I
have a few outings and adventures that are building up, and that I’d like to
write into this blog, but those will come out over the next few weeks and months;
stories worth telling when the time is right. Today I went fishing in a small creek north of
here that I hadn’t been to all summer.
It’s a story I decided to tell now, so I don’t have to try to keep the
details stored in my brain. I follow a
few other bloggers who also like to fish for trout, and they keep it pretty
much short and sweet. I’ll do the same
today. I’ll keep it simple.
I’m
a week and a half into the school year now, and on the brink of attending cross
country meets on Saturday mornings. I love the district I teach for, the staff
I work with, the team I am a part of, and already enjoy the students I have
this year, but with the pressures that come with newness, mandates, and
expectations, I needed a way to gain perspective and have a healthy way to work
out my thoughts.
It
rained hard last night, but luckily I got the hayfield (err, lawn) mowed
beforehand. I was a little leery to get
up prior to the crack of dawn, because I didn’t know if the creek I wanted to
head to would be full to overflowing or not.
I had already thrown my gear into the back of the Jeep just in
case. I got up, took care of the dogs,
had breakfast, and debated whether I should go or not before finally taking the
steps to leave. I needed to get to that
creek whether it was full of water or not!
When
I arrived, I had to thrash through the edge of a tall prairie for a half mile, and
cross over a backwater drainage ditch to get to the creek I wanted to fish.
I took a few videos to document my progress. The mosquitoes were absolutely thick, bloodthirsty,
and relentless.
I could pretty much guarantee
that I’d be the only one out there. It
was going to be great whether I caught a trout or not.
I
got in the water around 10:30, and although it was a bit high from the rain, I
didn’t have to worry about any holes in the bends of that creek that are over
my head. So I fished on. Over the course of the next 3 hours I caught
twelve brook trout, and one small brown.
The colors of the brook trout that I held in my hands were simply
beautiful, and vibrant; there’s no other way to describe them.
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| An Awesome Little Fish-Caught & Released |
I brought three or four other brookies up to
me, but couldn’t bring them up to my hand before they flipped off my spinner. I also saw two fairly large trout follow my
lure up to my feet before darting back under a nearby bank. Of the fish I caught, I released all but
three of them; each of them about ten inches.
The action I had was enough to keep me going until it was time to turn
around and hike my way out. I don’t always
keep the fish I catch, and I often release those I do, but these I would fix
for dinner tonight.
Although it was
overcast, sometimes misty, and even foggy as the warm, muggy air settled over
the cold, spring fed creek, it was a perfect setting to fish in. It was a simple outing for what I needed
today; the first weekend after my first full week of school.
I
came home, took care of some “chores” and then set to preparing a home spun
dinner. After my cousins and I had texted
back and forth a bit about our day’s outings and such, I called my cousin Brad
to get the specifics on how he had smoked a trout we had had earlier this
summer. I picked some zucchini, summer
squash, and tomatoes from our garden, and cut them up to cook in a dab of olive
oil.
It
was, of course, a delicious and perfect meal to share with my wife and daughter;
and after talking on the phone (old school?) to my son who is at college; we
took a ride in the country. It was a
simple day. It was a good day.
See
you along The Way…
Just what you needed! Sounds perfect!
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