A Trip of First's

It started out as an innocent trip to get fellow Up North Journal members out for a new kind of fishing experience. I had planned to take Mike and Mikey on their first ever steelhead fishing trip on one the best steelhead rivers in Michigan. What happened over the course of this weekend will stay with me for the rest of my life.

It was Friday and we were set to meet at my house. Dave shows up first and is a little antsy as it is, but as the time went on as we were waiting for Mike and Mikey he really got fidgety. The Mike's made it finally and we realized we were going to have to take two trucks up to our destination. It wasn't what we wanted as we were all looking forward to the usual jokes and ribbing that always happens when we are together. Oh well off we went.

We arrive at the cabin and unload our gear. The boys check out the cabin and get geared up for our evening on the stream. It was really a great night for fishing. A temp hovering at about 42 degrees and very little wind to speak of. I helped get the boys rigged up and watched the action unfold. There is nothing better than getting to watch people do something that they have never done before. Seeing them concentrate so hard and want to learn all they can is an awesome experience. The fishing was slow.

I grabbed my rod and started to do my thing. I was aggressively fishing this area with spinners and spoons. I like to be different and try different techniques and not be so cookie cutter as I see with a lot of people. (That's a whole other blog, but look for it shortly) I make a cast then then rod snapped down toward the water. Tight line and bent rod with a silver torpedo on the end. Man it doesn't get much better than this. I played this one for a bit and walked up the stream toward it. I knew there is a boulder in the vicinity where it was and wanted to keep it away as much as possible. Then just like clock work snap! All done, but man was it a rush.


We fished into darkness and then decided to call it quits so we could go laugh back at the cabin. Man did we. I do not think that I laughed so much in my life, ever. We carried on until the wee hours of the morning. When I finally awoke my chest hurt from laughing so much. It kinda felt like you do when you are in a smoke filled bar and wake up the following morning. For those of you who do not do this, let's just say it hurts.

We packed our gear up and leave to hit the stream. We fished until dark and called it a great experience we were able to share together. No fish landed but a great time was had by all. A very enjoyable trip to say the least. I was glad that I was able to get Mike and Mikey out for their first time and pass on some tips and pointers to make them successful in the future. It doesn't matter how many fish you catch or take home, it matters how great the memories you make while doing it.

Let's say I have a lot of great memories from this trip. Then came the ride home and a first for me....

So until next time, be safe, appreciate what you have and get into the great outdoors.