Today I went to the CT River to remember Our friend, my friend, Ray Z. I brought my custom drop shot rod that Ray had built for me and threw a soft jerkbait. I was hoping for one fish, just one, in Ray’s honor. My wish came true when a spunky little smallie smashed the bait, and after a noble fight, came to hand. I took a picture and talked to Ray for a while, and knew that he was smiling down on me from above.
I caught a few on a tube too including a fall fish
The fluke was the star of the day again, and I stayed with it most of the afternoon and it got bit a lot.
I continued to hit fish consistently as I worked a nice current seam. Then, I hooked the fish of dreams. A river tiger smallie worthy of Ray’s memory and the rod he had built for me. This fish was everything you could ask for in a smallmouth: massive, acrobatic, tenaciously determined to break me off and strong... oh so strong from a long life of fighting in the current. My new PB River smallie, and close to 5 lbs.
This was Ray’s fish. I’m happy to have had this encounter with an amazing fish, and, like Ray, I will never forget it.
""Happy Talk" . . . . . Because it has worked so well thus far"
"It is not necessary to change; survival is not mandatory" - Edward Deming
"Unless we start to focus everything on this, our targets will soon be out of reach" - Greta Thunberg January 2020
"I spent most of my dough on booze, broads and boats and the rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard.
Team Man Made Climate Change is Real.
"Such change demands on our part a serious and responsible recognition not only of the kind of world we may be leaving to our children, but also to the millions of people living under a system which has overlooked them" - Pope Francis September 2015