My Opening Day

Tomorrow is my Opening Day of the Trout Season. Not according to the DNR, or thousands of other trout fishermen. But for me, it is. Although the season has officially been open for three months now, I haven't had a chance to get out. But tomorrow I will. And I can't wait!

Tonight I find myself acting like I did when I was a kid on the night before the trout season, when I knew my dad and I were going to get up at 4:30 (AM!) so that we could be on the water when the season officially started at 5. I have gone through all my fly boxes to make sure I have the right ones, and not only that, but that they are all lined up the right way. I went through my vest and cleaned out all the old, empty leader bags that I have left in there from years gone by. I tied up some new flies that are sure to be better than the thousands of flies I already have.

The most attention was paid to picking out which rods to bring with. I have a few more now than I did when I was a kid. Back when I first started out, I had just the one spinning rod and reel combo to choose from. Then I graduated to owning a fly rod, and immediately became a stuck-up fly rodding "purist", so I still just had the one rod and reel combo to choose from, even though the spinning rod was still out in the garage, collecting dust. Now I have what I would call a healthy amount of rods to choose from, and an equally healthy amount of reels. Tonight I picked out a few favorites to bring with tomorrow, plus a few back-ups, you know, just in case.

Yup, the amount of stuff I bring with has expanded over the years, but inside I'm still just that 12-year-old kid who won't be able to sleep from the excitement. I hope your Opening Day is just as exciting!

Me, with one of my first trout. I was super excited it wasn't another chub... Squeaky, our cat, liked it too!