Beaver Creek Fleet

Some people go directly to happy hour after work on Friday and continue the charade into early morning. Instead of dulling our senses, we ignited them and drove into the wilderness of Beaver Creek Ohio.

The crew was back together: my dad, my brother, and myself. After a quick and ritualistic pine cone fight, the tent was set and we were soaking in nature and simply enjoying the warm summer night.

Sparky

Spidey

We eventually went to bed and anticipated the morning and fishing to come. To be more clear, going to bed does not mean you actually sleep or feel recovered in the morning. Nope. That's all nonsense when you're sleeping on what felt like a bed of rocks.

We arrived at the creek in the morning and were excited about the afternoon to come. We were kids in a candy shop. I cannot even explain the impact that a creek has over you. It takes every worry that you couldn't shake out of your head for five days straight and buries them where the bass are hiding. 
 

Beaver Creek

My brother struck first. Watermelon seeded plastic worm, you are a good friend.

Cool brother with a Small Mouth

My dad would pull ahead and not look back. Over the past week, he has become a master at the hula popper. He would eventually pull in 3-4 smallies. Well done Pops!

My trip was a little different. The night before I caught a nice one on my good friend (Watermelon worm), but today I chose my professionally constructed fly-rod courtesy of Shane Murphy. I tried everything in my fly box and...everything came up short. I've had the fly rod for less than a year and I already feel very comfortable with the action, now I just need to master the lures. I eventually switched to my spinning reel and had some success.

Eventually, we would stop to swim upstream and soak in the atmosphere. The fishing trip was coming to an end and I was already missing what we were about to be leaving. I do a lot of fishing by myself when no one else can go but nothing beats fishing with family. The experience we all share together is indescribable. I get more excited to see them catching the fish than actually catching them myself. I am glad I was born into a outdoor family. I am also overly confident that we would all become hermits and live in the woods for the rest of our lives if given the chance. Short of a nuclear war, I don't think we will ever need to but thank goodness it's always right where we left it.