March 7, 2017

Reflecting on another year passing

Last Thursday was my birthday. And I have been reflecting on another year passing. Allow me to share some thoughts. First of all as I age, I enjoy spinner falls more than ever. Sulphers on a warm May evening are the best. Big bugs still excite me, but landing a large fish after dark is just not as important as casting to a rising trout as the sun drops below the horizon. Fishing poppers for bluegills and bass is another opportunity for angling pleasure. Strolling around a farm pond or casting from a canoe is simply fun. I find myself thinking of rubber spiders, bass bugs, lily pads, and bombastic surface takes. Brook trout also seem to garner more of my attention, both here in Michigan and on the streams of my boyhood in Pennsylvania. What draws me is not only their beauty, but that my angling mentor’s adored them. Fishing a back country run in PA, I can hear the lessons of my father, grandfather and great uncles, teaching of conservation, respect, and angling. Wading upstream casting an ant or an attractor dry, again is another simple pleasure. Maybe that will be the theme of my fishing this year, simple pleasure. To enjoy the water, the fish, the times casting a rod. And if I am lucky, the rod will bend and my knots hold.