A first!

Went Charlie Elliot this AM w/ boat hope to find a few bass still feedin on the shad die off in Bennett, no such luck, throwin a EP style baitfish & a froggy looking stealth bomber. Fishin along the dm come up on a young man on the bank throwin an 8wt. First time ever w/a fly rod,says he got it yesterday for a summer trip to AK,that his grandparents are takin him on for graduation, pull over & give him a few SB's & RLD's. We hear something bust up the surface up the bank so I take off in the boat expecting bass on shad. pick up the EP baitfish & spot a school of fish Must be 200+& some are BIG.Theyre rite on the bank just crusing back & forth over a 50 yrd stretch ,Cant be bass ,maybe hybrid Never seen em school this close to bank, lots following ,finally one half takes it.DARN,keep tryin but just followers,try the SB,same thing. Get a better look at one,awful scaly lookin fish cant be? Pick up the 5wt w/4# floru tippet & #10 rld,Fish on!!! Im fightin it & there is one twice its size chasin it! Chases it all the way to the net! A what??
Is this a carp? or a huge gizzard shad,one chasing looked to be 8+ lbs,(I want him) Well this spooks the school & they break off into smaller bunches,most r gone,at times looked like tailing reds,some would cruise by 3-4 at a time & looked like bones

Go back & pick up kid & take on boat tryin to help his casting, Tell him to tye on rld & we go back to dm where I had a few just barely keepers. WOOHOO,got his fish on the fly rod & he gets several more!!!
Pretty good day for Feb. I had close to 50 gills,all on rld,half were keepers, just not the slabs yet, won't be long tho!!!

Sounds like I need to get out to Charlie Elliot! What time of day were you fishing, Boss?

ALL DAY, well most of it.7:15 till about 4. Fish seemed to be little more hungry after lunch,coulda been just where i was fishin,spent most of time tryin to stay out of the windest spots. also gave the rld a countdown of at least 6, & they were bitin soft, go barbless, they were swallowin pretty good