"The Trip"

You know the one I'm referring to , that trip you've been planning since you left the same destination this time last year. It might be a favorite river halfway across the country or an area closer to home that you just don't seem to get back to often enough. Most of us have at least one spot that fits this bill and some of the more travelled fishermen I've met seem to have an unending list. For me the location is always changing. Although my list of spots that I'd love to return to and fish is seemingly never ending, my time (and money) available for those sort of trips isn't , so it becomes a matter of choice. This year "The Trip" is turning out to be a four or five day excursion to the Driftless Region of Northeast Iowa with my good friend Kevin from Fly Waters Edge. Yeah...I know, it doesn't sound very exotic or like much of a destination for an admitted Trout Bum like myself. I should be headed to Colorado or Montana or even closer to home on one of the famous White River tailwaters....Iowa isn't the first place that comes to mind when you think trout, that much is for sure.

That kind of thinking is exactly what makes this area so appealing to me I guess , spring creeks..wild browns and maybe even a brookie or two, all set in a location that compared to many areas receives very little fishing attention. Last year I got the opportunity to fish this area at about the same time and over four days of fishing on four different streams we only saw one other fisherman. Enough said....
What I really enjoy about "The Trip" is all the planning and that feeling of anticipation that grows as the days roll by and the time gets nearer. For you "fly by the seat of you pants" folks that never plan anything past tomorrow the idea of spending days or even weeks planning and getting ready for a fishing trip may seem silly. Myself, I thoroughly enjoy gleaning bits of information about my destination from books , magazines or the internet for weeks before my trip and then trying to work out the best plan of attack to catch a few fish.

It's not unusual for the pile of camping and fishing gear in the garage to get started at least a week before I'm set to leave. By the time it gets to within two or three days the wifes starting to complain because she can no longer park her car in the garage due to said "pile". The kitchen table becomes a clutter of odds and ends that I begin gathering up in preparation for "The Trip" , not unlike a squirrel collecting nuts for a long winter. I even have to admit to enjoying the task of picking up the food and beverage supplies for trips like these. I mean how often do you get the chance to buy four pounds of bacon , ten pounds of potatoes , two sticks of summer sausage, 3 cases of beer and call it sustenance for 5 days? These are just a few of the little extras that make "The Trip" such a long anticipated event. For me it's always a good time to get the flyboxes stocked up and organized too. There's something about a destination trip that just gives me the urge to sit down and fill the holes in my flyboxes. It always seems the fly you don't have , or only have one of, is the one that's working best in these instances, so I try to hedge my bets by spending a few nights at the vise tying up a wide variety of patterns. That being said I'll probably still use one of my three or four favorite flies 80% of the time...but hey, you never know when a pink ratfaced mcdougle is gonna just kill em and I don't wanna be without one when that happens!
Usually "The Trip" also means getting to spend a few days with good friends on the water and sitting around a campfire every evening with an adult beverage in my hand. Both are things that don't get to happen often enough for me it seems. Just sitting here and writing this post has me anxious and excited about getting away for a few days.

I can't think about fishing yet though, there's still work to be done , the garage pile is just starting to take shape and I've still got holes in flyboxes to fill. Shit....I better go , the wifes screaming something about dead rodents in her bathtub , guess I should've warned her I was field testing my new emu hair and badger hackle streamer patterns in the tub!!!