I ache all over.
It's a righteous kind of ache, though, the kind you get from a day of fighting big fish.
I am tempted to say that Tuesday's outing on the upper Ouachita River was my greatest day of fishing ever, but that's a stretch. I've had some mighty fine ones, like the day fishing with Chris Larson at this time last year on this same stretch of water while.
We are at the peak of the annual spawning run for walleyes and striped bass. However, the torrential rains we got two weeks ago turned the river big and ugly with high water and dangerously swift current. Larson said it was unfishable last Saturday because of all the woodland debris in the water.
On Tuesday, the river was about 8-10 feet higher than usual, and much more broad. We hauled my canoe, 2-horsepower motor and gear to the edge of the water and debated the prudence of launching.
"We're here," I said. "Let's give it a try. If we feel uncomfortable, we'll come right back and call it a day.
"I think it's going to be fine," I added. "Everything just feels right. I think it's going to be epic."
As we pushed away from the bank, the motor purred to life on the third pull of the rope. We eased into the middle of the river and were delighted to find that the current was swift but gentle. The bigger challenge was a hard northwest wind that coughed 20-25 mph gusts.
The motor idling wouldn't overcome the gusts, but a touch of the throttle moved us forward. The canoe wanted to gallop when a gust ebbed, so I had to fuss with the throttle constantly to maintain a proper trolling speed.
Usually we start fishing well upstream at the Powerline Hole, but high water connected the rocky shoals into a continuous expanse of big water. The only rapids were at the shoal known as Connie's Climax, just above Striper Corner. That meant we'd have a leisurely day of easy boating.
Hugging the right bank, Pruitt tossed out a Short A Bomber stickbait in rainbow trout color. I tossed out a Long A Bomber in firetiger color. Pruitt scarcely closed the bail on his spinning reel when his rod bent with the weight of the day's first fish.
I tried to reel in, but Pruitt's fish dashed across the river and wrapped around my braided line. Somehow Pruitt managed to land his fish a striper of about 7 pounds, but my rig was hopelessly tangled and out of commission for the day.
I went to the bench and got a Gander Mountain medium-light action rod with a Mitchell 300 ree. I and tied a Trout Magnet stickbait to the end of my 6-pound test line.
The next pull produced another fish for Pruitt, and just as fast. This time I turned the boat sideways to keep the fish parallel while I tried to get my rig out of harm's way. We tangled again, but not as badly as the first time. Pruitt whooped and hollered as another striper about the same size as the first strained his 6-pound test line.
Then Pruitt caught a pair of very large white bass.
The fifth pull got us a double. Our fish crossed lines. Pruitt's fish broke off, but I landed mine, another 7- to 8-pound striper.
It happened again on the next pull.
"The only way this is going to work is for us to take turns," I said.
"Awww, come on, man! We can do this," Pruitt said. "We've done it many times before!"
"We've never had a cluster like this before, either," I said. "I'm going to get really tired of losing baits today."
We alternated for about 30 minutes, but we didn't get a bite.
"For this to work I think you need that element of disaster," Pruitt said.
I tossed my bait out and we doubled up immediately.
Pruitt lost caught two or three more stripers and lost four stickbaits before we reached Striper Corner. We were almost there when a 15-pounder spooled me. Fortunately it broke off at the lure, and I recovered all of my line.
I tied cast a Luck-E-Strike Rick Clunn STX stickbait into the eddy at Striper Corner, where Pruitt and I got striper bites on five consecutive casts fishing from the bank. Pruitt broke off two. I lost two and finally landed the fifth, which weighed about 9-10 pounds.
Stripers quit biting at the corner, but a big school of magnum-size white bass filled the void.
The sun was setting as we headed back downstream, but we continued catching stripers. We caught some and missed some. I shot a video of Pruitt catching the day's last fish, which you can see at www.arkansasonline.com.
We caught 13 stripers, all about the same size, and lost 12-13 more. We also caught a dozen or more mammoth white bass.
We used about 20 different stickbaits, including Luck-E-Strikes, Bombers, Trout Magnets, Excaliburs and even two generic stickbaits I bought at Tractor Supply Co.
Color didn't matter. Fish bit bright colors, flashy colors, mid-tones and dark colors. They bit big baits, little baits and mid-size baits.
The only thing that seemed to matter was speed. Fish wanted a fast troll, and we often got bit by jerking our rods to make the baits surge and dart.
It might be a bit hyperbolic to say that Tuesday was my best fishing day ever, but it was definitely my best striper fishing day.
I just know that I hurt so good.
Sports on 03/11/2018