I carefully walked across the three-foot diameter pipe. One misstep and into the canal I go. Okay who am I kidding. I’ve walked across this pipe so often, I feel I’ve thrown caution to the wind, though it’s true one misstep would find me in the drink.
Once across, I typically go to the left, headed upstream. Since trout face upstream, it’s less likely I’ll be seen by one as I near a likely hole.
“Oh damn, there’s that crunching sound again.” last time I heard that crunching sound there was a moose, not more than fifty feet from me, eating vegetation. I look around trying to determine where the sound is coming from, when I catch a glimpse of the cow moose. Its black color was in stark contrast to the green vegetation it was standing in. Like last time, she looked at me and didn’t seem to have a care in the world. Unlike last time, however, this time she decided to drop into the canal and crossover to my side. “Oh damn, I guess I’m not going upstream. Looks like I’m turning around and going downstream.”
I hadn’t been downstream in a while, so had forgotten how sandy the bottom is. On the one hand, it would be far easier for trout to see my approach. On the other hand, it would be far easier for me to spot trout against the sandy bottom.
I carefully walked downstream making sure to not walk along the edge, rather a few feet to the side of it. And every time I wanted a closer look, I would only get close, if there was a shrub or tree I could conceal myself behind. I may have walked about fifty feet when I saw this dark object in the middle of the sandy bottom. I carefully and quietly made my way to get a closer look when there she was, the queen of the canal. Not too far from her was another nice size fish, though not as big. I look to a spot upstream of the fish and cast my lure. The trout magnet makes its way down towards both fish. I make little jigging action as the lure floats passed them within inches. No hit. I try a couple more times with the same result. I decide to change out to a different color, white, and cast it upstream. As the lure hit the water, the queen moved herself around as if she was lining herself up for a strike. As the lure drifted closer, I noticed her making small adjustments to her positioning. As the lure is within a foot from her, she falls back a little and let the lure disappear right into her mouth. I went to set the hook and felt the line tension up. I saw her first twist as if hooked, but no dice. I pulled the lure from her mouth. I looked at her and thought to myself, “it’s all good. I didn’t get you this time, but now I know where you are. I’ll be back in a few days and we’ll have a rematch.”
