First Trout of 2015

A couple weekends ago I went camping with my daughter up around Mount Shasta (my old stomping grounds). I was glad to see the whole place wasn’t totally dry and on fire. So, victory right off the bat.

The girl, breaking in her new rod.

The girl, breaking in her new rod.

We headed up to a little creek near the campground we were staying at and managed to catch some trout. There was a time I tended to catch my first trout of the year in January, but not this year. This year my first fish came at the end of July.

Not a trout, but cool anyway.

Not a trout, but cool anyway.

July… like, the end of July.

Part of me was just happy I still knew how (not really, I kind of pillage up there).

It has just been that kind of year. I’ve spent more days fishing in the salt than on my home waters. Two kids, a busy job, a busy wife… the fishing suffers a bit, but that doesn’t mean I’m suffering. I like my life… I love my life, and I have to think there might be some heavier fishing years down the road. Maybe I won’t hit 200 like that one season I guided, but, ya know, more.

I love camping with my kid. My first marriage did not involve camping and when that ended one of the first things I did was grab the girl and go camping. Now we make a point of doing it a couple of times every year and we both look forward to it all year.

My girl got a fly rod for her Birthday back in January and this was her first chance to use it. She got a starter kit from Redington, an 8′ 4 wt and it was just about perfect. She also got a pair of Redington kid sticky rubber wading boots. I think they’ll only get wet a couple more times before she grows out of them, but they worked really well.

Because bacon.

Because bacon.

This year I did screw up a bit and, in a fit of laziness (can you have a fit of laziness? That feels too active for laziness.) I left our little cooler out. I was awaken at midnight by the loud sniffing and snuffling sounds of an above average sized black bear. Said black bear made short work of the cooler and hung out a little longer than I would have ideally preferred.

Since the black bear at our breakfast, we went to the (original) Black Bear Diner and ate their breakfast.

It worked out.

This weekend I head camping for our second weekend. Looking forward to it, and I plan on hanging the bacon from a tree.

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1 comment

  1. This is parenting! Good job Bjorn

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