One of my favorite and most memorable experiences about fishing is not so much the fish that are landed and measured, but the ones that take the fly rod almost out of your hand on the strike and shake off after setting your heart in a rapid beat.

 
This was my experience a few times this weekend (9/20, 21, 22 and 23). Although counting, but not at all any record by any means, it added up to perhaps a fish an hour with all but a few well over 19" and up to a little over 22". The fish were large, fat and feisty. One that took my black leech pattern on a streamer hook (# 6) was in an area that was at least 100 feet off the shoreline on a shelf about 15' deep in the lower section of the lake near the "Little Pyramid Rock" (what I call it anyway). This area was especially hot during a downpour on Saturday where I landed one fish over 20". I got a take there on Sunday that was the take that made me think it was from a fish perhaps over 26". Now that is what is great about our imaginations; you can invent any size fish you want and who could prove you wrong?

Today (Monday) I took the boat out and anchored it in a few of my favorite places upstream of the rental property. I missed one take down the instant I looked away for a second and the float was coming back up. I like to use the smallest indicator as it makes the casts longer and takes the lightest bite to pull it under or make a ripple on still water. Many fish landed did not even take it under the bite was so light. I used one of my own marabou turkey grey jigs on a small #10 jig hook. It was not much to look at, even the black paint on the 1/80th oz. head was partially worn off and the black thread was beginning to unravel from all the fish (big secret tip is to use a simple clinch knot on fluorocarbon leader and make sure the jig hangs horizontally to the line and not tail down). I check the hook every few casts and set it straight. Bait fish do not swim with their heads above their tails.