Tangled Lines

The situation: The angler approaches the little blue line cautiously. The angler, disregarding the stiff joints and aching back, creeps up behind the boulder and peers at the plunge pool. The angler ties on a dry fly, and ever so carefully drops it right where the spooky wild brook trout is probably hiding. 

The problem: It keeps raining.

The other problem: The nights are still chilly.

I cleaned out the Fish Closet the other day. 

This is no simple matter. The Fish Closet sits beneath a staircase, so the ceiling is sloped. The shelving is at the rear, which means it’s best to put things back there that won’t be needed any time soon. If ever.

There was one very good thing that happened in 2020: It was the year I finally got the hang of fishing with specks.

I define “specks” as flies size 20 and smaller.

Itty bitty bugs are present on all trout waters, usually year-round. Trout eat them, and anglers using the right imitations catch the trout.

Except me.

There was one very good thing that happened in 2020: It was the year I finally got the hang of fishing with specks.

I define “specks” as flies size 20 and smaller.

Itty bitty bugs are present on all trout waters, usually year-round. Trout eat them, and anglers using the right imitations catch the trout.

Except me.

As the cooler weather arrives the idea of standing around in water becomes less and less attractive. Sensible anglers call it a season. They put their gear in the closet, and leave it there until April.

It is a sad but undeniable truth that many if not most of our trout streams in the Northeastern U.S. require stocking of trout. 

That means trucks from state hatcheries occasionally appear and put large numbers of hatchery-raised trout in the rivers.

A few years back I received a strange birthday present from a friend. It was some kind of fishing rod that collapsed. I took the cap off the butt and the sections started sliding out. I pushed them back in, screwed the cap back on, and stuck it in the fish closet.