Home Water
By Neil M. Travis, Montana/Arizona
I hope you have some water, whether it's a stream or a lake,
that you call your ‘home water.' Over the last half century I have
had the privilege of fishing a lot of different places. I have fished
most of the legendary trout water in North America, and many
places that are only known by a few local anglers. Although I
enjoy fishing different places, like Dorothy told the Wizard of
Oz, there's no place like home.
Home water may be a trickle of water running through a cow
pasture populated by brook trout, a backwoods pot hole that
is only accessible by a one track dirt road, or a lily pad covered
lake filled with large-mouthed bass and crappies. No matter how
big or how small, how remote or accessible, it's home and that's
what makes it special.
Over the years I have changed home water several times. In my
youth there was a small creek that ran through the pasture on my
parent's farm, and over time I came to know every undercut bank,
every spring hole, and every riffle where a carefully drifted worm
would produce a sparkling brook trout or even occasionally a real
trophy, a brown trout. On this tiny stream, which I could jump
across in many places, I received my grade school education in
trout behavior.
For several years I fished a small hidden lake that was only
reachable by slogging through a quaking bog populated by
a vicious band of mosquitoes and some of the biggest leaches
I have ever seen. There, in a leaky old rowboat, I dangled
minnows under a bobber for dinner-plate sized crappies,
used worms to lure saucer-sized bluegills, and occasional
hooked a respectable large-mouthed bass with a jitterbug
or a rapala fished among the lily pads.
In my early adult years I started fishing the Au Sable River in
Michigan, and for over a decade it was my home water. From
the Mason Tract on the South Branch to the Holy Water east
of Grayling I cast my flies to rising trout from early in the spring
until late into the fall. Although it has been nearly 40 years since
I fished it regularly I can still picture each place where I fished
with such vivid clarity that it seems like it was only yesterday.
The education that I received there and the memories that I
made have enriched and colored my life to this day.
Today my home water is a spring creek just south of my
home in Montana. Ultimately convenient it is only minutes
from my doorstep, and is populated with a healthy number
of educated trout which continue to test my knowledge and
skill. The wading is easy, which is more important now than
it was years ago, the flies are small, which is more challenging
for this senior citizen, but most important is that it's home.
For the last 30 plus years I have fished most of the famous
trout waters in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, and I certainly
enjoy the privilege of having these famous waters just outside
my doorway. Many people would envy me, but if you have a
little stream or a nearby lake where you know all the residents
by name, where each place has a special memory attached, and
where you just feel at home you are blessed. Like Dorothy
told the Wizard, "There's no place like home." ~ The Chronicler
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