pdxfisher

I am hanging in there. I even did another fishing trip this past weekend. 6 dinky bass, 7 trout (trolling for them) including a 20" fatty and 2 nice sized crappie. It was a fun multi-species day which is what I like to do when I hit the local lake (Hagg) in the late fall. Kind of fun to mix it up.

When I take my kayak out I take 6 to 8 rods with me. Usually 2 spinning rods with 10lb braid and 10lb leader for drop shot and ned rig. Casting setups with topwater, swimbait, shallow crankbait, deep crankbait, jig'n'creature bait and often a jerk bait. At various times I will swap out one of the above for spinnerbait, or a chatterbait, or other lures but I like to have a variety of rods at the ready to really strain the water. Often I will fish a hump that tops off in several feet of water but drops off into 30' or more and I want to be able to completely cover it without retying. The rivers I fish are big (Willamette and Columbia) and probably more akin to fishing a lake with current.

That is encouraging!! Thanks A-Jay! I just take each day as it comes right now. The encouraging thing is that ever so slowly I am able to do a little more. I am the tortoise and not the hare, that means I should win in the end Thanks. The process to jump through the medical hoops is like trying to swim upstream through molasses, but every day brings me one day closer. Thank you!

Thanks everyone!. @Chris Catignani, I agree that those smallies are good medicine! That is a great way to put it. For a little while at least it is like everything is normal. Now if I just need to make sure I don't lose a kidney right at the boat

It has been a while since I have been fishing. Early this year I was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure. Doctor's were blunt that things looked pretty grim. I seriously thought I would never get on the water again. My bloodwork was so bad my daughter's friends who are nurses said, "and he's still alive?" It has been a long struggle to regain some semblance of strength. At first I was so weak I could not even walk up a flight of steps . Things felt pretty dark but I kept thinking, "Let me just try to get a little bit better" each day. I am still at stage 5 failure and working to qualify for a transplant but I have been able to get myself to the point where I have enough strength to load my kayak into the truck and pull it up the ramp. I can barely do these things but right now barely is good enough! Enough about the bad stuff, lets get to the fishing report I hit the Columbia on September 24th out of Stevenson, WA with a friend of mine (who was determined to help me catch a fish!). The weather gods certainly seemed happy to see me back as the river was glassy calm all day long. I have never seen the Columbia be calm all day long, that was certainly a blessing. My friend launched before me and quickly found a school of fish (catching a couple). He raced over to the ramp to get me and put me on the fish, but of course, as is the nature of fishing, they were gone off the spot by the time we got back to it. That is not uncommon this time of year when the smallmouth are chasing bait. One minute there are fish everywhere and then a few casts later it is crickets. Undaunted, we hit the next spot he thought should produce and I caught my first bass in about 11 months (since last fall). Not a monster but, man, there is no better feeling than that tug on the end of the line when you were not sure you would every feel that again: Needless to say I was elated and for a minute it was like everything was back to normal, such is the magic of fishing. After that we moved from spot to spot and had success at some and nothing at others. The fishing was not fast but not bad either, we even had a double once. I ended up catching 10 bass on the day which was enough for me. My best was a respectable 3lb 4oz and was my only swimbait fish. My buddy bested that with at beautiful 3lb10oz fish that sucked up a Ned rig (the rest of my fish were split between a Ned rig and drop shot). In the early afternoon I told my buddy I was worn out and was calling it a day but I could not stop smiling as I pedaled back to the ramp. I was really dreading pulling my kayak up the ramp at the end. That ended up being hard but manageable. Overall, it was as perfect a day as could be scripted in a movie picture! Here is some video from the day. It includes me measuring my friend's fish

Willamette right here in Portland. Columbia River and John Day River to the east (in the gorge), Umpqua River in Southern Oregon.

Cool! I don't have any secret spots to share back but I am happy to share what I know about Hagg, the Willamette and the Columbia. Do you fish from shore or do you have a kayak or other type of water craft?

I hit the big C on Friday, September 3rd in hopes of having a killer day. That did not happen. It was a grind all day long. I had a few brief flurries of action and even some back-to-back fish but there was a whole lot of just casting in between. Wind was a bit of an issue with it being windier than forecast. Some white caps out of the East in the morning and some white caps out of the West in the afternoon. It was dead calm for a few hours in the middle which was really nice. The shad fry out-migration seems to be in full swing. There were tons of fry jumping around near the shore and I was marking massive schools of bait out over deeper water. I am sure that amount of bait played some role in my difficulties. The other thing that was even tougher to deal with was the amount of algae and pieces of weed that were floating around. With the ripple on the surface I could not see it and a lot of my casts came back all gunked up. Very frustrating but I am not sure what to do in that situation. I started the day tossing a Choppo and caught a small one and lost a decent one pretty quickly. "Everything is going according to plan", I chuckled evilly to myself. However just like in the movies, when the evil villain gets over confident their plans turn to ruin. After those first two quick bites I went a long time with no action. I moved spots a couple of times when I finally caught my second bass (another small one) and on the next cast I hooked and lost a decent size (~2lb) on the jump. However, that was it for that spot. How does it go from back to back bites to crickets? Asking for a friend Well I kept grinding away and finally found a spot of 15-20' rocky bottom where I was marking fish on the bottom. I hit that spot hard with a drop shot and caught quite a few fish in a short while, but only a few may have been a pound (and most well under a pound). That was at least a whole lot better than the casting practice I had being doing. I did try to see if I could coax a better fish with a wobble-head jig and a creature bait but the Columbia decided steal that lure from me within a few casts so I just went back to the drop shot. After that flurry of action the East wind finally died and I moved out to a spot that had been good to me over the summer. I kept switching between lures and depths when I saw a nice smallmouth come up and look at my Choppo and turn away (it was dead calm and sunny). I stopped the Choppo and it turned back towards it. When I restarted it, kapow! I had my best fish of the day (1lb 15oz, nothing to write home about but better than a treble in the hand). The fish put up a good fight and I was feeling really rejuvenated by that bite. I stayed on that spot for a while. I would occasionally see a fish splash here or there in the area but never consistently. Very random. I just kept covering that area with different baits and different depths when I hooked a really nice bass on a swimbait. It was so fast. It hit and I reeled like crazy trying to catch up to that fish and I don't think I had a good hook set or good pressure on it. It jumped to the side of the kayak and was gone. Back to grind, grind, grind but no more bites in that area. I decided to pedal upstream a ways and fish some new stuff. Almost as soon as I started out the dead calm was replaced by a wind building from the West. By the time I got up around where I wanted to fish there were small rollers and white caps across most of the river. I tried throwing a variety of lures and did miss a couple and finally catch on on the Choppo. However the weed/algae problem seemed even worse up this way (I was hoping that was going to improve). After a bit of casting, reeling and cleaning off my lure I decided to call it a day. It was not a total bust but the bite was much slower than I had anticipated. I ended up with 17 bass, but that was over a 10 hour period, and nothing over 2lbs. I fished my hardest but overall the Columbia was not impressed. I think all that algae and all those shad are making for some tough conditions. I have not fished the Columbia during the shad fry out migration in the past but had read it can make the fishing tough. I can certainly add my support to that theory. I did not take any pics on the day but here some video footage.

I check 3 separate wind sites and believe the worst but still can get it wrong. The windsurfers pray to the opposite god that we do

Good observation. That fish surprised me a bit. If you watch other vids I have posted, I am usually pretty good about giving that half second delay on the hookset but I definitely botched that one. I guess it was not all the fishing gods' fault

I have hooked myself enough times and had to push the hook through and clip that I do shudder when I read these posts. I am glad that in the overall scheme of things it was not too bad and that you're not too sore today.

Not my worst day by far but a pretty frustrating day nonetheless. Ha ha, I guess the positive attitude I had going in attracted negative juju Day just started and ended in a pretty frustrating and grueling fashion and was no picnic in the middle. It is just hard to fish in the kayak in those waves and wind. If the forecast is at all iffy I fish smaller waters. "If life hands you lemons then make lemonade", but what if life gives you a paper cut and squeezes lemon juice into it

I was so excited to finally have a decent looking wind forecast for the Columbia. Winds were supposed to be light in the morning and max out at only 6mph in the afternoon. A perfect day for some smallmouth kayak fishing - or so I thought.... I met up with my normal fishing buddy before first light and also ran into another fellow that I had chatted with online a few times. It was looking to be an exciting day! We all launched and I headed one way and they headed the other to start. On my first cast I had a strike on my topwater from what felt like a small fish but it quickly pulled off. I dodged the "catching one on the first cast is bad luck" curse but unfortunately the corollary is that losing one on the first cast is even worse luck, or so it seemed. I managed to lose the next 5 fish I hooked including a couple that had some really nice weight to them. Those fish where you set the hook and the rod tip does not move when you set the hook, the bend just gets deeper. They all felt like really solid hooksets but each time the hooks just pulled out. I did not lose them on a jump, during surface thrashing or anything like that. Each time the hooks just pulled out. I was starting to get pretty upset when I finally landed a modest 1lb 4oz smallmouth. At least the skunk was off! Unfortunately that was my last strike from that area so I raced downstream to catch up to my friends. They were not having any better luck than I and in fact had even slower action. We were all puzzled by our lack of success. I started working an area that has been good to me in the past and almost immediately landed a nice 2lb 7oz bass. Things were looking up! I did not get another strike from that area. My one buddy who was fishing nearby was also bit by the bad luck bug when he hooked and lost 3 bass (2 of which were nice sized) in a matter of 5 to 10 minutes. It was just a bizarre day. We decided to head further downstream but as we did the wind just kept getting stronger and stronger. After a short stint down there I decided I had had enough and I was going to pack it in. I texted my friend and started back up the river. I stopped at the spot where I had caught the 2lb 7oz and quickly caught a 1lb 3oz and then a 2lb 3oz which fishing in some heavy whitecaps and decent sized waves. I thought, "well alright now here we go!". Unfortunately, I did not get another bite. After about 15 fruitless minutes I finished the slog back to the ramp. Just to make things even more interesting, my pedal drive kept popping out every couple of minutes causing me to lurch awkwardly. I finally made it back to the ramp and I spoke with one of the windsurfers who had shown up. He said that the wind was 20-22mph (just a touch above the 6mph that was predicted). In all it was close to as bad of a day on the water as you can have. Lots of lost fish, getting blown off the water, tweaking my back while struggling to get back. Overall not a good day. So, I am not sure what I did to anger the fishing gods but if anyone knows of an arcane ritual that I can perform to placate them then please let me know ASAP. I am thinking of a goat sacrifice or something but I am just not sure :) Here is some video from the day that properly captures my frustration.

That is a good assessment. I agree we don't have the pigs that they do in the Great Lakes and other big waters like that. I think that in part we don't have as much easy food (like gobies). Our fish are definitely not as heavy per length. I am working on making a length/weight chart for PNW bass. All the ones I see on line seem to be for football shaped bass. Our fish are healthy but I think they only weight about 80% as much per length as compared to Great Lakes fish. The Columbia tends to have a little better size than the Willamette. A 3lber in the Willamette is not expected every trip. I am disappointed if I fish the Columbia and don't break 3lbs. I have not broke 5lbs yet in either river but have caught 4lbers in both places but definitely way more 3+lb fish in the Columbia compared to the Willamette. It seems like there are fish over 5lbs caught at pretty much every spring Columbia bass tournament. Not nearly as good for size as some of the East coast spots but big enough to keep me smiling

It definitely is! The funny thing is that it is considered the 4th best smallmouth river in the state. Most folks would place the Columbia, John Day and Umpqua above the Willamette for smallmouth. We have a lot of bass out here in Oregon!

I hit the Willamette out of Newberg on August 15. I had a bit of a topwater bite to start the day. I had to downsize to a Heddon Baby Torpedo to get that going - I did not get any hits on Sammy or a Choppo. After the brief topwater flurry the rest of the day belonged to soft plastic. Most of the fish came on a Ned rig, some on a dropshot and some on a swim jig with a creature trailer. I have started throwing the swim jig + creature more to try to increase the quality of the fish that I catch. That seems to work somewhat. My best fish did come on the swim jig and I don't seem to hook nearly as many dinks. I ended up with 41 bass with the biggest being a 2lb 1oz smallmouth. Most all of the fish came from deeper rock (10'-25). A good sonar goes a long way to effectively finding and fishing those structures. I hit the Willamette out of West Linn on August 21. There was cloud cover most of the day and the topwater bite was really good all day long. I started with a Sammy but after a few half-hearted strikes I switched to a Choppo and that seemed to be like switching from a tofu burger to a ribeye. The fish were smashing the Choppo all day long. I did spend some time throwing other lures, going back over productive spots with a Ned rig, drop shot, swim jig+creature, swimbait and spinnerbait. They all caught fish (just one of those wonderful days) but they seemed to hit the Choppo the best. Plus, I am not going to pass up a topwater bite! I put in a long 10 hour day but I ended up with 68 bass. The big was only 2lb 0oz but it was still a blast. The river was crazy busy with fisherman. Lots of bass boats and lots of kayaks fishing for bass. I am not sure how most other folks did. I had most all of my success out on the mid-river humps and it seemed like most folks were beating the bank. I guess there were fish there as well but it was nice to really have all the water I wanted to fish to myself on such a busy day. Funny thing is that I did not see much topwater activity (other than the fish eating my Choppo) all day long. I kept thinking that the topwater bite has to die soo but those fish were just nuts all day long. Usually when I am having a good topwater day I see lots of surface activity but I guess this showed that is not necessary. I have to say again that having the really great maps built up on my Garmin (made through Quickdraw) is incredibly helpful. Those maps coupled with a heading sensor, good 2D and SIdevu make for a deadly screen setup. It is easy to find those mid-river humps and to position myself exactly where I want to be on them once I figure out how the fish are setup. Most of the fish were in 5'-10' of water but I did catch some deeper as well. To be fair there may have been a ton of fish deeper as well but I am not going to seek out deepwater fish when I am having an awesome topwater day!

I hit the upper Willamette out of West Linn on Saturday, August 7th with a friend of mine and it was a repeat of my last several trips there. Tons of fish (43 bass and I was leaving biting dinks to search for better fish) but the big for the day was only 1lb 14oz. Most of the fish were under a pound with only a handful in the pound and a half to pound and three quarters range. I am not sure whether the inability to catch better fish lies with us or if it is the stupid fishes' fault. I will say that the river was a toasty 76 degrees pretty much all day long (75 and change first thing then a little over 76 by the end). I really did make a big effort to find better fish. When I caught dinks shallow I moved to mid-depths, when I caught dinks there I moved deeper, when I caught dinks there I went back to fishing shallow. I felt like I put in a sincere effort in my search for better fish but by and large I was denied. The best lure (for both of us) was a Ned rig. I was fishing crayfish-like colors (green pumpkin and some other brown and orange color) and my friend was fishing a more minnow-like color. Both of us caught tons but the dinks definitely dominated the catch. I did experiment a lot with other lures and caught only 1 on a topwater (I never saw fish splashing on the surface the entire day which is weird but maybe temp related), a handful on a swimbait (including my biggest) and a few on swim jig with a creature trailer (2 nicer ones and the skinniest smallmouth I have ever seen). I also caught plenty on a drop shot, but that is really similar to the Ned rig in terms of where I was fishing them. They both worked pretty much everywhere and I switched back and forth more out of boredom rather than need. I will say that even the small fish fight like demons this time of year so it is not like the day was not fun - it was a beautiful day on the water - but the lack of quality fish out of West Linn (again) has me a bit flummoxed and confused. I am not sure if the big fish have just moved out or if I am just not catching them. The lack of current may be a factor (and a reason to either head way upstream past the influence of the flashboards at the falls) or to fish the lower river (but the pleasure traffic on the lower is just insane in the summer). I know I will need to hit a different stretch of the Willamette (or get a low wind day and get to fish the Columbia, fingers crossed). Anyway, here is a nice frame grab of one of the fish I caught on the swim jig+creature bait: Here is a video of the day: If you have any suggestions please let me know! I just can't seem to find the better fish around West Linn this summer and it is usually much better for good-sized fish. Also, in the video you will see that I am starting to measure some of my fish and weigh them. I want to make a length/weight chart for the rivers around here. Most of the online ones seem kind of far off. I think those mostly come from lake fish that lead an easier life

Sounds like a really good day to me! Plus, any day you think is a good day for you is a good day!

Thanks @A-Jay and @TnRiver46 ! Days like that don't come often (at least for me). The best part is that I had failed to launch the previous two weekends. Two weeks earlier I woke up but was so tired I just could not get out of bed. The weekend before this trip I forgot to set my alarm!!! 2 weeks in a row I had to do the unload of shame when I should have been fishing. I think the bass just felt really sorry for me, but I am not complaining

...as in bronzeback I hit the Columbia river on Saturday the 31st of July out of Stevenson, WA and had just a dynamite day. Despite all the burn bans in the area I went ahead and set the river on fire (OK, no more puns for a while). It was a perfect day to fish for smallmouth in the gorge. It was cloudy with little to light wind throughout the day. Water temp was around 72 and the smallmouth were really active and in a chasing mood. Right off the get go I saw some fish chasing bait just upstream from the ramp. I pedaled up to within casting distance and let my topwater (Berkley Choppo) fly. I hooked and missed a fish on my first cast (since it is supposed to be bad luck to catch one on the first cast losing one must be good luck!). Within a couple more casts I had my first fish of the day. It was a solid pound and a quarter smallmouth. I just kept working that same spot and was rewarded with several more blowups when I hooked and landed a nice 2lb 4oz smallie. That is a better fish than I had caught in my previous two trips to the Willamette. The day continued like that. Tons of bites on the topwater and tons of fish. My best topwater fish was a beautiful smallmouth that completely destroyed my Choppo about 15' from the kayak. There is just a deeper "chug" sound when a really big fish sucks down a topwater. I did a slo-mo of that bite in the video. That was a fantastic fight. I could tell right away that it was a big fish (which I kept yelling in the video). It put up a great fight and I nearly lost it in some weeds but I was able to wrench it up (fortunately without snapping my rod) and get it to the surface and into my net. I was so excited I felt like I was vibrating when I put that beauty on the scales and saw that it went 3lb 4oz. Just a beastly fish to catch on a topwater!! I kept throwing the topwater and catching fish for most of the day. Tons of fish in the 1.5 to 2.5lb range. They were just smacking the heck out of that Choppo. I did go through one period with any bites and reallized my Choppo was not really plopping right. I had some weeds gunking it up and I spent a few minutes cleaning it. On the first cast with the restored bait I smacked a nice 2lber. Now, the fish were not everywhere, but when I found one there was usually a bunch in that area. My approach was to cover water quickly but then when I got a fish (or just a hit) I would really make a lot of casts to that area. That strategy worked like a charm. I would catch the dumbest one first and then make repeated casts to tease the smarter (or maybe just lazier) fish to bite. A lot of times I would reel one in and there would be a whole school of smallmouth with it. I just love it when that happens. I was surprised that I never caught a double on the Choppo. There were plenty of times when I saw a second fish swiping at the lure in the hooked fish. However, the topwater was not always the answer. One spot that I really like (chunk rock tumbling from the shore into 15-20' of water) did not produce a bite on the topwater but I was able to wrangle some fish out of that spot on a drop shot. I could have stayed on that spot and done well for quite a while on the drop shot but I thought, "Why spend time doing this when I could be getting topwater bites!" I left that spot and started fishing all the islands downstream from Stevenson. I did not fish every one since there were a handful of boats and kayaks fishing that area. I just kept moving away from people so I could fish in relative solitude. That ended up being a great strategy for me. It kept me moving and the bite just stayed fantastic. At one point (maybe around noon) it got a little brighter out. At that point I had several casts where I had fish splash at the lure and then follow it to the kayak. I figured it was just bright enough to make them wary - which they should have been since I did watch an osprey ****** a nice smallmouth from one of the spots I was fishing. Rather than be stubborn I quickly switched over to tossing a swimbait. That ended up being another great (well ok, lucky) call. The fish that were following the topwater were just out and out hammering the swimbait. That is how I spent the rest of the day. Switching it up between the Choppo and the swimbait (with an occasional cast or two with the dropshot). The bite just never slowed down. I would throw the Choppo and then the swimbait and those smallmouth just kept slamming both. So many of the fish I caught were puking up bait - either in the water when I got them close or once I had them in the kayak. The cool thing is that often other bass would grab the puked out bait while I was fighting the hooked fish. The stomachs of all the fish were just so full of bait that I could not believe that they were still feeding. A bunch of the fish that did not puke had the tails of bait sticking out of their gullets - and yet they were still feeding. IT seems crazy but I guess it is not different than me with the big Costco sized bag of Doritos Befittingly, the storybook day had a storybook ending. It was not even very late but my buddy and I were pretty worn out. We decided to leave the bite and head back (we were a long way downstream by then). On the way back I told him I wanted to re-fish the one spot where I had caught a ton earlier and where they had been chasing bait like crazy. We got to the spot and I offered him the first pass but he politely declined and told me to go ahead. It was not the proverbial "last cast" but it was close. I cast the swimbait across a rocky flat upstream from hotspot island. I was reeling in when the lure just stopped. Now this was the proverbial "and the snag started swimming". I was not sure if I had a big smallmouth or a huge pikieminnow. The fish just kept digging deep. I would pull the fish up a few feet and then it would tear my drag out. I just could not gain line on that fish. Eventually I worked the fish up high enough to see that it was a really nice smallmouth and my heart almost jumped out of my chest!! I grabbed my little net and worked the fish close. I kept worrying that every headshake was going to be the end since the fight had been going on for a while and I was sure the hook was wearing a hole in its mouth. However, since this was a storybook day (for me, not for the smallmouth) everything worked out and I was able to scoop that fish up in the net. It was a 4lb 1oz, 20" toad of a smallmouth. That is a special fish to catch any time but even more so in the middle of the summer. Here is a picture of that beauty! That was definitely one of the most fun days I have ever spent fishing. Topwater action all day. Plenty of big fish and good numbers as well. I ended up with 43 smallmouth and one big pikieminnow on the day. There were plenty of dinks in the 43 but so many fish were good-sized that it was just ridiculous. Thanks for reading and here is some footage from the day:

I agree that you don't have to catch big fish to have a fun day on the water. In the title I say laziness but it was more of a feeling of being disconnected. I enjoy thinking and problem solving on the water, being fully engaged. On this trip it just seemed like I was more going through the motions of fishing rather than being completely immersed in the experience. I think that is what I am really unhappy about. No, it was not a joyous day on the water - it was just a day on the water. Spoiler alert. I went back and fished the same area again this weekend. I had a similar result, but on this trip I was fully engaged. Constantly trying and testing, feeling connected to the water and the environment around me. Even though my success was not greater I felt like that was a satisfying and enjoyable trip. I now realize that when I originally wrote this post I was really complaining about a symptom and not the root cause. It took me a while to even figure out what that root cause was. I am not 100% sure why I was so disconnected on this trip, but it feels good to have realized what was actually bothering me and to be back to my old self!

NIce @TnRiver46 If you catch big fish doing it then it is being cagey and not lazy

Exactly! I did not put in the effort to find better fish. Laziness leads to mediocrity. I was wishing to find a better fish amongst the dinks instead of changing things up to really trying to catch one. As my dad would say, "Wish in one hand and tick in the other and see which one fills up first"

I realize something terrible about myself. I have let myself become a lazy fisherman. Laziness is the number one killer of fishing success. It is the silent killer. It starts small, not re-tying when I should, spending too much time on a spot rather than move, not paying attention to exactly how I am lined up with respect to the structure I am fishing, etc In thinking back on my last trip I realize that laziness and carelessness (and often accompanying affliction) have settled deep into my bones. I did not have a horrible day of fishing on the 2nd - I did catch 47 smallmouth - but the "big" fish of the day was only 1lb 11oz. Probably a dozen of so were in the pound and a quarter to pound a half range, but no big fish, and the rest were dinks. I thought back on the day and I am a bit embarrassed with the effort I put in. I would pull into a spot but not fish it carefully. If you want to catch big fish you need to be willing to put in that concentration to details and mental effort to carefully dissect each structure you fish. I did not. I realize now how careless I was with the positioning of my kayak, covering all the depths, straining the water with my lures. The only reason I caught any fish at all is because the Willamette is chock full of hungry smallmouth. There was very little skill involved on my behalf. Easy fishing is definitely a major contributor to the issue. You don't realize how poor of an effort you are putting forth because, hey, you are catching fish. With the conditions in the morning of the 2nd I should have easily caught multiple 2-3lb smallmouth. I am sure of that. I realize how random my casting was, how haphazardly I covered the big flat that is usually holding plenty of big fish. Later in the day I found some deep rock with current on it but decided after a couple of casts that it was too hard to fish that spot. It would have taken effort. Instead I went to a different, easy to fish spot and caught more dinks. I have to believe that if I had spent the time to carefully (and tediously) fished that deeper rock that I would have caught some quality fish. Hopefully the first step in healing is admitting that I have the problem. Here are a couple of pics from the day and some video: "Big" fish for the day: Action shot