hello yellow!

I have recently been fishing ultra light, in all gear as well as the stuff I carry to the water. There is something nice about carrying only the essentials, perhaps because it forces me to plan well ahead. Again, I went to the water with ultra light equipment, targeting smaller fish. Small lures, light tackle, 4 pound line, so on… then BAM! I catch a big catfish and it bends the rod back into an upside down U. I played it carefully and brought it up after a careful 10 min or so, then realized that I did not bring the landing net as I wasn’t expecting to catch such a fish. It’s that moment when you have this nice fish at the end of your line, the small hook on the lure was barely hanging onto the edge of the fishes upper lip, and coming to the realization that I won’t be able to land this fish. The line was way too weak to be able to pull it onto shore, and the edge of the bank was just out of reach. I tried to reach down to grab it for several minutes, and each time the fish swirled into the typical catfish dance. Then as if planned the fish broke loose, taking the lure with it. I ran back to the car, got the net, and started casting again. As I cast, I am thinking how lucky it would be able to catch that same fish again, to bring it up this time to retrieve both of my lures. On the third cast, to my amazement, a fish was on. I was still working with the light tackle and thin line, so I was careful to bring it in. The second time around, I was at ease, my heart pumping a little less. As the fish got closer, I realized that it was a good sized carp. It was a different fish, but equally exciting to bring in, especially on the light tackle. The last 5 seconds before I land the fish is probably when I lose the fish most frequently, especially on light lines. The fish swam into the net, and I had my photos. Carp was caught on a yellow jighead with feathers. Then I looked up into the sky and saw a beautiful sunset shaping in front of me. A smile was on my face during the drive home.