Not a Rapala

I rolled back to the night fishing grounds armed with a 7 weight and a few boxes of streamers.  There are places that I've come to fish often enough and had enough success at that they, by virtue of my history there,  remove the nagging question of "should I be fishing here or should I move?"

My night fishing grounds are one of these places.  After dark fish move into this shallow bay to feed.  This happens often enough that I fish it with confidence and can settle into the easy rhythm of casting and retrieving...auto-pilot.

My trance was broken with the arrival of a spin fisherman on the far bank.  We chatted across the water as my flyline arced out, landed and was stripped back into my basket.  He was soon joined by a buddy of his who took up position down the shore from his pal.

One of them caught and kept a small pike.  Despite the darkness I knew this to be true because I could hear every word bounce across the calm water on this still night.

A 15 inch walleye clobbered my fly.  I was thinking of taking a photo of it as proof of my fishing prowess and fly fishing expertise, but as I was setting my rod down and reaching for my camera it flipped a half corkscrew turn and came unpinned...so much for prowess.

The next tug felt heavier and I was a little more ginger in my landing practices.  A nice walleye appeared in the glow of my, now lit, headlamp.

I inquired into the darkness if the duo across the water were keeping fish.
the confirmed and I offered up my catch.

One of them hustled over and I took a quick snapshot before handing it off.
He thanked me and disappeared into the night with the fish.

As they rustled around hooking the fish to their stringer they mentioned that it taped out at 18".
One or the other of them asked if I was using a Rapala.

"No, flies, streamers...kind of like a baitfish pattern", I replied.

"Oh...", then silence.