Cleansing

Sometimes it is worth remembering the healing qualities of moving water.

A good friend of mine and I were talking a few weeks ago. I had been bemoaning the fact that I had not been out seriously fishing since November. I was really starting to feel it. I had been pretty stressed about a lot of different things and one of the best releases I have ever found is to get out on the water. My friend Jessy, who is a very interesting guy with an amazing martial arts background, told me about a study that he had read that said that flowing water helped to remove different energies from a person thus helping to alleviate some stresses. I took that as what I have known for a very long time: the current in a river cleanses my soul. 

It has been a long winter. For a variety of reasons I have not had the ability to get out fishing(not the least of which is that we had a fairly cold winter which formed a lot of ice). There have been a lot of things weighing me down. My latest birthday had been looming on the calendar and it seemed like I was going to be spending that day alone which should not have been a big deal but I have to admit that it was not something I was looking forward to.  At least the weather seemed like it was going to be gorgeous. 

Thank you for being hungry.

I woke up yesterday morning to some lovely sunshine. Daylight savings time had just started so I knew that I would be able to get a full day on the water. I headed down to one of my favorite rivers to see about some trout and pike. I was well armed although I must admit that my fly boxes were rather barren. I haven’t been tying as much as I should, but oh well, these things happen. 

I tried drifting an egg/bugger combination but that got no takers. Dead drifting junk this time of year is a very effective means of farming up some fish. The normal spots for that didn’t produce. It was time for a change.

I lengthened the leader some and poked around in my streamer box. I thought to myself “Thank Bob!” and put on a nice flashy chartreuse and white Clouser Minnow. The water was that nice “steelhead green” that is perfect for early season fishing. I started swinging that fly through a nice big pool. I was losing myself in the moment. The sunshine, the water, the birds singing, and the familiar cast, swing, strip repetition were all invigorating my soul again. 

Then I felt the tug. A good solid tug. A fish! My first fish of the year! On my birthday! 

It was a solid fish I could tell. I got the fish on the reel and started the tug of war. I had 2X tippet on there so I knew it wasn’t going anywhere but there is always that moment of what will happen next… It came to the net quickly enough. 18” of wild brown trout.  It was just what I needed. After some pictures it swam slowly away back into the depths of the river. 

I ended up seeing some friends later that day and fished with a couple of them. We didn’t get anyone else to play with us (although I thought Ken was going to have a coronary at one point because of one that rolled his fly). All in all, it was a great day. 

Just what I needed: a cleansing. 

Gotta love the dropped fish self timer shots...