In the beginning part of the month of May, I found myself back
in the town I grew up in – Clinton, NY. I was there to celebrate my Dad’s retirement from Hamilton College
with my brother and sister. We had plans to meet my mom and visit some old
family friends in the afternoon before we all had dinner at a great restaurant
in Waterville, NY. The following morning we would all plan on attending my Dad’s
last lecture before eating lunch and then making our way back home.
Well….plans change, and due to a minor biking accident my
Dad had earlier in the week up in Inlet, NY, his last lecture was cancelled – Don’t
worry he’s fine. That left me with a
little spare time before I had to meet up with one of my old friends Jordan
Ross of J.P. Ross Fly Rods. I guess it was a good thing I brought a few fly
rods with me just in case something like this happened.
Fishing was good. Not great. The water had receded from the
previous day’s high and stained conditions and looked to be near perfect. But
even with a nice warm day, there were only a few #14 tan caddis popping off, so
my plan was to toss big streamers and strip them back fast. But it wasn’t until
I was at least forty five minutes into it that I hooked up with my first fish.
It was a good fish for that stream, at least from what I could remember, and it
took a bit longer than I had planned to land the fish. But the four weight fly
rod and tippet held up just fine and I soon had a chunky eighteen inch brown
trout in hand. A few photos later and she swam back just fine. My only other
fish of the day came just a few casts later as a small stocked fish of about
nine inches did it’s best to swallow the big streamer.
I spent the remainder of my time walking downstream looking
for one more. But all I found was a big old goose trying to protect her nest
from a six foot two inch moron who just happened to stray a little too close
for comfort while scanning the water for fish.
Congratulations Dad - This fish is for you!!!
