Fishing the Blue River with My Buddy Gil- Part 2

After I landed my grass carp, I was hoping that it was Gil's turn.  I say hoping because you just never know what is going to happen on the water.  One guy might catch 10 fish and a guy in the same boat, throwing the same lure, might get skunked.  I can't explain the biology or physics behind it, but I've seen it happen!  I prefer trips where everyone is catching and everyone is happy.  That is why I was rooting for Gil.  He was also on his "home water" so I felt like he had a pretty good chance.  

We fished apart for a while and we both had bites but never landed anything.  Gil eventually text me and told me that he was fishing for a big drum.  I hadn't seen a drum all day so I headed his way to see it and hoped that I would get to see him hook the thing.  When I arrived, he told me that he was fishing a weightless worm and had actually watched the drum take his bait once but missed it.  We both looked for it but it must have spooked and headed to safer water.  I made some casts to some more grass carp but snagged on some brush so that pretty much ended my day.

We were both getting pretty hot so we started to slowly head to the truck and fish a little along the way.  It wasn't very far into our walk when Gil spotted a common carp.  It was actively feeding and it sure seemed like he had a shot to hook this fish.  I was standing a few yards away when I heard the sound of splashing and drag being taken off a spinning reel.  I headed his way with my phone to take some video and audio.  He played the fish really well and landed it like I'm sure he has many, many times.  It was a REALLY pretty fish that had golds, reds, yellows, and oranges.  I don't think there is such a thing as a trash fish, and if you look at a fish enough, you can find the beauty in any fish!  Gil released the fish and it swam away with plenty of energy which is always great to see when fish aren't being kept.  

This was an OUTSTANDING day on so many levels!  Quality fish were caught, new water was fished, and a new friend was made.  It doesn't get much better than that.  Another positive was that my early signs of heat exhaustion faded on the way home...which was nice.  All of those qualities point towards the idea that there will be future trips to small rivers around Kansas City and definitely more time on the water with my new buddy Gil.