lovely fall day

What perfect weather. It's just a joy to be alive on an evening like this. An evening where it's easy to be lazy. Which was how I started out. Like one of those old dogs you see on a country road that doesn't see much traffic. Where the old guy is just lying there in the sun right in the middle of the road hoping no one comes along and makes him move. Which is how I started out. I'd sleepily cast this minnow plug of Vic's across and upstream give it a couple sharp yanks to get it down then slowly work it back. Watching for deer across the river and listening to the tapping of a woodpecker back in the woods. You could tell it was coming though, there was bait everywhere. Constantly a baitfish or two would skip away spooked by the minnow plug if nothing else. There was just too much food here, the fish will come. The sun dropped a bit in the sky and the river turned to obsidian black and you could no longer see into the clear water. And as the light turned into that beautiful golden light that photographers love there was about a half an hour or so where the minnow plug had a hard time getting back before something would nail it. I've said it before but it's worth repeating. When this happens I try anymore to take a second and admire each fish before turning it loose. It's too easy to unhook and throw it back without even looking at it in our rush to catch another. Then the light lost it's golden magic and so did the fishing. I cast a bit longer as night fell on the river but nothing was happening now. A flock of geese flew upriver feeling the whole valley with noise. And then a great blue heron, looking like a pterodactyl in slilouette against the sky. The leaves crunched loud underfoot walking out in the dark. Not much is better than being on the river in fall.