yesterday, i took a trip down the road to hit up some of the best trout river fishing in the area (or so i’m told). it may be the fact that i have no clue what i’m doing when it comes to river/stream fishing, it could be fact that the bait i was using was too big, it could be the fact that i had the dog with and she was splashing all around in the water or it could be a combination of all those reasons… but i found myself standing in the middle of the Kinnickinnic River yesterday in sandals with numb feet wondering “What am I doing?”…
and the best part is i will be back – probably without the dog, next time. i do not know anything about trout fishing, what type of water they reside in, how to fish them, etc. i just knew where to go. i did learn that your chances of catching something GREATLY increase when you’ve got a line in the water (okay, i didn’t learn that yesterday, but it did occur to me). having said all that, i did catch a small brown trout yesterday, although i think it was just the sun shining if you catch my drift.
i also learned that Cocoa, my chocolate lab, is a great upland bird hunting dog, but not so great a fishing dog. after splashing around in the river (probably scaring the fish for miles), chasing after the bait i threw in the river, standing on the line as my bait was drifting down the river and after countless times of yelling “that worm with the hook in it is not for you to eat”… it occurred to me, maybe next time i’ll leave the puppy at home.
i’ve lived 6000 ft away (as the crow flies) from a class 1 trout stream for 3 years and i took the first trip to the banks yesterday… needless to say, i will be asking more questions of a coworker who knows a thing or two about trout fishing (he’s a fly-fishing guide and fly-fishes quite a bit) – and i’ll probably have to invest in some waders or at least something to keep the feet warmer than they were yesterday (although that did bring me back to my days in college and sitting in the cold whirlpool).
fishing… ain’t it grand?