Northwest Reel Life June 2024 Volume 3 Issue 8 - Flipbook - Page 21
After living in Washington
for thirty years I’m still
getting used to the
concept of being able to
fish with no one around
me!
We arrived at an irrigation
dam that had a beautiful
hole below it and a clean
river falling over the top
of the spillway. As Bill
drove off, I pulled out
my seven-foot mediumweight spinning rod/reel
combo and, like the days
of my youth, tied on a large
bass wide-gap hook. Two
feet above the hook and
tied a barrel swivel, and
above that a sliding 3/8
ounce weight. For dinner,
I was offering the fish
down there a large, juicy
nightcrawler.
My first cast landed twothirds of the way across the
river. I reeled in the slack
line and found a broken
branch to prop my rod up
against. Within minutes
the rod tipped started to
twitch, and then took a wild
bend that started to pull
the rod towards the river. I
grabbed my rod and felt a
solid fish on the other end
of the line. The fish made
several strong runs in the
current and then settled
down to a battle of tug of
war with me. Working him
ever closer to the shoreline,
I saw that my first
Musselshell fish was indeed
a beautiful catfish! I found a
sandy area of shoreline and
dragged the fish onto land.
What a beauty!
I re-baited my hook and
cast it out to the middle
of the river again. After a
few minutes of waiting my
rod again doubled over
from the pull of a large fish.
Setting the hook, this time
I noted a different fight,
and sure, enough, had a
beautiful smallmouth bass
on my line. Bringing in the
fish I admired him, looking
to be a solid 4 pounds. I
released Mr. Smallmouth
back to the river.
JUNE 2024 | 21
