A Great Day of Fishing

Greetings from Radnor:
Today I fished with Annie Hepburn. Despite being only seven years old, Annie is a very accomplished fisherman, having had great success with weakfish & flounder, in New Jersey waters, and various species, fishing the Florida Keys. In fresh water, trout are her main pursuit, and she is an accomplished flycaster when the sunfish are biting.

Annie was all smiles when she climbed into my truck at 8AM this morning. The weather was warm with rain showers. We headed to a lake on White Horse Road, just west of Valley Forge, where there was rumored to be large mouth bass. We found our 8′ aluminum row boat to have a small hole in the bottom, so we patched it with chewing gum. Annie was feeling good about our prospects. We tied a large frog lure to her 8 lb. test spinning gear. Annie’s first cast was twenty feet up into a tree. We discussed the fact that this was not the Atlantic Ocean, but Annie clearly wanted to cast for distance. Annie tossed the frog forty yards down the lake, and the water exploded! Without any exclamation, Annie proceeded to set the hook and the battle was on. With the rod bent double and the drag screaming, Annie was completely focused. No need to tell her to “turn his head” or even ” kick his ass!”. Annie’s hands are almost as fast as Jake Jordan’s. This monster bass only managed two jumps before the game was over. Another fisherman might have fought this bruiser more carefully, but Annie is just like her Mama. Annie’s first words were “Get the net”. It was a short but violent fight. Once her fish was in the boat, Annie relaxed and her customary good humor was in evidence. The bass accepted his release with a flourish, probably wondering to himself: “Who is that girl!” The disruption to the lake must have been the cause, because there were no more bites. After twenty minutes, we pulled the row boat up on the grass and ate some chocolate donuts. Annie is always a pleasure to fish with. More reports to come.

Austin Hepburn
610.585.7583

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