Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Spots

Exactly five miles from my house there is a lake.  And a river runs through it.
(Seriously, a river runs through it.)   Somewhere along this lake/river is a place that I go this time of year.  I go after work, soccer practice and swimming lessons are all done.  The dinner dishes are packed into the dishwasher and the girls are bathed, with teeth brushed and their pajamas are on.  Tonight I left the house at 8:30 took the short drive to my spot, climbed out of my rig in my waders and slung my stripping basket over my shoulder with the 6 wt in tow.  All I need is 2 or 3 chartreuse and white deceivers (size 2 or 4) and a spool of 1 or 2x tippet.  The trail to my spot is exactly 5 yards and brush never whips me in the face on the hike in.  Casting is a snap because there is nothing to catch on the backcast.  The footing is firm and the wading easy.  There are no questions about what is hatching or concern about snagging rocks or wood in the dark.
Simple....easy. 
Tonight, I was alone.  No boats, no other anglers.  The moon was coming up bright and the sun was going down brilliantly. 
Casting and stripping the deceiver back...and casting again.  The fly got plucked twice before a white bass of a pound or so fully wrapped it's chops around the hooke and I was able to land it.  A spirited tussle with a neat little fish that I would have considered a trash fish during my earlier highbrow "Trout as God" formative years.  Now, they are a like little freshwater schoolie stripes whose feeding schedule corresponds beautifully with my fishing schedule.
The fly gets slammed again and this time a walleye comes to hand after a head down battle.  If I was a meat hunter this fish was big enough to keep and eat.
Soon another fish plucks and misses.
And then another walleye, a little bigger than the first, inhales the fly.
I continue casting after the second walleye is released but nothing else stirs.
This is the front end of a 4 or 5 week period when this spot is hot so I am not disappointed in the evenings fishing.  It was really just an exploratory mission to see if things have started to heat up in this spot.
It seems that they have. 

I am home by 10:15.






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