Re-entry

It has been a bumpy return to the United States after finishing up our Peace Corps service.

Here is the short version:

Add to all that a terrible job market, a bad case of food poisoning, some super itchy poison oak and a knee injury. Also, thanks to the clown show that is currently running the world’s largest economy, my boat is not yet ready. But things will surely work out, as they always do.

Between runs to the hardware store, I had been scoping out a new flat just a few minutes walk from downtown. I had consistently seen carp feeding there in good numbers, and it looked accessible by foot. While Tara dropped in on a morning yoga class I ran down to the water and rigged up with a green steelhead fly that I had trimmed down to resemble one of John Montana’s hybrid flies. (Whatever happened to that guy anyway?) A flock of Canada geese landed on the flat, which I feared might scare the fish, but the birds moved away as I approached and after a short wait the carp began to return.

I was quickly reminded of some of the challenges that carp fishing entails, especially here. Big winds, lots of weed, spooky fish, but after a few false starts I made a good presentation to a solo tailing fish. It made one long run and then fought hard enough to remind me why carp fishing is much easier with a net!