Tryin to Catch Me Riding Dirty

There we were chattering excitedly about the next days fishing adventure. We had just pulled on the the highway and driven no more than a few miles when… slam!!! We had been rear-ended and the boat we were counting on fishing for pike from over the next few days was done. We waited through the cops taking statements, exchanging insurance info and all the other fun that comes with an accident. After we were cleared to leave we headed home, dropped the boat off, and decided to continue on with the trip. After about an hour on the road we were stopped because a cop was parked in the middle of the road along with several tourist vehicles to watch a moose eating off the road. The cop told us we could pull over and watch the moose but we decided to keep moving. No more than a minute later the cop blazed up behind us and began tailgating us…. here we go again we all said. Sure enough flashing lights beckoned us to stop. “Rapid acceleration,” yelled the officer. Seriously? “You might have hit the moose!” she screamed. Oh you mean the moose that was behind us when we accelerated??? Our driver simply stated, “I did nothing illegal” as she walked back to her vehicle. Minutes later she appeared in the window to remind us the driver had a speeding ticket on his record but she would be letting us off with a verbal warning. Verbal warning for what we thought? No matter we were back on the road.

As we neared our destination we were harassed again by an officer for nothing and again sent on our way. Boatless and annoyed we arrived at our destination around midnight, grabbed a quick bite and hit the hay. As the sun rose we woke up and headed out for the day in search of big pike and walleye. The lake seemed dead with the exception of a few short strikes every few hours. After changing locations several times with only a few tiny pike to show for our efforts we opted to trade the heavy rods for 5 wts. and hit a nearby trout river.

Our fortunes were about to change. Almost instantly we started getting into 20″ plus rainbows that put our gear to the test. Drifting a nymph through all the best trout water seemed to end in a bone jarring take that sent a chunky bow airborne and then running down river peeling line. Although we didn’t have a ton of time on the that particular river we managed to get into some great fish and salvage the trip. The ride home was far less eventful and the sun setting over the mountains seemed to be more than enough reward for the effort of the trip – not to mention the rainbows that were eager to play the game.