Ed Cargill and I floated the South Branch from Chase Bridge to Smith Bridge with guide Matt from Gates AuSable Lodge. Fishing was pretty good on and off, but the bugs came out in the evening just before dusk. When Matt found a good spot and anchored where several fish were rising and he tied a spinner pattern on my line. I cast to a bubble line just off Ed C's shoulder and got a small splash and set the hook on what I thought was a small fish. My rod bent down like I was snagged and line pulled from my left hand and onto the reel almost immediately. Six times I reeled him close and then the fish pulled line off until my line changed color marking 40 feet out! Guide Matt was instructing me to change the direction of the rod down level with the water and after three attempts to bring the fish in range, he came close and was landed with a long guide landing net. The fight was nip and tuck and my right hand could just barely keep the rod from being pulled into the stream. As Josh Greenberg , owner of Gates AuSable Lodge, had predicted earlier in the day, I got " the best fish of my life". Sent in by NIFTy member Ed Miller.
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