Finally!!!

After years of fishing both in and out of the kayak, I can now say I have caught a freshwater citation in the state of Virginia.  The last three years have seen several bass each year fall short of citation by the narrowest of margins.  Well, the wait is finally over!  The best part of it all was that I caught it using my favorite frog lure of all time - the Capt. Ken Daubert Clone Frog, this one was the #4 Brown Spotted Bull pattern with some hand drawn black sharpie markings on the legs and underbelly by yours truly.  I also was using my latest "arrow in the quiver" - my new custom medium heavy Bull Bay Rod.  And to complete the trifecta of good vibes, I was sporting my new Astral Porter water shoes.

I am an avid and loyal user of PowerTeam Lures, so needless to say, the frog was touched up with a nice coat of Hog Tonic for good measure.  In hindsight, I realized that I had spent most of the first hour on the water trying to help my son get a top water strike and hadn't really even been casting that much.  While I was coaching him up, I witnessed a bass launch out of the water chasing a small pumpkinseed. 

I quickly cast my Clone Frog well past the spot and slowly worked it.  When the strike happened, it was even more violent than the breach I had just witnessed.  At first I didn't even realize how big she really was until I brought her alongside my Outback.  That's when I knew, it was going to be long enough.  When I finally got her on the measuring board, I let out a guttural scream of "Yes! Finally!"

Enjoy the video..... (just make sure you select 1080HD for best image quality!)

Thanks again to Hobie for designing my favorite fishing platform - the Hobie Outback.  Thanks to Astral Designs for the killer new shoes and fish catching mojo.  Thanks to Bull Bay Rods for building the best custom rods on the market - the new rod definitely had no problem at all handling that beastly bass!  Thanks to AFTCO for the extremely comfortable Fish Ninja technical shirt you provided for members of the Hobie Fishing Team.  And last but not least, thanks to Capt. Ken Daubert for designing the best frog lures on the market!  I'm proud to use your frogs as the only frogs in my arsenal.  Since I started using your Clones three years ago, all of my other frog lures have sat in a tackle tray collecting dust.

Friday Fireworks

I'll let the pictures do the majority of the talking save for these two thoughts.....

First, trying to cast a fly rod in the wind is frustrating!

Second, trying to cast a fly and retrieve it through lily pads is almost as frustrating!

The first pic is for size reference, since I was bank fishing due to pending storms. I think I'm getting the hang of this fly casting to some extent though.