Fly fishing while at college is tough. Sometimes skipping a class or two is necessary just to get your fly fishing fix and get out on the stream. Where most normal college students put books, calculators, and pens, my desk is filled with hooks, beads, hackle, dubbing and everything inbewteen (basically a complete mess of fly tying stuff). Getting up early on a weekend after a night of consuming “beverages” isn’t easy either, but you become accustomed to it. So, after a loaded morning of classes my schedule looked wide open. “This was the chance” I said to myself. All I wanted to do was get out on a stream near school and wet some line for a few hours. The stream is small and averages about 12 feet in length, I think? The stream its loaded with gorgeous brookies and skittish browns and I haven’t been since I got back to school. After rigging up my fly rod I walked to a hole that has been good to me in the past. After only about 4 or 5 passes through the run, my indicator “ticked” in a strange way and wouldn’t ya know it, Fish On! On the other end of my line was a 11 inch brook trout with my black wooly bugger in its mouth. As I was netting the fish, I remember letting out a few belly laughs as I was so excited just to land a fish. I continued fishing downstream and landed a few more brookies. It’s days like these that get me so excited about fly fishing. I couldn’t of been happier out on the water that day. Nothing and no one could bother me, no problems could bring me down, and no teachers could dish out essays. I am excited about fly fishing this year and all the places, people, and fish it brings me and I hope everyones year is filled with only the best fly fishing experiences.
Beautfiul looking brook trout, any time of year! Great work, just getting up the motivation to get out there. Sometimes, I find that when the winter doldrums really set in during the dead of winter .. it can almost feel like there will never be an end. It just seems to keep getting coler, icier and grayer. That’s where we are at right now. Mid february, and I almost forget that things will actually change and spring will come and the leaves will turn green and the trout will be feeding on top and the air and water temperatures will warm up. Honestly though, that is what makes winter so great. It gets to the point where ya just can’t seem to take anymore and then it ends. And then, spring and summer are that much more appreciated. Like all things, if it was always one way or another and always basically the same temperature and nice and warm .. it wouldn’t feel so good when things change. And change they wool .. soon enough! .. In the meantime, good work getting out there in the doldrums of winter. It sometimes takes an ability to muster up the energy to actually do it, rather than just think about it. But one thing is for sure, you can’t catch a brookie sitting inside. Nice job.
I like the thought of skipping class to hit the river. Nice looking brookie. It feels good to break out of the mold and do something refreshing. keep hammering them.
What a fish. Its amazing the colors those things have. Reminds me of when I just started flyfishing in small rivers and brooks as a young kid. Beautiful.