September’s Small Reward . . .
Pickerel weed in bloom surrounds a NYC lake in September.
(NYC 09 08 2020)
A September afternoon spent around a pond in a NYC park marked my return to a more conventional tenkara setting. After a salty summer spent exploring the coastal back bays, the sweetwater spot was familiar, the fishing exercise gentle, even easy, yet it held a surprise in the catching.
Despite my practiced casting and improved fly tying, there was the problem of the elusive fish. The water looked reasonably healthy, the solunar tables were in alignment to my time and place, yet not one fish met the net after several hours of focused fishing. No bass, no crappie, no perch, not even a juvenile bluegill.
Perhaps it was the bright sun, a high UV index, which kept the fish off the bite. I had adjusted from the start, beginning along a bank of tall pickerel weed, working the cover of the pond’s shaded bank drop offs. Not a bite, not one.
Tough fishing in the form of no catching can shake the confidence of someone who has just been on a roll, catching bigger game fish consistenly all season. But here, at summer’s end, in the backyard water, a sudden lull.
It wasn’t until I had fished an entire lakeside and back before I felt a strike around the base of the same pickerel weed where I had started.
At the end, both of line and day, a bass. One little fish in the hand, a small reward to end another summer on a positive tip.
The little largemouth that saved the day.
(NYC 09 08 2020)
Tenkara never fails to challenge, teach, and surprise. Now let’s see what autumn holds.
— rPs 09 30 2020
