We all tend to want to fish secret, out of the way locations, with as fewer anglers as possible around… to have all the water to ourselves, to covet that solitude that makes up such an enormous part of or addiction to chasing fish… This quest for waters with as few people around as possible is part of being an angler… finding new waters, new canvases to paint our lines on…. but sometimes kicking back with a “crowd” of your good buddies, makes that experience more the sweeter for having shared it with your mates… the hooting and hollering when a good fish is hooked… the good natured sledging when someone drops a good fish… the high fives when a good fish is landed, the “cracking the code” of the right fly for the day.. the ice cold beers enjoyed around the tail gate of the truck at the end of a day whilst breaking down your gear, sharing the laughs and the stoke, the highs and the lows… sometimes, just sometimes, this is even better than finding that secret water all to yourself…

Conrad, Steve , Platon and I had a day like that last week… a great session on some amazing Smallmouth Bass.. at no point during the day were we more than 30 metres from each other… which meant every triumph and loss was shared, and therefore magnified… Fishing with good friends, who share that magic enthusiasm, whether it be 10000’s of miles from home on an exotic tropical uninhabited fly speck island in the middle of nowhere searching for bonefish and Giant Trevally, or a short drive from the city, chasing barrel size smallmouth bass, or a quick  urban mission to a local pond/ditch/river/canal to chase Mudbones ( Carp ), having your buddies there makes it all the sweeter….

Thanks for a cracker day boys… Who shot Biggie Smalls? I guess we did…

PS – Thanks to Conrad for “cracking the code” on the fly front, and for so kindly dishing out some spares to the rest of us… game changer bru!

A couple release shots…