Combat Fishing

I kearned a long time ago that big fish like to hide where nobody will fish for them.
One of the ponds I fish has an inflow from another pond down at the far end where nobody goes because the water is shallow and covered in most areas by extensive "weed mat".

I'm about the only one who ventures deep into this heavily weeded area. When fishing this area from my float tube I have noticed a lot of light coloured circles on the bottom with no weed growth. This usually means there is a spring in that area. Sure enough as I kick into the weeds heading for one of the circles. I feel cooler water. I discovered that there are several springs in the weedy area. Cooler water and cover from the weedmat plus lots of minnows foraging the weeds make it a natural spot for big trout to hang out. The culvert offers shade and flowing water and makes for a perfect ambush station to snap up those forage fish that are constantly cruising by.

It's a bit of a challenge to quietly work through the weeds to get in range for a cast and present a fly to the culvert. The cast has to be perfect as there is pretty much the width of the culvert that is clear and the rest of the area is weed.

Well the Lord was with me. I made the perfect cast and plopped the beadhead right in front of the inflow and set the hook on the ensuing swirl. I never even felt a strike. After some interesting moments with the fish trying to wrap me in weeds, I brought this beautiful male rainbow to hand and snapped a couple of pics before releasing him back to his chosen environment. Made my day! Gotta love fly fishing!

This is the third big fish I've taken from the culvert.