# 25 Years Later - Freshwater 12/12/08



## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

This past weekend, I invited a few fellow Gheenoe owners to come fish with me and I inadvertently showed them where I kept all the small fish.







A couple of days later tom_in_orl reciprocated, in more ways than one







, and offered to take me fly fishing on the Wekiva River.







So I jumped at the chance for a number of reasons. For one, I’d seen reports from the area by Tom and others, which included pictures of some trophy sized largemouth bass.







To catch one even a fraction of that size on fly would make for a very nice notch in the belt. Another reason the Wekiva appealed to me was that I lived near the Wekiva Marina as a child, and spent many a day on its waters, fishing with my father and grandfather.







However, it had been at least twenty-five years since I’d last wet a line there, and the thought of a return visit was an exciting prospect.

It was late in the day when Tom and I met up at the marina, and I stepped aboard his LT25 for a guided tour down memory lane.







As we idled away from where we launched, I noted how little the place had changed over the last two decades. Here was the same broken concrete ramp, dirt parking lot and crumbling seawall, where a stack of rental canoes awaited the weekend tourists, just as I remembered. Gone however, were the aluminum johnboats and rowboats available for lease, replaced instead with the more recently popular, multicolored kayak. Much like the rental boats, many of the original buildings were gone as well, but some remained and other new structures were in the works. 

As Tom’s familiarity with the river’s many hidden obstacles allowed us to traverse its narrow, winding course at full throttle







, I remarked at the seemingly unaltered wilderness around us. The Wekiva’s black waters still flowed through dense, overhanging forest that had, in years past, served as a home for numerous squatters and their tumbledown riverside shacks.







And although the shacks have since vanished, the choking masses of water lilies and hyacinth remained, reducing the passable channels to mere feet wide in places.









After a few moments, Tom was satisfied with our location and brought us to a stop with the Power Pole, which proved to be an invaluable tool in the persistent current.







Once we’d rigged our fly rods and switched to the tolling motor, we began working structure such as downed trees and brush, as well as the edges of the ever-present floating vegetation. 

Before long, Tom hooked up with a tiny bass on a “secret” fly of his.







 

















During the following forty minutes, I only managed to get a single strike







, while Tom landed several bream of varying sizes.







He also brought what appeared to be a fair sized bass to the surface, before it spit the hook.

















Around this time, our fishing was interrupted when an aluminum johnboat with three anglers and a case of beer aboard







, struck a log and required our assistance to replace a sheer pin.







Once they were underway again, Tom took pity on me and handed over one of the flies he had been throwing so successfully.







That, and dropping to a lighter leader made a significant difference, as I began getting strikes almost immediately. Tom and I both boated a few more bream, which I thoroughly enjoyed catching in that environment.

























Before the sun set and we had to leave, I witnessed Tom briefly hook up with two more respectable bass that got away from him.







On one of those, I made a cast right on top of the lost fish and also got struck, but neither of us managed to bring him to the boat.







Then, after a chilly run back to the ramp in near darkness (here’s a video), we shared a cold one at the bar and headed home.

Thank you, Tom, for the invite.







 I fully enjoyed the trip and the very challenging casting practice. Let me know if you want some company another time. There’s a fat one with my name on it, in there somewhere!


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

Very cool guys.


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## tojo (Dec 12, 2006)

Good job guys!


Tom Smile! (its nice to be able to say that to someone else for a change


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

Thanks for the great post. Always enjoy fishing with forum members. 

It was a fun afternoon on the water. That broken down john boat was the only other boat we saw! With the river quiet we got to sneak up on a couple of deer. One was a 6 point buck. The other a doe that let us pass within 40 ft as we drifted by.


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

Great report!


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

I forgot to mention the deer in the story, didn't I? [smiley=1-doh.gif] Oh well, they say memory is the second thing to go... ;D


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## Festus (Dec 15, 2006)

Did I hear someone mention deer? [smiley=yahoo.gif]


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