Aligned

Night fishing became one of the most viable fishing options since I became a father 7 years ago.
Especially in June.  The kids roll off to bed at 8:30, I throw my gear in the car and normally have a short window of time to get my bearings before the sun rounds the bend and I find myself shin-to-knee deep in water, casting into sweltering blackness.  Normally the mosquitoes become the fish criers and their massive distant hum announces what is usually the days finest minutes of angling and also serves as a warning to cover up or at least brace myself for the stings.  Tonight's outing started at 8:45, gear in car, rumbling down the county road toward my local lake.  What was different about tonight was everything else...the moon rose almost full and early.  The mosquitoes never came.   The air was a cool 60 degrees.  The fish, unaware that the conditions above were postcard perfect forgot to close their mouths and sulk.  And so, they ate my chartreuse and white Deceiver all night.  Smallmouth bass, white bass, and walleyes...mostly walleyes.  And they got bigger as it got later.   They grabbed at the end of long bomb casts across the small bay I was covering.  A double haul followed by line peeling cleanly out of my stripping basket.  Attacking within the first 10 strips, leaving me to fight them back from 70 or 80 feet.  Rod high, pulling gained ground down into my basket.    My feet moved very little tonight, covering less than 50 (wet) steps from my arrival until I reeled in and fumbled for my keys.  An extraordinary night...cool, calm, bright, bugless and fishful.   On my drive home my right forearm was tight from casting and fighting fish.  Though the moon was too bright to see the stars, they must have been aligned.