The most impressive fish in the film, in my opinion, is Ryan Thoni, in his "Huddleston Expression Sesssion". In fact, that was the last fish added to the film. In typical Team 85 fashion, Ryan emails me and asks if that fish made the film. This was months after all the footage was supposed to be in for editing. I am like, what are you talking about, I've never seen that footage. So, Ryan re-sends me the footage, and I'm like, wow, that is pretty incredible. To leave the boat, make a cast and use your forward momentum and angle to get the bait way up under the stretch of bluey docks, hook the fish from the crouched position, and get thing under control enough to jump back into the boat and land it, is pretty impressive execution. Ups (check me out, learned a new word in OC) to Jeremy on his camera work.

My favorite and most memorable fish, is without a doubt the brown trout on the Huddleston. That fish was caught in June. It was during the same Arkansas Ozark session where I caught the 8" Triple Trout fish. I wasn't in town long and my boat was under repair, so I had only a few days of real fishing. I literally was swimbait fishing for bass and swimbait fishing for trout in the same day. Morning session/late evening session. I recently caught another good brown on the 8" Huddleston. I don't even want to talk about what I've seen in that river. Talk about river monsters. The brown trout eating a 6" Huddleston, choking the thing, behind a big boulder, just where you'd expect her to be. That was my second attempt at throwing a swimbait out the back of a driftboat. My first attempt I moved a few giant fish, on the 8 & 6" Huddleston, so there was immediate interest from the fish.

The other side to that catch was where I hooked the fish. The Cotter stretch of the river. Here the memorable fish, and notice the building behind me.


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8687-peters-matt-swimbait-fishing.JPG



That is my Dad's place, Round House Shoals. It was his office and fly fishing man cave. I hooked the fish infront of my parent house, which is only a few hundred yards upriver. So we hooked it infront of my parents house, and landed it and took pictures where the Big Spring meets the White, at Round House Shoals. There is a ramp at my dad's place where we were taking out, so I hooked that fish at the last possible moment before we needed to slide across the river and take out. Just phenomenal amount of good juju with that fish. Understand that the White River is some of my earliest memory of fishing. I fished there with my mother's folks every summer when I was a boy, and they've both passed sometime ago, so it was really cool to have the river stoke me out like that for the film.

Now, just as the river giveth, the river taketh. Another irony of tide and time. My Dad's place, Round House Shoals, was completely devastated by the floods in N. Arkansas&Missouri this year. The same floods that caused the FLW Tour on Table Rock to be canceled..which changed the course of my tournament season. My Dad's shop is quite simply, gone. There is no building, nothing there anymore. The river took it all. My Dad was able to get some things out before the flood waters took the building, but he lost of ton of stuff he is just sick about. Historical fly fishing pictures, books, flies, rods, reels, and gear that is not replaceable. My dad is a 'historian' of fly fishing, and felt like the curator of this material, and of course feels really awful about losing it. My parents are struggling right now, my mother has MS and that is really depressing and insidious ailment, and its just a tough situation for them both, but especially my mother.

Here are some "before" pictures of Round House Shoals, notice the boat slip/dock in the water too.







http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8688-DSC_0044_2.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8689-DSC_0054_2.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8690-DSC_0062_2.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8691-DSC_0067_2.JPG

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

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