Desperate and Determined

There has been little to write about. I have done very little fishing. Appointments seem to take place on the days I had decided to fish. For much of the past few weeks, either the rivers had risen to unfishable levels or the winds were so high, it was really not worth the effort.

I had been out a few times with very limited success. There were more suckers than trout to hand. On one outing, the wind was gusting hard making the 13’ rod heavy and eventually, my shoulder waved the white flag.

It is a few days before the traditional opener. I will be at a soccer tournament in Ohio and missing all the fun.  I am actually glad there is an excuse for me to not fish this weekend. The crowds, the illegal angling techniques and the overall experience is something I have grown out of. In recent years, I would have been packing the steelhead gear away by now. Having enough of it, the 4wt flyrod and resident trout would take over however; there hasn’t been much steelheading this spring.

I really, really wanted to wet a line. So much that I took the long drive south of the border hoping that there may be some cleaned up dropbacks to play around with. Instead, fish were paired up and the ones I did hook were still beaten up and not the attractive chrome we all adore and chase. I did not take any pictures until this last fish of the day. I had trotted a white bugger pattern down along a skinny chute and at the end of it; I started to swing it to the slack flat below. As the fly began to slide out of the main current and rise from the drag and hold back, an extremely aggressive charge came ripping across. A big swirl, water exploding off the surface. The fish moved back into the main current before I reached the end of my hookset. It seemed like a good fish. I was running an 8lb lead on a 10lb shot line to Fireline Crystal which is virtually, unbreakable. The battle was short. What came to hand was one very unattractive male that clearly has had a rough go at it. If he recovers to full chrome sides with a white belly, I will be at awe with Mother Nature. It reminded me of an episode of “The Walking Dead”.

I’ll give it a week to let the crowds dissipate. The rivers are still cold and higher than normal. Hopefully the fish will hang about and rejuvenate for when I hit my favorite runs.