May

The remaining hours of April are trickling away into the past, and though tomorrow opens a new chapter of the season, it will look much the same. The chilly, damp and dreary days will stay with us through the weekend.

I like the rain, and I hope that it stays throughout the season. Yes, if I was put in charge of the scheduling, I would allow us to bask in sunlight through the days, while a nighttime shower freshens the mountain springs, streams and rivers at frequent intervals. Nature presents her full palette though, for all dwellers in her realm thrive on her variety of conditions.

I have spent a few hours on my rivers through the past two weeks, and I rejoice at the opportunity. I have chosen for the most part when the sun has provided some warmth for body and water, for I am a hopeless dry fly fisherman. I have read hundreds of tales of great hatches and huge rises of trout under the dampest, darkest days. Folk tales can be like that, though there can be a hint of the truth about them.

I remember taking that photo, I had the time to spare, for there was nary the sight of a trout rising to partake any of that hour! Water temperatures were just right, the flies stayed on the surface under those dark skies, but the other side of Nature’s miracle demurred. I watched carefully, used my best mojo to conjure a rise, but for naught. C’est la vie!

I have wandered throughout these rivers on blizzard hatch days searching in vain for a single rise, thanks to a handful of degrees of warmth. One great river in its prime figured in many such days, its water dropped to just below that magic trigger of fifty degrees and seemingly denied harboring any trout at all! Once our rivers warm to remain in the mid-fifties, a showery day may bring a magical interlude of fishing, but things become difficult to predict trout activity when the forties return.

It is part of the challenge, plying patience and experience; and waiting. Improving every day, I hope to soon haunt my rivers with my usual vigor. There are many gifts on bright waters, not all of them with fins…