I’ve been meaning to write about my ongoing fishing expeditions, but haven’t quite mustered the time and energy. I actually had a new project start up which has diverted my energies, but there appears to be a little bit of a hiatus while my client does some shuffling around of… well… me, I suppose.

I’ve actually managed to go out 3 more times since my last post. The cool thing about getting back into this sport is that I’m not as focused on actually catching fish as I was when I was younger. This allows me to appreciate what’s going on around me a little more. I’ve seen otter, deer, and what I suspect was a grey fox (but was too far away to tell for sure – it could just as easily have been a coyote or a large stray cat for that matter.) I even saw a cute little marmot sunning himself on the rocks along one of the golf courses here… go figure.

And, of course, the weather continues to make it’s presence felt. I’ve managed to get snowed on 3 of the 4 times I’ve gone out, which makes for slightly chilly hands but is otherwise not too much of a nuisance.

The big news, I suppose, is that I’ve actually started to catch some fish. As you may have noticed from the tenor of these posts, this is definitely not a high priority for me. But the fact that after my 3rd outing I hadn’t so much as seen a hint of a fish… well it hadn’tt entirely escaped my notice. But as they say, “when it rains it pours.” Actually, I guess it’s “when it snows” around here. Last evening, with a couple hours to kill until dinnertime, I decided to try my luck again at a spot nearby (within walking distance, if you believe that!). The skies were grey, the sun was hidden behind clouds, but it actually felt like the fish might be up to something… which it turns out they were.

With Roni in tow, I scrambled down a ravine to the lower of a series of pools that I’d found last time. Within minutes of my first cast on the water, I noticed a fish jump slightly upstream from me. I worked my way up to the spot and cast in the same general vacinity. Sure enough, the fly disappeared in a little swirl of water as the the fish hit it. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to set the hook, but it was progress on an enormous scale: I’d actually seen a real live fish and, more importantly, he was gullible! Unfortunately, a few more casts made it evident that I’d scared him off.

Regardless, I was definitely excited. I moved on to the next pool upstream, and sure enough, it only took a couple of casts for another fish to hit the fly. This time I was ready though, and managed to properly set the hook! I had a glorious few seconds of battling this monster, enjoying my visions of a trout dinner big enough to feed a table of 8… and then I got a good look at him. Unfortunately I don’t think a fish that is 9″ tip-to-tail will divide up that well when the guests arrive. Fish around here have to be at least 10″ before you can keep them anyway, so I unhooked him and released him, terrified I’m sure, back into the water.

To make a long story short, I went on to catch two more of these little pipsqueaks, and get a couple more strikes, before the snow started falling in earnest and I needed to head home. Oh, and I went back to that first hole and did manage to catch the fish that first struck at my fly.

Thus, the die has been cast, I’m officially a fisherman again.