Sunday, July 22, 2007

The day began as a "12" on a scale of "10." Lake Averill mirrored the cloudless sky as the sun shone down across the mountains. The first errand of the day was the most important -- get breakfast. An early morning trip to Priscilla's Lakeview Store for eggs and milk yielded a delicious morning repast (sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits) courtesy of Hardy. (Hey, we could get used to this!)

After a cursory review of the NY Times, it was off to the ponds at Little Camp for a casting clinic, courtesy of Alan. He put Hardy on the lower pond and Carole on the upper pond and, alternating between the two, made gentle and less than gentle suggestions about where we were going wrong. He was right just about all of the time and maybe all of the time. I (Carole) made some improvement casting with rods other than my own, moving btw Alan's delicate 3 wt and Hardy's monster 5 wt -- wow what a difference. For his part, Hardy enjoyed meeting "Pinky" -- and who wouldn't since she's an Orvis T3 5 wt paired with a sweet Ross reel.

After an exhilarating dip in the lake, we dined on sandwiches and Sergio's collapse in the British Open (oh, dude, we saw it coming). At 2:30pm, Hardy and Alan headed off to the Connectictut to rendezvous with Bill Bernhardt, great guide and friend, at the Rte 3 rest area outside of Colebrook. Today's float was aboard Bill's new pontoon raft, and after preliminary introductions and setting forth, Hardy and Alan were soon upon fish. Kudos surely go to Hardy for identifying before the float even started that an ant hatch had aroused the curiosity of the fish and this info allowed the fishing team to get started right away. Alas, knowing what the fish wanted to eat was not the same as providing it. :-( Amidst a flotilla of feeding trout, our delicious ant appetizer was repeatedly snubbed and when ordered was taken with way too much delicacy.

There were rare gluttons. Hardy hooked into a beautiful foot-long brown trout that tenaciously fought while Alan snuck a cast into a small eddy and hooked a startling, leopard-like spotted brown. Beautiful fish. But the day belonged to Hardy with a gorgeous rainbow caught just off the bow as the sun was setting over Mt Monadnock. With his line hooked onto the floor clamp, Bill yelled "Set the hook!" Hardy yanked back, falling into his seat, reefing on Pinky, and nearly falling into the Connecticut. Amidst cheers and laughes a beautiful trout was landed in the net.

The setting as the sun dipped below the horizon was typical Norm's. Fish rising everywhere, fishermen casting blindly, bats zooming in and out, and some of the most ferocious mosquitos that Vermont has ever known. But amidst this beauty, and the ending of the day, there was gratitude for some wonderful fish and good company.

Dinner was Hardy's marinated lemon pepper pork and teriyaki pork.