooked better, the sunfish, or me.
I was confident I could repeat my success, and I was definitely hooked on fly-fishing. I tied on a green wooly bugger, in the hopes of catching a smallmouth. I drifted the fly past a rock and felt a very aggressive fish hit, I set the hook and brought it in. It wasn�t the bass I had hoped for; it was another sunfish, but a pig of a sunfish! It had a good pound on it, if not it was very close. Tim congratulated me and once again snapped a picture. I watched the aggressive little fish dart back to its cover among the rocks.
That day Tim and I caught 6 fish between us. Tim caught a white crappie on a jig, and I landed two more sunfish, including one on an Adams dry fly. I had the chance to catch a black crappie but after a few casts I realized it was guarding its nest and decided to let it be. After we left I realized what I had been missing out on. The fish hit harder, the fight felt stronger and the satisfaction was even greater. If anyone reading this ever has the chance to cast a fly, give it a try, I guarantee you�ll be hooked deeper than any fish you ever catch.
