(After a long weekend in the company of Adam Tsaloff and James Deloria, I can attest that James is very much a talker and story teller. His accounts of the "Old Days" even seemed a bit far fetched at times but these photos and narrative provided by Adam may have me rethinking all of it. Maybe James was spot on all along.)
I have a fishing friend James who is rarely at a loss for words. We have spent countless hours driving around Northern Michigan in pursuit of its many wonderful fishing opportunities. I have listened to James many times talk wistfully about the great fishing he used to have on one of our local Trout streams in the dead of winter. Frankly, the stories sounded like they had grown a bit over time like all good fish tails do.
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This year however, was the magic year, the year that the DNR re-opened our local stream for winter catch and release fishing, after a 30 year hiatus. When James excitedly asked me to go the first time, in early December ,I declined. “It sounds cold” was my response, which by the way is my standard response to any camping or extended outdoor activity from late October through early May. James went alone a few times and the pictures he brought back looked like the greatest hits from Hex week. So, what could I do but put on every warm piece of outdoor clothes I had and take the plunge. He said that the fly that worked best was a Finnish hard bodied streamer. He was right. It is amazing how warm you can become when you see a huge dark torpedo bust out of a log jam and head for your offering.
We have spent the winter re-living James spectacular frosty fishing of years gone by. I am now a believer; oh yes a true believer in his accounts of past piscatorial pursuits.
I have a fishing friend James who is rarely at a loss for words. We have spent countless hours driving around Northern Michigan in pursuit of its many wonderful fishing opportunities. I have listened to James many times talk wistfully about the great fishing he used to have on one of our local Trout streams in the dead of winter. Frankly, the stories sounded like they had grown a bit over time like all good fish tails do.
This year however, was the magic year, the year that the DNR re-opened our local stream for winter catch and release fishing, after a 30 year hiatus. When James excitedly asked me to go the first time, in early December ,I declined. “It sounds cold” was my response, which by the way is my standard response to any camping or extended outdoor activity from late October through early May. James went alone a few times and the pictures he brought back looked like the greatest hits from Hex week. So, what could I do but put on every warm piece of outdoor clothes I had and take the plunge. He said that the fly that worked best was a Finnish hard bodied streamer. He was right. It is amazing how warm you can become when you see a huge dark torpedo bust out of a log jam and head for your offering.
We have spent the winter re-living James spectacular frosty fishing of years gone by. I am now a believer; oh yes a true believer in his accounts of past piscatorial pursuits.
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