LIghtning almost struck twice, 30 plus years apart

[Al Agnew]

Back around 1986 or 87, I hosted a writer from Field and Stream magazine for several days of fishing Ozark streams.  He was a big fly fisherman but had never fished for river smallmouth, and wanted to do an article on the Ozark smallmouth rivers.  I was recommending to him by somebody, and he called me and arranged to spend five days at our house and fish at least four of them.  

I wanted to show him a variety of Ozark streams, so the first day we fished one I always thought was really cool, Big Creek down to Sam A. Baker Park.  Super clear water and great scenery, including a small shut-in with a couple interesting rapids to run.  The fishing was okay; we caught quite a few mostly small smallmouth.  He had come to the area expecting to stop and fly shop and buy flies for smallmouth, but there wasn't any such animal in Southeast Missouri, so he was using some of his trout streamers, all of them too small.  I riffled through his fly boxes and picked out a couple of big white streamers that he'd used for tarpon or something, and he caught a few decent smallies on them.  

Second day we floated the upper end of Big River, just to see another smaller stream with different scenery.  Did pretty well.  He had gone to Walmart and bought some fly rod poppers and they produced a few fish.

Third day we floated a section of the lower middle Meramec, hoping to get into a big smallmouth, but the fishing was pretty slow.

Last day to fish, we floated a lot farther upstream on the Meramec.  I was really feeling the pressure for ONE of us to at least hook one big one.

I still remember the exact spot.  I was using my homemade crankbait along a vertical clay bank, kind of a nothing spot really, no logs or even chunks of mud that had calved off the bank for a big fish to use for cover.  But the big one was there, and it hit my crankbait.  A bit over 20 inches, and he was as impressed as if he'd caught it himself.

In all the years since then, I've floated of boated past that spot hundreds of times.  I've fished it when it was warm weather, and always note that it really hasn't changed.  You'd think those exposed clay banks would really keep being eroded, and a hundred yards farther downstream this one has, but the exact spot still looks like it did back then.

So I was fishing that stretch today.  I motored past the spot, and thought to myself that I'd never hooked another good fish off that bank in all those years.  And then I thought, "but today will be the day."

So I'm drifting back down the river and come to that spot, and I think again, "there's gonna be a big fish there."  I was using my homemade crankbait just for old time's sake.  I landed it 6 inches away from the clay, started the retrieve, and there was a huge bronze flash, a swirl, and I was hooked to a big fish.

There are no pictures, because I lost it.  Got it up close to the boat, got a good look at it...for sure 20 inches or better.  But then it shook its head while it was facing me, and the hooks came loose.  But I called it, and after all those years, there is still something about that spot that attracts big fish!

[jdmidwest]

You still caught it.  Anything after that really does not matter.

Ya fooled it into eatin.