Opening Day

Deep breath. I pull up to the dock and load my sports, two jovial looking guys in their early fifties with heavy Jersey accents. One guy tips the scales over 300 lbs, weight and balance took some forethought and a few extra minutes.  I had to rethink my plan to wade some favorite early season braids.

The wind was blowing a consistent twenty to twenty five, but one guy could actually cast and the fish are just plain easy this time of year we we got into them early and consistently hooked fish all day. The sun was shining, the river clear and these two high school buddies spent the day laughing like kids; tossing private  jokes to one another that are nearly as old as I am across seams hiding trout bigger than my arm. They each hook at least a dozen nice fish throughout the day and land a solid half dozen in the two foot range. The big guy (who is struggling to get thirty feet in the gale) hooks a pig early on and fights it for a good fifteen minutes before losing his balance, tension on the fish and, consequently, the biggest trout of his life. I can honestly say this was the first time I've ever seen an Italian Jersey tough guy of over three bills on the verge of tears.

The little guy, his buddy, after landing an especially gorgeous leopard buck, tenderly released fish and turned to me with a grin the nearly split his face (and certainly split his hyper-masculine facade) and said: "It's almost like a religious experience".

Amen.