Soft-hackle surprise

[JohnP]

After working through the holiday weekend, I had the afternoon off and decided to head up to my favorite little lake to beat the heat and try to catch a few fish. I tried a couple of spots and caught a bluegill or two, but the water was surprisingly stained for this time of year and the fishing was slow. I decided to go exploring, and worked my way around the lake to a spot where an old blowdown provided what looked like a tempting lair for fish. I had on a muskrat flymph, familiar to readers of this site, this one tied with a beadhead and a bit of weight. On the first cast to the log, something long, lean and looking suspiciously like a tiger muskie flashed out and grabbed the fly. The fish was on just long enough to get a good look at it, and I am pretty sure that is what it was, and then the fly came away. A few more casts resulted in one good-sized bluegill, so I turned my attention down the shore towards another log that was partially submerged. I cast the muskrat toward the log, and after two short strips, I got a solid hit and thought I had a good hook-up, when my line and leader, sans fly, came flying back at me. Could have been a poor knot, could have been a nick in the leader from the tiger, or it could have been another tiger. I tied on a new fly, this time a red Carey, and worked my way down the shore, managing to repeatedly tangle my fly line around the brush which grew thickly in this area, hook my fly in the weeds or the brush, and generally make a nuisance of myself. When I finally got straightened out, I cast toward the smaller of the two logs and had a good, solid hit. After a couple of nice bluegills, I threw the fly more toward the center of the lake and let it sink. After a couple of strips I again had a solid hit, and my first thought was another bluegill, as the fish started to circle, as gills often do. But the fish pulled much harder than any bluegill, in fact it stripped line off my reel three times, with the drag set fairly tight. I had no idea what I was hooked to. Surely not another tiger, or my flimsy leader would have parted. I thought it could be a big bass, but it did not fight like a bass, either. It pulled powerfully, trying to get to the bottom, and every time I tried to pump it to the surface, it took line. Finally, after what seemed like a long time but was probably only a minute or two, I got my first look at the fish - an approximately 20-inch catfish! It was my first catfish on the fly and gave me one of the best fights I have ever had. And, since it chomped on the red Carey, it was caught on a soft hackle!
By this time the hot sun had worked its way around to my side of the lake, and I decided it was time to go. It was a great afternoon made even more special by my soft-hackle surprise!

[willowhead]

Thankx for the great story John......and congratz on the Catfish.

[hankaye]

JohnP, Howdy;

Those cats do like a good fight.....
Nice story behind it as well...
Enjoy your time off...

hank

[tie2fish]

Thank you JP for sharing your outing.

[letumgo]

Congratulations John. I have caught a few catfish on my fly rod. I caught them on simple black leech patterns (soft hair-hackle patterns). They put up a heck of a fight! My hands started shaking, from excitement, after landing my first one. All during the fight, I kept muttering to my self "please don't break off...please don't break off...oh, here he goes again...please don't break off..."

[JohnP]

Thanks for the kind words. It was a lot of fun and those cats really do put up a fuss.

[DUBBN]

Great post! Hope I have similar luck tomorrow.

[William Anderson]

John, that sounds like a blast. I really hope to get sometime on warm water this season. Just hasn't been in the cards yet. Nice post.

w