The measure of a trophy

Well I've now caught stripers in 3 states.  All on a fly rod.  I moved to Little Rock 4 months ago, and have been on a mission to figure out how to catch them on a fly in one of the several lakes here that has them in the state.  I've spoken to as many people as I can find who at least know of someone who has fly fished for them here, and for some reason its extremely rare.  Fly fishing land locked stripers is a known quantity in Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, parts of Tennessee, Texas and California, but not Arkansas for some reason.  So it's been a lot of trial and error, and scouting late winter and early spring to learn the water as they begin to move shallow in the spring the false spawn.

Yesterday the work finally paid of.  And paid off big.  I hooked into this pig that tipped the scale at 25lbs.  Took almost 15 minutes to get in, and was wrapped up in heavy weeds on the bottom for a couple minutes where I figured I'd lose her.  I knew it was a big fish when I set the hook, but didn't know how big until I got a glimpse of her.  I could do very little to stop her with my 8wt.  She just towed my around at her own pace.  No dramatic long runs, just strong bulldog style fight.  It reminded me a lot of a redfish.  I've only caught 5-10lb stripers before, and they are much more athletic.  She was spawned out, so she might have been a bit lethargic.  She could have gone close to 30lbs if she wasn't so skinny.  Regardless, it smashed my previous personal best by 15lbs.  I was fishing by myself, but thankfully I spotted a guy on a dock nearby to take a few pictures real quick before letting her go.

They say a trophy is measured by the effort invested in its acquisition.  I'd say this one qualifies.