Summer is off to a Rocky Start
What a time to be alive in human history; while the purpose of my business and website has nothing to do with politics, we are all currently a part of some truly important times. I would just like to take a moment to reflect on all that is going on, meditate on it.
and no, the title of this blog post is not intended as a viewing the current situations as 'bad' ... in fact the real reason I made mention of a 'rocky start' is because the rivers have been slow to start up... but the flats (rocky flats) have been hot, hot, hot to say the least!
A good friend of mine joined me in pursuing some small-mouth the other weekend and boy was it a riot. There are a few times throughout my angling career that I remember in vivid detail; The time I caught my first trout; The first Montana fish I ever caught on my own fly; The memories of fish camp up in Canada; The 42" Pike that felt like I hooked a log at the bottom... all of these things are moments with friends and family that will stay with me forever.
This past weekend added to that:
Sam (my friend) picked my up at 5:30 from my house, as we departed I was really having to dig deep to stay awake, I'll be honest, I didn't have the highest of hopes for the day. We arrived at the parking lot early, the second ones there, but really the first ones in the water. As the sun rose we realized we had the wind, temperature, and sun just right for the day... something that put a real pep in my step as we began our wade out to the rim of the flats. Fly rod in hand and spin rod tied to my bag (never neglect the success record of spin gear) we were in hot pursuit to locate spawning fish.
Not long after we got into some good water did we start getting rewarded for our efforts. One fish.. then another.. then another. I kept looking over my shoulder expecting to see an army of anglers honing in on the honey hole we found... no one was in sight.
We kept working our way up the coast, fish after fish kept showing us that our predictions, casts, lure/fly choices, and presentation were all aligned perfectly. With so many aspects to fishing and ways to measure success it was nice to have a real numbers day. A few good size females came to play as well but the real joy of the day was exploring some water, alone with a good friend, and sharing a morning surrounded by fish without any other anglers in site.
The funniest part was, that the next day I was so eager to take my dad out there and watch the look on his face as he reeled in fish after fish... and we got completely skunked. That right there is what brings you back day after day to keep fishing; keep trying to figure out the complex puzzle.