You gotta think like a Snook. Even at Shawmut!It’s not every day than any fly fisher has a multi-species hookup day, especially if you’re from the other end of the Atlantic seaboard and new to fishing the Kennebec. Mark Ward had such a day here on the Kennebec River when he an Jeremy Cameron drifted the Shawmut stretch with me Wednesday. The conditions were far from ideal, cold, rainy, but the promise of a hatch kept us watching. Hooking fish in high cloudy water meant that Mark had to be able to fish deeply and cast to seams with a heavy 30- foot sink tip. So that’s what I asked him to try; a Wonderline type 6, a ten foot rod with pleanty of backbone. During our float, I tied several wooly buggers and streamers on Mark’s tippet and on most flies, he proceeded to catch fish, double-haul casting, drifting seams, mending, swinging each fly like the “Expert” that he is, landing several large Smallmouth over 2 pounds, several Rainbows in the 14″ class. He eventually completely took over the “catching” part of the trip, leaving me to happily net his fish and Jeremy to happily take video and snapshots. I’ll bet that few other anglers caught as MANY fish as Mark did at Shawmut on this gloomy, cold day. His feel for where the fish were, his deep rig, and his casting ability made it possible! When I come down to Naples in the fall, I’ll be in the Everglades Angler Fly Shop often. I want to to check out the tying and casting classes and want to get Mark’s advice on how to “think like a Snook”. It was a pleasure guiding you, Mark!
