A Fish Story

Back in October I planned a small fishing trip with by brother-in-law and a friend. We loaded the canoe on the minivan and left town at 6 a.m. We got to Newcastle Reservoir just before the sun came up. Newcastle is now known for it's mix of Rainbow Trout, Small mouth Bass, and Wipers. A wiper is a hybrid between a Stripped Bass and a White Bass. There is not other lake in the area where these fish can be found.

Although plenty of trout were being caught with worms I was after a wiper. As the day went on I had only had one good bite and I had lost the fish before I got it to the boat. I was beginning to think that I wouldn't catch my wiper after all.

At one point our lines were tangled and we drifted towards shore where the lake was shallow. We fixed the lines and began to paddle off. Suddenly my pole bent hard and I was sure that I had a lunker of a fish! My excitement was shattered when I realized that my "lunker" was a snag. We turned the boat around to un-snag my lure. I could see under the water that my lure had caught on to a small detached bush under the water. I slowly reeled it in to unhook it and begin fishing again. I realized that I could see a fish swimming around as if it were interested in what was going on. It was a wiper! The fish began to swim away and my pole started moving along with the bush that I had caught. After a fight I reeled in a bush and a fish. Someone had snagged their line on the same bush but they broke their line off. Later the fish came along and took the bait getting hooked onto the bush. Who knows how long that fish sat there hooked to a bush before I came along and caught the bush!