A Modest Beginning

As I write this it's snowing outside, and we're looking at a whole week with high temps in the 30's. We haven't seen snow since January, and we've been having high temps in the 60's, so we're a little disappointed in the turn in the weather. I know it has been much worse in much of the country, and that the northeast is bracing now for a major snow event, so I'm not going to complain.

Instead I'm just going to pause and remember a little fishing trip last week. It was a sunny day and the temperature was pushing 70. The creeks were flowing after two days of rain which made for a fun drive in my new truck.

There was a fresh spring wind blowing, but one of the things I like about the tube is that it can handle the wind.

I was throwing the big white conehead streamer I found at the Brookville tailwater.

I worked the shoreline with a fast strip. I've done that in previous trips, with no success, but this time I suddenly hooked up. It's a spring take: no bump or hit, just the realization, from one strip to the next, that there's resistance on the line. It wasn't a big fish, but I got it up close enough to see that it was a bass before it flipped off and disappeared back into the depths.

Eureka. This was the first evidence I had seen at this lake of the existence of bass, and it's amazing how much my attitude improved. I crossed over and began working the other shoreline with renewed enthusiasm.

I got another hook up. Again no hit, just a sudden realization that the line was veering off to the side. I once again felt that lovely pull, but the fish came off before I could get a glimpse of it.

I watched for more signs of spring. We've had a few turkey vultures around all winter, but I noticed that they were back in force.

I came to the dam and had a third hookup, again short lived. I was beginning to suspect operator error, and resolved to increase my focus.

Then, as I reached the other side of the spillway, I once again found a fish on the end of the line. This one pulled harder, and I concentrated on keeping the line tight, and this time I got it close enough to get my thumb in its mouth: the first fish--and first bass--of 2017.

A modest beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.