Wake Up Call

     It is one of the biggest gambles in all of fishing.  Acknowledging a 4:00AM buzzer on your day off may be the greatest challenge for the average angler. What happens in the subsequent thirty minutes looms larger.  Sleeping in continues on as an option, really, until you leave the pad.  The truly devout, and those afflicted with the need to find the time can make it out.  The otherwise satisfied crowd pulls the covers back up, flips over the pillow, thinks about getting skunked, and vows to fight it another day.  I know this, because I've been party to both results, though I am proud of my batting average.

This guy "vaporized" Whitey

     Today, I was the gas station's first sale of the morning and the hustle, inclusive of burning eyes and that queasy stomach feeling, continued right until I launched into the local lake at 5:25 with a fourth of a cup of coffee remaining and I think the stump of what was a buttered roll.  At least I hope that's what it was.  An hour later, justification of the "off" button and not "snooze", arrived to the tune of squeaky fly line and one of finest fish that ever attached itself to the end of my tippet, and Whitey.

     It was a pretty cool moment.  At that point when I placed the critter back into the film and let it bolt away, I rinsed my hands and paused in thought.  We're very lucky. At 6:26, I took my time to pray and say thanks.  You could argue that a craftily tied streamer and a nifty skip-cast under a tree allowed it happen, but we know it goes deeper than that.  A good day for a wake up call.

     At 9:00AM, a few more smaller ones under my belt, other anglers descended and I was outta there.  Family picnic on tap, and I may take a little snooze under my sunglasses when no one's looking.