The Simple Things

Rooster Tail Fishin'

     Hello interweb. A year ago I had one of the best days that I have ever had. I am just now writing about it because at the time I had no idea how strongly that day would stick with me. It was completely unexpected. I never thought that a day that was so unplanned, spontaneous, and seemingly simple fun would end up being so memorable.

     It started with a knock at the front door that came while I was still asleep. The knock startled me from my sleep and having freshly shit my boxers, I stumbled to the front door and slowly swung it open. Standing in the blinding light of a morning hour that I had no idea existed in the summer, was one of my best friends with two nice cigars in hand. "Get dressed bitch, we're going fishing." After gathering my things, we climbed into "speedy" (his 1990 Mitsubishi R.I.P.) and headed for the creek, the "wading crick" as we like to call it.
     This is a place that we had gone to many times in the past but today was different. We started early and spent the entire day wading up and down the creek further than we had ever gone. We found old leg hold traps (mildly terrifying), had to find a way to float our gear past a place that was so deep that we had to swim, and we both caught our biggest fish of the summer.

     We of course have a competition every time we go out to see who can catch the most fish and who can catch the biggest fish. This along with our conversations about people, cigars, cars, women, booze,  adventures, and the occasional subway jingle made for a great day. We then ended the day in a friends hot tub with a beer in hand until the sunset. Truly a great day.
     It's amazing that with all of today's available activities like theme parks, xbox 360s, bars, movies, paintball guns, and general hell raising that a day spent doing something that is as old as humans can be the primary activity of such a great day that you will remember for a long time to come.

    My advice to anyone needing a day like this is to buy some dollar store crock shoes (great for wading), an ultra-light fishing rod (more fun for small fish and easier to cast small lures), and a handful of small rooster tail spinner lures (easily the best lure for rivers and streams and you will need several because you will lose several to snags). Go to google maps and find a small stream and a place to park near it. Call up one of your buddies and get in the water. If you are at all outdoor oriented, you will not regret any day spent with a good friend on the water.