You know the words to that song…………”Splish Splash I was taking a bath”………..in the Roanoke River.  That’s what Grant O’Neal was singing to himself after he was hoisted up on the dock after trying to see what a striper’s life is like in the water and getting a good cool bath in the river.  He had a little misstep but was just fine.  The only thing that may have gotten hurt was his wallet, cell phone, and pride.  He did manage a pretty slick move, for which I am very thankful, where he was able to perfectly set the rod down on the bow casting platform before taking the plunge.  Funny stuff and lots of ammunition for Matt………at least until next year.

Matt and Grant O’Neal ventured back to the Roanoke for their annual spring fly fishing trip and the fly rods were coming tight.  We encountered lots of smaller 2 year old fish.  What they are doing up there remains a bit of a mystery but we did manage a few nicer fish on the fly.  We whipped out my new TFO BVK 9′ 6 weight and it was a blast on the smaller fish.  I think I’m gonna get a 4 weight next year for the shad because it’s a pretty sweet blank for the money.  Matt and Grant did try some jigs on spinning tackle and were successful throwing the Z-Man MinnowZ in pearl and pearl/blue glimmer on Z-Man JigZ jigheads.  The Z-Man JigZ jigheads are specially designed for all Z-Man soft plastics and the baits perform even better on them…………coming tight quite regularly and more often than other brands of soft plastics.  They are simply Z best.   That was for you Matt.

Another tagged fish......on the fly!

A nicer fish released unharmed after a little prick to the mouth from the fly!