Like many others on this site I fish through out the year, but opening day is special for me here's why: First, I am blessed to have a trout stream in my back yard (literally 25 feet behind my house). So this is how it all unfolds for me, 3 weeks or so before opening day my wife and I will walk the road that parallels the stream, garbage bags in hand removing the trash along the stream and the road, after all who wants to be looking at trash when they are fishing a mountain stream.
Next is stocking day! I wait for the truck to pull over just upstream of my property, sometimes I will deposit a bucket of fish but many times I will watch as the parent of a little one takes a bucket to the stream with the little one close at hand, what a thrill! Then I will jump in my friends car and join the procession behind the stock truck. The truck will make six to eight stops before reaching the upper limit of stocking , at each stop we get out and watch and talk with neighbors and friends.
Between stocking and opening day I will sometimes "feed the fish". I will take a bag of cheese curls, break them into small pieces and see if I can get some of the trout to rise to the surface. My grand daughter always enjoyed those excursions!
Next, anticipation, friends and family will ask " how many , any big ones , etc."
The big day arrives. Friends and family gather, my brother with his adult sons and their young ones, my son in-law, my gran-daughter comes in from Ohio. Every one heads to their favorite place to wait for starting time! My wife and I will take a walk up the road watching the fishermen,talking with neighbors, enjoying the beautiful weather (I HOPE).
Around 11 o'clock I get the gas grill fired up and begin making lunch of hamburgs, hot dogs, and Italian sausage. Usually the non-fishing family members will start filtering in, bringing with them more food and by 12 o'clock lunch is ready.
The gangs all here! Those who have been fishing make their way back and we gather on our big wrap-around front porch to eat and talk about the events of the day. Good times!
After lunch, some go back to fishing, others go home or hang around talking. By about supper time everyone is gone. Although I haven't done any fishing today, I am glad I was able to help make the "First day" an enjoyable one for others.
As the daylight is fading I will probably look out my back window at the gurgling creek, and I might say to my wife " you know I think I'll go out back and try that new wooly bugger I've been working on"
I am blessed!
