Waiting on the Spawn

The Alaska fish and wildlife department has fish counters on the Blank River (I guess they gotta do something when they aren't giving Mikey tickets) and one of my favorite June and July activities is to monitor the number of salmon heading up river and chart it against previous years data, trying to discern how good the fishing will be when we touch down on unnamed lake.

Well the NC spawn is a little easier to monitor. I can tell you with perfect certainty when and where 4,500 rainbow, Brooke and brown trout will enter the waters. They have endured miles of concrete and a steady pellet diet to return to their proverbial birth waters and satisfy the needs of desperate piscators locked in offices, cubicles and factories. Hail the spawn, long live the spawn. And, luckily for me, I can tell you exactly when the spawn will end. On the first Saturday in June all trout will have completed their epic journey of piscatorial satiation via stringer, breading and fry pan. Replenishing the bulging guts of trout slaking worm chukers of every color, creed and gender. The circle of life is complete. Hail the spawn, long live the spawn.