Opening Day.....Trout that is

So Saturday was the long awaited trout opening day @ 8:00 am. My friend Eddie came down Friday night and stayed over so that we could get an early start. We woke up at 5:00. I looked outside and it wasn't raining. After a cup of coffee we loaded my truck and left.

We got to Holmdel Park at about 6:15 or so. The gates to the park are not opened until 7:00 but we have to get there early to get a good spot to fish because it gets crowded. I have another cup of coffee as we wait. So far still no rain.

At 7:00 the gates are opened and we head into the park to the parking lot. Doesn't seem to be as many people this year as was in the past. This is my 6th year going here for opening day and there were always many more people than this year. Although it is Easter weekend. We get all the gear out of the truck and head to our spot that we fish every year. As I am walking along the pond I see rain drops. OK, it is a very light drizzle which I can deal with. We set up our chairs and it starts to rain harder. Eddie hands me a cigar and somehow in the rain we both manage to get them lit.

It is now about 7:30. 1/2 hour to fish time and the rain is coming down even harder but somehow we manage to keep our cigars lit. And with the rain comes the wind. Finally it is 8:00 and we can start fishing. Now we are going to catch some trout and sort of make up for the rain..right? WRONG.

The wind is really blowing, and the rain reminds me of Forest Gump, "We got all kinds of rain. Stinging rain, big old fat rain, and rain that seemed to come right up from the bottom". We fished for about 2 1/2 hours and didn't even get a bite. In fact, I only saw about 5 trout caught which is not a lot at all. There are usually 10 to 15 caught in the first couple of hours. So, after what seemed like an eternity in freezing, rainy weather, we decided to bag the rest of the day and go back to my house and grill some venison sausage and drink some beers. This was the worst opening day I can remember. We had one that had more rain (if that is possible) but at least we caught some fish that day, albeit bass but fish none the less.

Oh well, the season just started so hopefully there will be a trout or two in my future.