A Fishing Tale...

We fisher folk plan, scheme and build tantalizing visions of hard takes, slashing runs, monster fish. But the fishing muses often have different plans for us. This was one of those days. We arrived at Anton Lake near Minnedosa around 10:30 and meandered down to the water for a tactical inspection. Swirls on the calm waters betrayed vigorous takes just beneath the surface and waterboatmen were in evidence everywhere. No insect shucks were visible on the water; just a profusion of goose feathers littered the surface. My wife set up her spinning rod with a slip bobber while I tied a small waterboatman to my 5 wt floating line. And just in case, I set up my 6 wt with a brown leech, you know...the kind that brown trout can’t resist once the fall colours appear. I slipped into my float tube while Bobbie slipped into her lawn chair and the serious job of tracking down some nice trout began.

Fast forward to 5:00. Despite trying every fly and retrieve my weary mind came up with I could only account for ½ dozen strikes with no hook-ups. Bobbie’s slip bobber had remained motionless, a perfect subject for a still life painting. She had also tried several things; several baits and different depths and locations. The perfect day had somehow become less perfect but after a brief discussion we decided to stay for one hour longer. Bobbie took a break to refresh herself at the rest stop and I clambered out of my float tube and waders to stretch my legs. Thirty seconds after she disappeared down the trail, her bobber vanished and by the time she returned I had netted a nice hen rainbow. After releasing the fish, I returned to the water in my float tube, amid a fall of flying ants but none were being taken by the trout. They were still interested in something just beneath the surface which I still assumed to be waterboatmen. In the next hour Bobbie saw her bobber go down once but missed the fish and I had a solid take that I missed.
  

Despite all our planning, scheming and positive affirmations the fish had just not co-operated as we had hoped. Then again, a day on the water, with perfect conditions in the company of your best friend is a combination pretty hard to beat. And in the end, Bobbie had posed with the rainbow before it was released, despite her assertions the fish was mine. But it couldn’t have been mine...I don’t fish with bait anymore.