Patience

"we'll wait 10 more minutes."

it was 10 minutes to noon and we were waiting for one more fish to bite. the wind had picked up and sitting on the ice was less and less fun, but we would wait 10 more minutes as my fishing buddy suggested.

i met up with him at 7:30 in the morning to head out onto the ice for some trout fishing at a place that he knew of and had previous success at. the first signs of daylight were showing up as we headed out the door and into his truck, and then down the road. we passed several deer on the way and even saw an elk herd as we turned into the road that went to the lake. it was turning into a beautiful day and i was excited to see how things went.

we pulled our gear onto the lake and drilled our holes. we were all set up and ready to go at 10 minutes to 9. the clouds were starting to part and the sunrise was looking awesome with the promise of a nice warm day ahead of us.

almost immediately we started getting bites, well, he started getting bites, and soon landed a nice 14 inch rainbow trout. shortly after that i landed one as well, a 12 inch rainbow. it seemed that the fish were swimming around the little lake and as the school came by, some would come by for a quick bite hoping we wouldn't bite back.

we watched our rods carefully for the "tapping" of the rod tip as a fish began to bite then with haste tried to grab the rod an set the hook. and so it went for the next hour and a half as he caught 4 more and i missed 2 more.

it was so frustrating as the ones i missed let go close to the hole then got away, especially as he was catching all the fish and had just reached his limit, but then i got to use his holes as the fish seemed to be biting better there. and shortly after moving in i had another bite . . . and another miss, and yet another. by about 11 he had caught his limit and i still only had one little fish on the ice.

i was starting to think of giving up when i got another good bite, and this time i got the fish on the ice. i started taking the hook out when i saw my other rod getting tugged and quick grabbed that one and pulled in another decent rainbow. i had a quick double and tried even faster to get more bait on and down the hole while the fish were still around. but they had already moved on again.

i waited some more and after a few minutes had another bite and pulled out a fourth rainbow and was getting excited that i might also catch my limit. being a non-resident, a fishing license is expensive, and not wanting to spend too much money, i've bought the short 2-day licenses so far, and i am hoping to catch enough fish to make the license worth it. when trout is $6 to $10 a pound at the store, and a 2-day license is $15, three fish pay for the license, and everything after is a bonus.

we watched as two other anglers ventured onto the ice and set up, giving us hope that the fishing might still be decent in the middle of the day. and so the wait for one more fish was one.

"here!" my fishing buddy reported as i turned to look at one pole from watching the other as the rod tip started bouncing. i quick grabbed the pole and set the hook and reeled in a nice 14.5 inch rainbow, number five, i had reached my limit.

we packed up our things, walked out, took some pictures and drove back to his place to clean and cook up some fish, and you really can't beat the taste of fresh fish.

it was a great ending to an awesome morning of frustrations. the patience really paid off and i'm glad i took those extra 10 minutes.