The Angler's Culvert: I know how this is going to end

Saturday, May 11, 2013

I know how this is going to end

A few days ago, I installed three ceiling fans in my home, and two of them worked. Well, it really doesn't get better than that and only a damn fool would squander good mojo, so I went fishing. The white bass are in and it's probably been almost 30 years since I last fished for them. They are as they should be, which is to say that as the first fish to really "turn on" in the spring, they can be absurdly easy pickings. I think were they to be this easy to catch and also come along later in the season, we'd ignore them. But this sort of fishing is what one needs after a particularly long and painful winter. The problem is, after you've caught 37 without moving your feet, you start to say to yourself "I know how this is going to end." So you start to play games: I'll see if there are any in the really fast water. Are they in the shallow water? Will they take a fly stripped really quickly? Dead-drifted? Swung? It becomes clear the answer is always going to be "Yes"; spring has arrived.