I started teaching again a couple weeks back and could do nothing but wonder where my summer went. I looked back on memories with family in Chicago, great float trips, backpacks, and tons of fish. When thinking about the fish I had caught, there was one that stood out amongst the rest.
I took a fellow English Teacher out to Cameron pass mid-summer and it was one of those Tuesdays where the blue skies seemed like they would never stop. Sun beating down, light breeze blowing through, we were eating Munchos and enjoying an adult beverage good enough for the most interesting man in the world. As we sat there, I stared into the water and looked for flashy blue dorsals of the cruising Grayling we were picking off all day.
It was then I noticed a massive shadow moving out of the depths and showing its face. His mouth opened and I was ecstatic to realize he was filling his obese belly. I grabbed my rod out of the nearby bush and could not believe he didn’t spook. I paid out some line and gave the flies a light flip, he still didn’t spook! Instead, the fish turned for the purple Prince Nymph and ate it up without thinking twice. I set the hook and he nearly took me into my backing. I battled him for the next 20 minutes on a four weight rod with consistent jumps, runs, and head-shakes. When I realized my net was in my car, I wanted to cry. Instead, I yelled to a nearby angler (he wasn’t that close at all) and he came running to save the day. I netted the fish and let out a roar resembling that of Conan the Barbarian. The beauty of this Cutthroat took the breath out of me, and as I sat there on this familiar piece of water I realized how much I love life.
