The Season's Last Trout Trip?

Well the Michigan trout season will soon come to an end. It has gone by so fast, that it seems like the opener was just yesterday. Man how time flies.

I called up Art to see if he wanted to give one of our favorite streams a try and he was more than willing. We decided to leave town at 5:30 and make the trek to our stream. He met me at the house we loaded his gear and off we went.

We hit the stream at around 7:00 and decided that we were going to go fish an 8 mile stretch by water. The smoke hovered over the stream like the smoke hovering in a bar. The temperature was a balmy 49 degrees. The sunrise was bright and started to bring some warmth our way.

Art had his game on and quickly landed to respectable trout in the nine to eleven inch range. I was happy for him. Even though I was frustrated beyond belief as to what color spinner was going to be the ticket. You see it had rained the night before and the river was up and had a nice stain to it. I like to go away from the normal way of thinking and decided to use a silver blade with lime green body Panther Martin. Normal logic told me I should use a dark color instead of bright color because it is easier for fish to see a dark color than bright in stained water.

Well I was right on with the color and I started to catch a couple fish. The second being a nice one over 13 inches. It felt good to finally get on the board but it really felt good to get a trout that size. Still when it came to numbers Art was out fishing me.

At around eleven I tossed my line under a cedar tree and SMACK! There was a loud splash and my rod bent as the brown headed for every stump he could find. I sounded like a fisherman with an unlimited amount of cash at the local tackle store. I worked the fish out of the cover and into the center of the stream. He jumped and the colors were unbelievable, picture perfect. Art netted the pig and we gave the celebratory high fives and admired the catch. Then came a problem. The waterproof camera isn't so waterproof and the screen wouldn't come on. No problem look through the old school lens. Sorry. Batteries are dead. So unfortunately no pics of this beauty.

All in all a great day. We waded a little over eight miles of stream and then made the walk back to the truck by walking the road. We reflected on what a great season we have had and relived the memories. Today Art out fished me in numbers but he said I out fished him in quality. In reality I wouldn't have cared if I caught a fish. Just spending time on the stream in peace and quiet with a great friend is good enough for me. Catching fish was a bonus.

We made it back to the truck and realized we do have a few days left. So maybe one more time out. If not it was a great end to season filled with great times.

So until my next blog, be safe, appreciate what you have and get in the outdoors.