First bow of 2019, Horseshoe catch

Headed down to the river for the 3rd time in a week. First visit was fpr 30secs as the water was chocolate milk. The 2nd visit started off with me sliding down a muddy embankment to the river. Again it was dark brown but i gave it a go for 20mins and left. 3rd times a charm. I got there around 8. The water was a light brown with about 12-18" of visibility.Lots of ice floating around which made drifting a chore. It started to clear around 1030 and i hooked my fish at 11.
Heres the horseshoe part. The fish got snagged/ tangled twice while fighting. The first time he got snagged on an underwater branch. I walked downstream until i was perpendicular to it and reluctantly gave it some slack hoping it would swim out of the snag. Success! Of course he immediately goes to a dogwwod bush on my side and downstream. Tangled. A fellow fisherman had to come and untangle it for me while i held the rod not knowing if the fish was still on or not. Success he was still on. There was still a steep bank and a short handled net to contend with to land this guy. Muddy hands and butt later he was in the net. Water clarity should be great all of this week. Perfect timing as im on nites.

Nice lookin fish ! 3 rd time is a charm

Well done

Beauty, water looks great, sounds like it was a fun battle

Congrats! Unfortunately with my schedule I don’t see much stream fishing this year. Nice catch
Cheers
Kerry

Nice catch
Can't wait to get out myself!

Thanks guys. Good luck to all this spring.

P.S. reminder to self, bring wading staff. Lots of new tripping hazards.

Hey Sniperlee, Congrates on the beauty.

I was out on Sunday and had no luck. I tried a few eastern tribs.

I saw a few fish. I dont know how it was where you were but WOW there were a lot of guys out. Everyone saw the mild temps and I guess had the same plan.

Thanks for the report.

Glad to see you got one, that gave you a ton of problems.. I guess you
were due


I know the feeling of losing fish , but keeps ya going back

The river was a little busier than usual. The river i go to doesn't have the high numbers others do, fish and fishermen that is. Most are river veterans and river etiquette is at a high. I know theres lots of other rivers with better numbers but i like my solitude and sanity.

Nice catch and report! I haven't had the chance to wet the pin yet this year but hopefully next weekend i'll be able to. Fishing will only get better from here on out but also the crowds as well.