HOW CAN IT BE MID-SEPTEMBER and I haven't even thrown a line in the water? This thought entered my mind as I read Hemingway’s story about his rather bazaar characters fishing a mountain stream in the Basque Region of Spain portrayed with such clarity in his epic novel, The Sun Also Rises. It must have been easier to catch fish in the early 20th Century is all I can say. Perhaps, it is all fiction, but it sure makes good reading as he describes catching these speckled gems.
Earlier this month my oldest son sent photos of a beautiful brook trout he caught using a fly rod during his three-day hiatus with his young family in the Colorado Rockies. They were spending time at a dude ranch and took in the activities and sights, surely making for new family memories. The photo brought back thoughts of the two of us fishing the Platte River just off M-22 in Benzie County in late September a few years ago. The salmon were running as they say, running past my bait is what I’d say.
Remember, I’m a humorist.
Catch and release was Rob’s message when he sent his photo, I guess he is from a higher order, for I had butter and onions in my thoughts already prepping in a fry pan.
My lack of success in catching fish is softened by reading the sign that welcomes visitors to the DNR fishery at the Platte River Hatchery on U.S. 31.
Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. Henry David Thoreau
My interpretation is that someone else was also a lousy fisherman.