It was the last day of school and I just finished up my last final exam. I drove home from school bursting with excitement. I ran up to my room grabbed my 8 weight rod, reel, and backpack and jumped into the car. My dad and I were off to NE Wisconsin for a trip chasing the Bronze Destroyer, commonly known as the smallmouth bass. The drive took a few hours but as soon as we reached the river, I knew we were going to have a great trip. The first night we kayaked the river for a few hours and caught a couple small fish on streamer patterns. On Saturday, we woke up and drove through the back roads to a boat launch north of where we were staying. We put in the boat and began a great day of smallmouth fishing. Within fifteen minutes, we had caught and released four nice smallies with are white streamer patterns. It is always amazing to fish with patterns that are visible to the fisherman because the violent takes are so fun to see. After a couple more casts up into the bank, a 6 pound Northern hammered my streamer. I was uncertain that I was going to land him because I did not have the correct leader. We did get the pike in just seconds before shriveling my 10 pound leader. The day was filled with many more great fish including an eighteen inch fish on a popper. Of course any day has to come to an end and this one was no different. Our takeout was within sight and we thought the day was over. But as it turned out we were so wrong. Just then a monster smallmouth attacked my popping bug and somehow I missed the hook set. I could not believe it. After that we went a little past our takeout to fish another nice stretch of the river. I made a cast tight up against the bank and twitched my popper once, as a huge fish slurped it down. I set the hook and the fight was on. The fish fought valiantly and the 5 pound fish finally came to hand after a fierce battle. All in all it was a great day of fishing. What a way to end a trip! Warmwater fly fishing might not have the technicalities of trout fishing but it still a joy. Each type of fishing is unique and that is why I enjoy fly-fishing for many different species from steelhead to bluegills. By the way, all fish were caught, quickly pictured, and then carefully released!