alexkain

There I was.  Mid-fishing trip.  Planned months in advance.  Monsoon rain was kicking my ass, ruining the fishing, and forcing me and my son to sleep in the car as our campsite was in the middle of a flash flood.  Several great friends and anglers had made the trip, as well.  Some drove for a hell of a long time to get there.  We’d get up each morning.  Stretch.  Scratch our asses.  Smile and joke around.  Cook breakfast, drink coffee.  Smoke the first cigarettes of the day.  Put the beating from the day before behind us.

Today is a new day.

We hiked and hiked.  Up, up, up, upstream in search of clear water and hungry, wild, native brook trout.  They didn’t have to be big.  Just pretty.   And each day, just when we thought the storm system had passed, shit got thrown back up into the fan.

I felt terrible.  After all, I planned the whole thing.  Told everyone how awesome it was the same time the year before.  I don’t think I exaggerated, maybe a little, but not much.  It was supposed to be perfect.  A few days in the woods fishing and camping with a carefully selected group of guys I really enjoy being around.  What better way could I celebrate the new degree hanging on my wall?

Nights were spent huddled under a tarp.  Lanterns.  Moths and mosquitoes.  Laughing.  Screaming to talk to the guy next to you cause the rain was so loud.  Chocolate cake.  A dutch oven full of venison and noodles.  Cheap beer.

Maybe they sensed my disappointment, but I tried to stay positive.  This is great.  God this is a beautiful stream.  The hike in to this spot alone was worth the trip.  But lets be honest.  Everyone in that camp, even my 10 year old son, knew damn well we were screwed from the beginning.  But we still worked hard to find fish.

That was about six months ago.

After, I pretty much tried to forget that trip.  Nothing worse than letting people down.  But then I needed a picture for my desktop background at work a couple days ago and stumbled onto the pics from that trip.

Lets be honest, I spent the whole trip feeling like I let everyone down, and totally missed out on what I was there for.  Damn.  I’d give anything to be hiking through that muddy monsoon right now with those guys. Cause lets be honest.  That trip was awesome.