Steelie Blue: THANKS APRIL,THE STEEL OF SPRING

Spring, to most being a sign of new life. A new beginning.Warmer temps, sun. To a Steelheader,complete opposite. A sign of death. The beginning of the end for what was another year complete of chasing chrome.

And just when it gets warm, old man winter hits ya with a burst of reality.

Just like that, the whole scenario goes in your favor unexpectedly. I was just hanging up the fly rod and hand washing the waders when I heard on the radio a mass cold is expected to hit starting Thursday, with potential localized flooding. As quickly as my ears heard the news, I started to re-arrange everything I just accomplished . And I couldn't have been happier .

    So my friend had gone out east that Monday to fish because of higher water and a way better push of fish and it really payed off. The picture of the massive spawning colored male at the top was just one of the several they caught that day.

Bob and Ken and experienced much of the same as a friend and I had experienced the day prior.

Timing is prime right now. And with a not so great spring run last year thanks to mother nature, it's really a sigh of relief.

Coming home that day seeing the blue skies and feeling the warm temps instantly i got in the "yard work" mood. Instant transition. Bitter sweet I guess.

Not ten minutes in the door, I get a text from my wife who's already enjoying the weather...18 hours away. And as she's telling me how nice it was all I could do was think about the seasons end. Which is not far away. Ya, Florida's alright. I could be a beach bum. For sure. Flip flops and cargo shorts almost year round. But then what? What else do you have? There's really no changes? Right? I mean, doesn't that get old? Am I an idiot? I guess that's for you to decide. Then again I live in an area that's not changed or hardly adapted to any new type of culture. Let's face it. To the west they call it "slow-hio".
      Growing up in an ethnic family who speaks foreign still and going to church at a young age when the pastor hymns more than he talks like a bad opera isn't exactly "new age".
Watching your father and grandpa work most of their lives away because that's what they feel is necessary and completely normal is about as blue collar as it gets. Example:
     My Mother's Father was just 88 i believe when he found out he has a aggressive form of cancer. That's it. No turning back, lights are dimming. What would you do? What would you be doing at 88? Is he enjoying the last of his days on this shitty planet? nope., He's still running his music store on Memphis and Ridge in Old Brooklyn. And every Tribe home game he's walking around the stadium playing in his 3 pc. Polka band until the 8th inning.
My Father, offered a mngmt position. Nope. He would rather still be working with his crusty old hands in his trade. WHY? It's repetition. It's all they know. It's what we do in the Great Lakes. The rust belt.
And sadly, I become what I hate. It's all I know as well. I graduated, got a trade and the rest was history.