A beautiful day it was on Friday, so I hit up Bitter again with Pika206 and originally wanted to take a spinning and a fly rod. Decided it would be too much of a hassle to carry both poles in the little kayak so I brought just the fly rod. The topwater poppers have been really effective the last few times out yielding 7 fish in 2 outings. Pika strafed the east bank while I hit up the west bank searching under lily pads, fallen trees and docks. Nothing until about 7pm. One cast to the edge of the lily pads and BOOM!...fish on! At first it didn't feel like much, but then as I started pulling the line in, it started running and I got a small fly line burn on my hand from grabbing it too tightly. l raised the rod and continued to pull it in but it kept staying down. For a while I thought it might have gotten snagged on a log or something but it was shaking, and logs don't just shake on their own. I started getting worried because whatever was hooked there was dragging my kayak into the lily pads! I was imagining my line getting knotted up in all hundreds of lily stems as I floated closer and closer. I put the butt of the rod on my leg and tried to keep the rod tip up. This guy was putting the full bend in my 8wt fly rod! After about a minute I finally got him boat-side and picked him up. Only a 2.5 pounder, but largest since my trip to Potholes last fall! He was a great fighter! Put him back and watched him swim to fight another day. After that one though, absolutely nothing. Oh well. Tight lines!

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