Thankful

Today I wanted to go fishing.  The forecast called for the air temperature to reach 57F.
My plan was to chum with some cracked corn in a local lake and hope that carp would
feed.  At this time of the year, carp rarely come close to the lake shore.  Back casting is not always
possible because there are trees near the water.  As a result I use spey casting technique to
reach carp that are more than fifty feet away.  

I brought out my Beulah Switch fly rod to improve my casting distance.  Since I have not
practiced casting with this rod in many months,  I wasn't getting the distance I expected and
my casts were not as long as they could be.  After checking my "anchor point" and stopping
the forward angle of my cast at 10:00 o'clock, I was putting my fly where I wanted.

It wasn't long before a carp took my offering and the battle began.  At first I thought I may
have hooked a catfish.  The initial run was slow.  Soon I realized that it was a carp
because there were many violent head shakes and a few long runs that made my reel scream.
For a moment it appeared I may have foul hooked the fish in the tail.  In the end, I could see that I had
not foul hooked the fish.  I had hooked it inside the mouth in the right cheek.