A Day on the River

A tank of gas-30 dollars.
A fishing license-26 dollars.
A soda and a bag of popcorn-2 dollars and 18 cents.
The chance to not catch anything? Priceless.

For the first time in...well...forever, I have a fishing license. I had 2 choices, a yearly pass for 26 bucks, or a 3 day pass for 30 bucks. "Duhhhh...which one do I take?"

Myself and 2 guys from my church went up to Oscoda, Michigan to fish on the Au Sable River. We were in search of steelhead trout. They leave the great lake (Erie), and come upstream in the river to spawn (lay their eggs.) You cast out into the river, and hope they fall for the colorful fishing flies.

That's how it's supposed to work. We were there for 7 hours, and perhaps saw 10-11 fish reeled in. It took me about 10 casts to determine that this isn't really my thing. Plus, with 12-14 guys lining the shore waiting to cast, it really isn't a place to be inexperienced. So, I devoted my time to taking pictures, and just watching.

Unfortunately, none of these fish are ours, but my two guys were ready to assist with nets. That's Ed on the left (he also made all of the flies), and my hiking buddy Doug on the right.

After one day on the river, I already have mixed feelings about the whole fishing thing. While I love a good plate of fish and chips, I guess I was glad that I didn't catch anything, because...because...I felt sorry for the fish.

26 dollars down the tube? We'll see. I did find out one thing. The vision I had of being like Brad Pitt casting in A River Runs Through It...never materialized. HA!