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The Odyssey (part I)
April 2nd. 4:45 AM. O'Neill Williams is talking to some guy on the radio about
the ins and outs of turkey hunting as I turn off the clock radio and think about
what lure the Flint River shoal bass will be hungry for today. Today is the day
my wife and two small children go out of town for three days, and I get to fish
like I did when I was single: nonstop. The river is gonna be stained, high, and
most likely a tad on the cold side. Ought to be a good day for a Husky Jerk.
Gotta meet Troy down there at eight. Wonder what he's gonna fish with? Probably
a freakin' buzzbait. Three days of freedom. Man am I pumped...
April 2nd. 5:56 AM. "Hey, this is Troy. I am away from the phone right now
but leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Hey Troy, Sam. Look I overslept and it looks like I'm going to be about an
hour late so hopefully you haven't left yet. See you at nine." No point
lying about it. Excuses always sound really lame this early in the morning
anyway. I load the canoe and kick myself down to the Flint.
April 2nd. 9:05 AM. Troy is waiting at the takeout and gives me his Incredible
Hulk flex impersonation as I sheepishly park the truck. Luckily, Troy is too
fired up about having some fishable water after all the rain we've had to be too
pissed about my tardiness. We load the canoe and all our gear into his truck and
drive to the launch point. The first set of rapids, which normally speed you up
just a bit as you enter the chute puts wind through our hair and a sizable
amount of water in the boat. Five hundred pounds of fishermen on a tricky river
made ornery by spring rains could be a recipe for a swimming trip. Be careful.
April 2nd. 10:42 AM. My first shoal bass of the year is quite solid if I do say
so myself. I don't feel a strike at all. I just think my Husky Jerk is hung on
that darn grass again. Then it jumps, or tries to. I lip a solid three pounder
and slip it back in the river after a photo. I strut back over to the pool the
fish came from and fall in the river, realizing suddenly why that fish didn't
put up much of a fight. April 2nd. 1:00 PM. We
break for lunch on one of the few river rocks still protruding above the
surface. We've caught five fish so far and I have three of them. I've never been
ahead of Troy this far into a trip. I'd look like the Michelin Man if I ate all
the time the way I do on the river. We are sitting in the middle of the best
quarter mile of shoal bass water perhaps in the world. Time to get busy.
April 2nd. 1:43 PM. Hung again. I'm cussing out loud now, glad that the roaring
river is drowning out my words. Too bad God can still hear them. I shut up. I
have three choices. I can go straight to my lure through a pool that looks 5-6
feet deep. I can wade downstream and cross at the shoal line, but that involves
making it through some heavy and fast water. Or I could cut my line. What'll I
risk: freezing shrinkage, life and limb, or five bucks? I choose life and limb,
and before I shuffle across the scary part, I glance downstream at Troy, who
I'll be rushing past in a few seconds if things go badly. He's holding a nice
shoal bass and paying me no mind. He hasn't moved an inch in half an hour and
every time I look over there he's holding a bass. Maybe he's been admiring the
same one for the last thirty minutes. I inch out into the current.
April 2nd. 3:00 PM. In the last two hours, Troy has caught ten bass, all between
one and three pounds. I've caught two. After retrieving my hung Husky Jerk
(luckily, the shoal crossing was easier than it looked), I decided to use one of
my Flint favorites, the Rebel Crawdad. Troy caught all his bass out of two
pools, and I decided to hit those pools with the Crawdad. The fish were there
and still hungry. Inexplicably, I could not land one. From 2 to 3 PM I got at
least ten strikes and landed two small ones and lost one at least as big as my
first bass of the year. I check to see if Troy has clipped off my hooks. Well,
the good news is that the fish are biting and Troy just lost the lure he caught
all those fish on. April 2nd. 3:14 PM. We've
got a decision to make. The main run of the river is to the right, but a small
channel that is usually too shallow to float juts off to the left around an
island. I decide to take the small channel. A couple years ago, the Flint was a
bit higher in mid-May, and me and a buddy caught about fifteen nice shoal bass
on topwaters in the half-mile channel. Nobody ever goes through there. We are
about to get into some serious fish. April
2nd. 4:45 PM. We haven't had a strike for almost two hours and I make a mental
note never to attempt a career as a fishing guide. I've been awake for about
eleven hours and wish I was back in bed. April
2nd. 5:37 PM. The last good shoal of our trip. Troy is still fired up and I
ponder ways to kill him. Troy must know something I don't because when we step
out to wade, he bolts upstream and across the river beelining for a run on the
far bank. He slips and falls, but like my daughter's Weebles, he is upright
again before he has a chance to get wet. Sunburned, tired, and cold, I begin to
wade around, barely paying attention to where I'm casting. I hang up the Husky
Jerk one last time and my line breaks after a frustrated yank. I don't even
bother trying to go get it. I've only got one more lure under my hat, a topwater
bait, and don't have the energy to walk back to the boat to tie on something the
fish might actually bite. April 2nd. 5:48 PM.
BANG!! The big shoal bass nails the big Rapala two feet from where I'm standing
and I am mentally somewhere else. Failing to set the hook properly, I lose this
bruiser after about three intense seconds. The frenzied little jig I dance
immediately afterward calls forth a second wind, and I gather my senses and make
another cast. April 2nd. 6:17 PM. I am into my
fifth shoal bass in the last half hour, a solid two-pounder with the brightest
red eyes I have ever seen. I notice the eyes on this fish from fifteen yards
away on his first of three impressive leaps. I suddenly feel the panic familiar
to all fishermen when a really big fish is just about ready to be landed. Don't
do this! Don't do that! I want to look into those fiery eyes and let this proud
creature see up close the man who bested him. The fish is far from a trophy, but
it is two pounds of perfectly sculpted shoal bass. I kneel down to release this
proud creature and he doesn't move. "Need some help buddy?" I kneel
lower and reach out to revive the fish, and at that moment he delivers a
chilling splash of water right in my eyes as he bolts for the pool. Though there
are at least thirty more minutes of daylight left, I decide that my day of
fishing is over, having been had by one of the most gorgeous fish I have ever
touched. April 2nd. 6:42 PM. Having just
hauled my canoe straight up the side of a steep and muddy bank, I sip on what
must be the coldest, most satisfying beer ever made. "My beer's better than
yours", I say to Troy, though he is savoring one out of the same six-pack.
"No way", he says. April 2nd. 10;14
PM. I pull into my driveway and begin to take my canoe off the truck. I suddenly
stop unloading and put everything back in the truck bed. I have a date with the
Alcovy River tomorrow morning. |
