It was all I could ever have hoped for - and all my trophy-fish-ambitions for the week were laid to rest then and there. Oh, little did I know… After a few pictures, the release and a few laughs and high-fives, we continued fishing only to hook another wild and colourful fighter 10 minutes later – a “gentle taker” like the first one and a solid fish that pulled the scale to 18 pounds. The madness continues It was the first time in my life I had caught two trophy fish in such a short time span. But we didn’t rest on the laurels. Instead, we kept fishing in an attempt to make the most of it. In the process, we landed around 15 smaller fish including butterfly peacocks and smaller speckled bass that, ironically, hit the flies like they were 4 times their size. Overall, the morning had been beyond my expectations. But I was still in for another surprise. Suddenly, I felt another gentle strike, set the hook and all hell broke loose. Jonner backed up and I held on to my line as much as I could, but the fish was charging off, and the line was burning
my fingers. Along the way, I switched the rod from my left side to the right in order to increase the pressure even more, and suddenly the line began cutting through the water heading to the right side of the lagoon while Jonner was shouting “GRANDE!!! OTRO GRANDE!!” in a voice of sheer excitement - and with a huge smile on his face. I could not believe what was happening but tried to stay focused. I picked up whatever line I could, put maximum pressure on the fish and prayed the leader wouldn’t snap. The fish went for a very long run, then – after a lot of head-butting in deep water he finally gave up. WHOAH! Once in the net, we unleashed our screams of joy and elation. This one weighed 22 pounds. 22 POUNDS!! Two fish in excess of 20lbs and an 18-pounder in less than 2 hours of fishing?!! It felt like a dream. We took a few pictures, kissed the fat guy goodbye and released him. After that I sat for a while just laughing and celebrating with a cold one before eventually continuing.
