The season was nearing closer, and the count down was at 1 week. I had had the itch to wet a line for months now, and I really just wanted too see how my favorite river was doing. That night I called up my friend and we made plans to explore a stretch of river he had never been to before. I was as excited as a 5 year old at Christmas. Even though I tend to fish this water quite a bit during the summer, I had never fished it when it was cold out, nor had I ever taken Austin there. The next day we met at a favorite tackle shop of mine close by, and my very gracious father drove us to the river. When we arrived, we were suprised to see that the rode was plowed in, and that it was going to be a hike. Great! I actually was glad that we had to do a little walking in as it was the most beautiful day of the year. We packed up our gear, slipped into our waders, and thanked my dad for the ride. As we started our voyage down the snowed in road Austin and I began to talk about the river, and the suspense began to grow. Finally we came in sight of the dam and I remember Austin saying, “Wow, thats BIG”. Minuted later we were rigged up and I was finally wetting that line that had been neglected of water for too long. The temperature was warming up and I started to notice some little midges in the air. Thats when Austin came over to me, “Hey, we got bugs!” I switched flys and after some time, we decided it was best to move further downstream. It was so nice just to not catch fish for once, I must be crazy your thinking, but it was. Usually when we fish together we are constantly catching fish or too caught up in the moment to talk. Now with all this fishless time we talked and walked. After running into another flyfisherman we sat down and I began to tie on a new rig. As I was sittine I looked over and notice about a dozen or so black stones crawling on and around me. I was so excited to see these amazing creatures that I signaled over to Austin and showed him. We probably spent the next 20 minutes or so just watching and catching these amazing insects, then it was back to try and hook up. With no luck again we moved down stream to a very beautiful streatch of somewhat shallow water. The sun was beating down and we just stopped on the bank to talk for a little while about some fishing spots that we can’t wait to fish this year as well as some of my stories that took place right there. After making our final wade out into the river we stood on too rocks and began to just cast. We laughed about him hooking himself, and remembered the time he hooked me. We saw who could cast farther, but it began more of a who could make more of a fool of them selves contest, only something true friends could enjoy. Soon after we recieved a call and decided to make our way back to the rode for pick up. We again were able to just TALK together and really reflect on the day. Even though that was the first time I have ever been skunked at that river, it was probably my favorite trip there. I know that Austin will be back there agian with me this summer, catching fish, but nothing will compare to the time we spent together that day.