Some days, despite best efforts, fish are hard to come by. On such days, anglers will ruefully say that is why we call it 'fishing' and not 'catching'. Or that it was at least better than working. On other days, though, the stars align and the fish almost jump into the boat or creel.
This was a week where I was fortunate enough to catch a lot of fish. Like a lot of hobbies, there are personal preferences on how to fish, and some of those preferences are strongly held. In trout fishing, there are three camps. One is a group that is dedicated to fly fishing. The second camp uses spinning tackle and lures. The third uses live bait. Your camp is also influenced by whether you catch and release your fish, or keep fish to eat. I generally practice catch and release, but also like to actually catch a fish or two. Maybe it is the engineer in me, but I look more at practicality and circumstances rather than philosophy, so I adjust my fishing methods to conditions at hand.
I started my fishing plans by opting to take some vacation time and fish during the week. Everyone tries to jam all their trout fishing into the month of May, to take advantage of the opening of the inland fishing season, cooler weather, and less vegetation along the banks of the narrow creeks. As a result, access points are very crowded on the weekend. I picked up some nightcrawlers, assembled my fly rod and spinning rod, and set out Sunday evening for a week of fishing and work on the homestead.
The first evening, I found an unoccupied stretch of creek, and started with some fly fishing. I tend to like dry fly fishing - there is nothing like seeing a trout strike a fly that you tied, floating on the water's surface. There was not a lot of surface activity and it was a little windy, so I switched to live bait. In short order, I caught and released three nice brown trout. It was a good start to the week. As the week went on, I tried different spots and different techniques, and each time caught fish. Anglers (and hunters) will always say that if they had no luck, at least it was nice to be outdoors. Deep down, everyone knows it is always more fun to catch something, even a little fish that requires no net to land. If nothing else, it proves that you know what you are doing and you picked the right spot to fish.
The highlight of the week came on the last evening. The wind was calm, and I started fly fishing with a dry fly, a small white midge imitation. Soon, I landed a nice brown trout. I switched to nymphs for practice, but it was one of those rare, perfect days when it did not seem to matter what I used. As I cast, fish upstream and downstream broke the water playfully as the sun moved toward the horizon. If I was able to keep from getting tangled in the low branches, I was eventually rewarded with a nice trout. The last fish I caught was picture perfect. As I reeled it in, it fought hard and cleared the water twice before reaching my landing net. I admired its beautiful colors, and gently sent it back into the creek. I fished for a while longer, but knew that had been the last fish of the week - a perfect end to a great week of 'catching'.
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