A Fish For The Ages...

My dad and I shared a special hobby... Fly Fishing... This season for trout (2005) has essentially come and gone (It is now 7/21). This was the first trout season since my dad is no longer with us in his mortal body. He passed on April 4th of 2005.

My dad and I spent a lot of time fishing together after I became an adult. Fishing for us was more of a reason to get together and spend some time together than about catching (and sometimes not catching) some nice trout. This past season was difficult at best... So I went anyway.

One of the hottest weekends of the summer it was... In the 90's everyday... I made the trek northward to the old familiar waters of the manistee river where I had spent many nights (and days) in search of the one that always seem to get away... On the way up it was very hot... Very HOT... My old 1995 S Series truck did not have air conditioning... By the time I got to where was going I was drenched in sweat and a bit dehydrated...

On my was back to the CCC campground I envisioned being secluded for the week... Just me, my fly rod, a campfire and some cold, adult beverages... When I got to the campground it was teaming with people... There was a mix of fly fishermen, worm dunkers and rednecks... There was not a campsite to be found... What was a guy to do, 400 miles from home with no place to stay for 4 days... I found a place away from the river a few miles and pulled off of the road and camped there... Lucky for me someone had already made a makeshift fire pit... Good thing for me because the nights got down to a chilly 85 degrees...

The first night of fishing, I met up with a good friend of mine from home... His brother was also there... We didn't catch anything of size that first night... Not many bugs to speak of... When I speak of bugs I am talking about the Giant Michigan May Fly... The hexagenia limbata... Or in Fly Fishing speak... "THE HEX"... The hex hatch is essentially the super bowl of fly fishing... The night before I arrived the hatch was legendary according to some of the guys I talked with...

"It was like a quilt of giant insects floating down the river..." Said one of the guys...

I was thinking to myself, having been in that situation before... We are not going to catch anything tonight... And we did not...

After having a couple of those adult beverages, I headed back to my camper... It was about 2:00 am... When I woke up the following morning... Rather early afternoon, I promptly had some OJ and headed back over to Jon and Eric's... When I got there they were just rolling out of their racks as well... After our morning coffee, we made a large breakfast and got our gear together and headed out for a long day of fishing...

As we floated down in our individual trout water crafts (float tubes) fishing away, I had to stop fishing for a while and just admire the beauty that God had placed before me... Not long after I had that thought, a yearling deer walked out into the river about 25 yards in front of me... I was not fishing at that point... and my partners were quite a bit behind me... I managed to stop without startlingly the deer... It stopped for a quick, cold drink and then crossed the rest of the river and meandered into the thick cypress trees... What a sight... A small grin came across my face and I continued down the river...

After a few hours of fishing, I decided to pull my tube to the side of the river and wait for the other two... It was well past afternoon but still hours to go before the main event... The hex hatch doesn't happen at least until dark, sometimes much later... I pulled out some rations (beef jerky and sunflower seeds) and ate them while I waited... Much to my surprise I stopped about 100 yards from where we were to fish for the night, for the hatch...

When Jon got there, we talked for a bit and then sat in silence... We talked some more and then sat some more... We were just waiting for something to happen... A small hatch of Cahill's came off just before dark and some small fish were feeding... We had already tied on our hex's for the night fishing so we really didn't even bother...

About midnight, pitch dark, no moon light to speak of, we started hearing some larger fish start to feed... If you have never been fly fishing, a small fish makes a nice splash when it comes up to feed... A medium fish makes a really big splash... and a really big fish doesn't make much of splash at all... it slurps the bug off of the top of the water... a special sound to a fisherman...

I heard a slurp so I decided to go investigate with rod in hand... I made a couple of casts to it and it made a couple of strong (big splashes) refusals... Usually when that happens you can count on not catching that fish or at least coming back to it after you wait a while... I was persistent... So, I made a couple more casts... Then I hooked it... My rod immediately bent way over... It was on and I could tell it was a nice fish... I yelled to my partners, " I got a nice one here..." The were not impressed... I still couldn't see the fish for a few minutes... When I the fish was finally at my feet I looked down and the elation I felt soon left me... It was a nice sized brown trout, 15 inches or so, but nothing to write about... The reason it felt so big was because on his approach, he refused again, just a bit to late... He hooked himself in the underbelly... So, when he was coming in, he was fighting fine, but he was also coming in sideways... It was like pulling a canoe in sideways... A nice fishm but a bit disappointing... At that point Eric came floating by...

I untangled my line and waited for another fish to start feeding... about 20 minutes later (now about 1:30 am) I heard it... An unmistakable large fish slurp... I was a bit upstream from me... In some unfamiliar water... It is a bit unnerving to wade in chest high water walking up stream when all you can see is silhouettes... I eventually got into what I deemed a safe place to fish and I made my first offering... The fish took it... Again my rod bent like it never has... And the reel shreeked... It was taking line like a ski boat pulls the tow line... At first I thought to myself, this is probably another foul hook... I would hate to be disappointed again... When I finally got this one in, I was not disappointed at all... One of the largest trout I have ever caught... Maybe the largest... I am normally a catch and release guy... I love fly fishing so much, I want there to be enough fish for my son to enjoy catching as well... But this one I had to keep... I had to take it back for some pictures (pictures to come on the site)... Well, it was going to be dinner for the three of us as well...

I was done fishing for the night... What a surreal experience... Floating down the river with a beautiful brown trout in one hand a semi-cold beer in the other... A moment I will not soon forget... I couldn't help to think of dad on that 45 minute float back to where we were to get out of the river for the night... How much he would have enjoyed watching me catch that fish... Dad was the best fisherman I knew... He would always make the right cast and with the right bug... But, more than anything, he loved to watch his kids succeed in what they did... Whether it be fishing, hunting or work or family... He loved to live...

He also loved to eat... That night for dinner we had bbq trout, lamb chops and beans... We had a nice salad of greens and fresh veggies as well as a nice bottle of wine... Dad would have loved it...!