The Skok was as can be expected when the fish have come. It was a lot of fun in the blistering heat. Fished some of the main holes, there were a bunch of great guys, and then some nuisance characters that we simply ignored. As the tide came in the fish started moving around like anchovies. Giant anchovies. Had a few on, but they shook the darn hook. Barbless hook don't go well with sticks, logs, current and confined spaces.

The fish were spread through the river from top to bottom. The only dissapointing thing was that the ratio of chrome to dark fish was lacking. There were a lot of darker fish down even at the mouth, which was sad.

We ended up find ourselves a secret little hole (yea, right, like there's a secret hole on the skok) with nobody at it and hundreds of fish at our feet. Although it was surrounded by sticks on three sides it was a sweet spot to end the day. We free drifted big gobs of eggs over their heads and the fish would up and snatch them, and then it was FISH ON!!!! And most of the time fish off. We must have hook nearly 30 fish before landing my limit. They would either get airborne, shake the barbless hooks or jet with all their might towards the sticks.At which point they would mercilessly shred our 20 lbs leaders to bits and tail dance outta there. I hooked into some brute fish, real pigs, and to try to keep them outta the sticks was hard enough, but my curado didn't have enough drag to even phase 'em, so I had to put the thumbs to them real hard. I am developing a heat blister on my thumb as we speak. Some of the most aggressive fish were the big PIGS that had to be pushing 35, and they were silver too. Next time I'm gonna bring stronger leader, maybe 30, just to keep the fish out of those sticks and bring my beefy reel too.

I ended up with a 16 pounder and a jack, the first two legal fish to get landed have to be kept. They were not as bright as I would like, but I am a boyscout and follow the rules no matter how frusterating. So I quit and waited for my brother to get one in, he ended up with a jack and a big chrome hen that was full of nice tight skeins. We packed up and were out and home by 5:30.

Man it was nice to get bossed around by those big strong fish. It's nice to pull on something that can pull back for a change! Pictured are my fish, my camera battery died so no on the river pics of my brothers beauty, just trust me. We limited happily.

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