My brother Greg came up to the cottage from his house in MA last night for a quick 20-hour visit.  I haven’t seen Greg since January and that was brief because I was so busy working the Fly Fishing Shows in Marlboro, MA and Edison New Jersey.  We had dinner and a few beers but that didn’t prevent us from heading to Back Bay at 5 am this morning.

Greg doesn’t fish and could care less about fly fishing.  Greg enjoys hiking and camping and can appreciate an early morning canoe ride.  He annually steers me into a few fish.  Last year we crushed smallmouth near the cottage but this mornings goal was a big largemouth from the weedy grounds of Back Bay.

It was a cold morning of 59° before the sun rose.  Once the sun hit us at exactly 5:20 am it warmed quickly.  No doubt the reptiles of Back Bay were ready for it.  You rarely see the musk turtles sunning but several climbed up on logs and buoys to warm up.  We also saw six big snapping turtles stick their stump-like heads up but all were too shy to allow us close enough for a photo.

My fishing was slow.  No doubt largemouth bass enjoy a little heat.  I used my 6-weight Winston and popped my popper slowly across the glassy lake surface.  It took tons of patience and my first take was on about my 50^th cast.  I set and a 3lb largie hit the air.

There’s nothing like a mirrored lake surface disturbed by a leaping fish on the end of you leader.  Even my brother gets excited.  To avoid getting buried in the weeds I horsed the brute using my rod to absorb the surges and jumps all while trusting my Scientific Anglers 16lb bass leader.

Soon I had the bucket mouth in reach.  I grabbed him by the bottom jaw but he slipped loose.  I tried again only this time he spit my popper back.  ****!  My brother laughed and with a wise guy remark said, “This must be why you didn’t win a medal in Spain this year.”

I went back to work but fishing wasn’t happening.  One more bass slurped my popper and I missed him.  I don’t know if he was big or small.  Then after an hour of nada we met Mom and Granny for breakfast in Wolfeboro.

Greg bailed back to MA from breakfast and Granny paddled me back to camp.  The morning wasn’t a total loss.  I picked up two nice smallies on the popper on the way home.  The rest of the day was relaxation and watching my sister’s kids Sierra and Ely crush the rock bass off the dock.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing