The king of the creek

So this morning I’m waist-deep wading a small, sandy bottom creek. I’m catching a few Bluegill on my 5wt fly rod, but what I’m really after are creek bass. No luck for an hour. But suddenly I see it! A huge, black shape holding position by a sunken log…and it hasn’t seen me! I position myself 30ft away and drop a wooly bugger right in its face. No reaction. I cast again and again and again. Not a flinch. I inch forward like a sniper and drop beautifully presented drifts right across its nose. Doesn’t budge. After 30 minutes (no exaggeration) I creep right on top of the monster.

I’d been casting at a clump of weeks the entire time.