Today, I had Richard with me and he wanted to try some new methods of fishing, which were essentially trolling. I won’t get into details until he says its ok, but we had a blast and he caught fish on a very light set up and when they hit, it was very exciting. Again, there is a little language but it is all in good fun!

While this isn’t a historically large fish, the two of us have had junk for luck on this lake. When I hooked up with an old college friend, Richard “Show’em where the fish are” Barton. He suggested Carolina Riggin the lake and we haven’t looked back this summer. We pull good qauntities of fish now and this one took us by great surprise when it hit. Didn’t know I let the sh*t bomb fly so much but we were having fun. The fish was a little bad off as it had two hooks protruding from its butt. I was able to remove both with great disbelief that both had traveled through its digestive system and came out with little harm to fish. His psychological state is yet to be determined, as mine. Notice the grimace on my face as I see rusted hooks pulsating from its butt. We have a new found respect and enjoyment for this lake now, as it is so close and I grew up here. Now if I can just find carp on the fly!

“Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God.” – Tony Blake

Shelly Lake is one of those spots you can drive past everyday and not give it a chance. With all the strollers, runners and cyclist it can be kind of scary. However, once you get past the thousands of geese, you have and opportunity to luck into a few fish. Catching bluegills is a given on a small popper and they come to you with such vigor. If only they were as big as a tarpon I would be in heaven. As for this bass, we stalked her feeding on small minnows. She was thrown everything until we put a small streamer pattern on and danced it through the bait. She keyed in immediately and followed it, gulped it and then she did what she does best. The rod was a 5 weight and she put alot of weight into it and I let her pull. Finally she gave in and we weighed her at 3.11lbs. Casting can be hard here because of the obstacles or the masses of people who just walk up behind you with no manners and start throwing bread and yelling at the geese. This is a morning spot or late afternoon cast which has to be done with some grace as some folks just don’t get the idea of a good backcast.