Opening Thoughts

One cannot help but get stoked about the opening day of fishing.

The childish banter that grown men display and the planning that could only be compared to a wedding.

And whether your day includes family,friends or annual gathering of buddies whom over the years have drifted apart and for whatever reason are busy being whatever they need to be ,which is the case for myself.

Not so much with my brothers ,but it is the only time we get together with dad and go.

As for Andy and John there is 25 years of history and growing up.

Many things have changed but the one thing that remains the same is the exuberance which is displayed by the group when it comes to this weekend.Sure we have changed the weekend a few times and for a spell it was just me but the band is together and this trip gets more special each year.

This year was no different as my dad and brother Bill were not in attendance,My dad for health and my brother because ,well he is my brother and he is not always on our page.Nothing wrong with it but it would be nice to have him around, But we gladly take him in when he decides to drop in on with his visit.

This opener meant the most probably to me as it not only was the opener but an anniversary in which most would assume forget but will always be part of me.It was during this trip  in 2009 I became very ill and frankly close to not being and was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time and having the right people working with me that brought me back and allowed me to return for another trip,another sunset and some more memories.

For that I am grateful.

Fishing from the comfort of a pontoon boat our main plan was to get on fish that everyone could catch.Easy enough before you take into the fact that this group is a very accomplished group of individually talented anglers and that includes Black.

We took the hard lessons learned from the past and figured the post spawn bite was on so that would mean finicky fish .

We are Jig fisherman and trollers for the most part,we experiment but rely on the mighty jig to pick up our fish.

This bit us in the rear the past two years as we arrived at our lake at a time when the fish are tentative and need time to decide what they will eat and how aggressive they will be.

Backed with an array of rods and tackle we decided to keep it simple and rig slip floats for our day.Using our experience we thought that our efforts would be best rewarded if we stuck to main lake points near bays or areas we knew were spawning areas. We have always had success with these areas so they were not new ,just our presentation .

The first spot produced 5 fish and we learned they were not aggressive and it would take time to catch them.

Upon anchoring up on the next spot we wanted to concentrate on covering the area thoroughly and accomplished this by anchoring up wind of the point which allowed us to spread our floats and let them drift over and past the structure. this produced actions and some of our biggest fish of the day. The bite slowed and we kept with the plan and moved.

We anchored off one of the many flat faced sloping boulders we were not doing much until Johnny started popping fish one after the other leaving US wondering what we were not doing right.

" Hey Johnny!You gonna tell us how you are catching those ?"

"Why?'

"Cuz we would like to catch a few"

He said" Look at the graph"

The graph showed fish suspended 3 feet below the surfaceover 6 feet of water.

Your sh@$! 

The Opener

Music playing in the background,A man sits in a chair under the light of an old lamp tying a simple loop not on the reel spool.
"I need this one spooled with six pound test".
"And the next one eight pound test".
 "I should really throw some extra line in the bag."
"Lets see..eighth ounce jigs,quarter ounce jigs and my Winnie jigs..I'll need all of those."
"Better call Dave he will have some,he always does this time of year"
He turns the volume up as one of his favorite songs plays on the fresh CD he just laid out the night before.Things have come along ways since cassette and eight tracks.His thoughts now focus on food.,Porketta, Buns and yes the garlic sausage that he can only pick up at the Jubilee store across the street from his favorite watering hole.
The bar is a think tank of information, advice, and of course how to do it information that is dispensed at a rapid pace and one must be paying attention to multiple conversation all at once or he may miss the all important. "What are they biting on?"
His thoughts now back on his gear he selects his favorite stick and matches it with his favorite reel. The favorite stick is like a magic wand ,as it has powers that no other rod in his collection has. He can feel things that he cannot feel with his other rods.Its lighter,therefore more sensitive, Matched with his favorite reel he can cast his jig a mile unlike his other rods which are far inferior to what the magic stick can do. Of course the real magic of the rod can only be shared with the closest of friends and is only whispered off to the side in a crowded room.He did not pay what it was worth. "The guy at the big show gave him a deal and well, practically gave it to me.Got me a good deal on the reel to." Life time warranty and made here in the US.
Carefully he threads the line through the eyes of the rod and then carefully selects the jig that will be displayed on his favorite. The other rods will also have jigs but not this jig, this is the jig that caught that big fish the last two years at camp. The paint is chipped but I touched it up with a sharpie, A tip he picked up in his last issue of In Fish, The holy Bible of fishing to this angler.
He will place the rods in order by height up against the work bench table with a towel carefully draped over the side in order to protect the rods from any damage that may lie beneath.He will push the stool back and cross his arms and lean back with a slight grin and admire his work, his creation and put himself on the water popping that first whitetail.
The phone rings in the background and he picks it up while turning down the volume slightly and greets the caller in a friendly tone.
"yep"
"Got it"
"Not a problem"
"See ya in the morning buddy"
He hangs the phone back on the receiver and looks out the window of his garage and is thankful that yet another season is upon him. He is also thankful that he is here to enjoy it.
He looks to the sky and says "thanks,you won't see me in church on Sunday, but I will be thinking of you"
He glances over his shoulder and takes one more look at his rods ,His hand sweeps across the light switch he turns the handle of the door and exits the garage. He smiles and thinks he is a lucky man.

Have a great opening weekend .