The Man on the Mississippi

This just in from Customfish field reporter Jade Miller on the Mississippi River:

Had a huge front come thru this morning out of minnesota. Massive lightning storm. I took a nap as it passed over and met up with Gunney, what I call the old marine. (He really was one once) He handed me two St Croix rods, a medium light and a medium along with a sedona reel loaded for bear. This guy still has 50 St Croixs at home, all he uses. Retirement must be nice. I switched out the jig head for a 1/16oz bullett sinker, 2/0 EWG hook and baby brush hawg. I started off fishing a storm drain and getting little nips here and there then I snagged a 10 pound or so carp. Next cast get a huge hit and it was an even bigger carp that inhaled the brush hawg. After that I went to fish some rip rap off of the chute out of the dam. As I was crawling the BBH along the bottom I felt a tap and watched the line move off at an angle. Set the hook ala Joz and held on. With the drag screaming the fish went air borne for the first of several acrobatic feats. Worked it over to a relatively rock free area and landed my first true 20 inch smallie. Gunney was running over and had his scale ready and it read 3 pounds 12 oz. Man I would love to catch this fish in the spring or fall. He would have easily been over 4 pounds. A veteran of previous battles, his mouth scarred I got the quick photo and let him back to his watery lair. I followed him up with a 14 that must have gone airborne a dozen times before I got it in. Then the rain came.