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Trip Report - 7-28-19

The Secret Spot

Are there secret spots - I mean really secret?

Somebody knows. Probably lots of somebodies. Anyone who lives in the area, and fishes, knows. The locals always know.

On Sunday I fished with a guy I've known for a while but had never fished with. He was curious about a particular rod and offered to show me around the area where he lives if I would bring the rod so he could see if it really was as nice as I describe it on the website.

He also offered to show me his secret spot - on the condition that I wouldn't describe the spot or name the stream, and made sure any photos I took did not have distinguishing features or embedded GPS info. He's a local. I'm sure he knows all the good spots. I agreed without hesitation.

We met at the prearranged time and place, and I followed him to his secret spot.

When we got there I think he was a little let down when I said, "Oh, yeah, I've fished here before."

""Baitcaster Brookie, Daiwa Alphas Air Stream Custom

The fishing was good. It was a "many" day several times over.

""Tenryu Rayz RZ39LL, Shimano Soare CI4+ 500S

I fished with a baitcaster, with a spinning reel, and with no reel at all (on a Suntech Kurenai HM33R). They all caught fish. The fishing was really very good.

""Daiwa .4g Vega spoon with a Suntech Kurenai? Yes!

For a while now, I have wondered whether the Daiwa Vega .4g spoons would be too heavy to cast with a Suntech Kurenai. They're not. The casting is not as smooth as with an unweighted fly, but it isn't too bad.

All in all, it was a truly excellent day (except for the drive home, which was as horrible as only driving back into a big city on a Sunday evening can be).

Before Sunday, I had not thought of that spot as secret. After all, I knew about it and I live in New York City. That's about as far from being a local as you can get. In fact, I had thought it was fairly well known.

It turns out, though, that the name I thought the area was known by actually refers to a a very different area. That's how I found it - looking at blue lines on a topo map (that was long before Google Earth) - but looking in the wrong place. The "well known area" is indeed well known, but it's somewhere else! Once my friend - the local - explained that where we were was not called what I thought it was called, I realized that he was right that I not name the stream.

Even though I had known that spot for years and had never thought of it as my secret spot, it is his secret spot. He showed me a place I already knew, but he showed it to me in strictest confidence. I had promised not to divulge the spot or name the stream. A promise is a promise. The spot that I hadn't thought was secret, now is. I won't name the stream, or even the area that I wrongly thought it was.  I'll go one better. I won't even tell what state it's in. After all, I promised. A promise is a promise - and a secret is a secret.

Get out your maps. Follow the little blue lines. They hold secrets.

Header photo: Tenryu Rayz RZ4102B-UL, Shimano Calcutta Conquest BFSHG ('17)

Warning:

The hooks are sharp.
The coffee's hot.
The fish are slippery when wet.

Whatever you do, do it with finesse!