The Great Lakes

When I was young I lived in a town, a very small town surrounded by much larger towns. The main streets east and west were named after the great lakes and the  north south street or boulevards were named after states except the main drag which was named Commonwealth. Eventually I got it, that each of the states used were commonwealth of this or that. I used to day dream and think about what it would be like to live by each of those lakes and what kind of fish I could catch.

Episodes of Gadabout Gaddis or American Sportsman would only peak my interest more in my fantasy. One year for Christmas, my Dad bought me a Cortland fly rod outfit and I guess endless hours of watching Curt Gowdy fly fish with his buddies on the TV helped me to self learn how to cast and eventually tie flies. We were hundreds of miles away from any real trout stream, I did talk my Dad into taking a ride out to Smithtown were I discovered the Nissiquogue River. We got lost and ended up talking to an escapee from the psych center nearby. My Dad's aunt owned property up north by Syracuse and we spent many a summer plying the waters of Labrador Pond (another fishing fantasy, brook trout up north in Canada) for bluegills, perch and bass. On rainy days I would sneak into my uncles stash of gentleman's magazines (Argos, Esquire and the like) until one day I discovered the Conservationist magazine. One of my favorite mags even today, but what caught my eye was an article entitled " The Monster Rainbows of Whey Pond". I wore the pages out reading and rereading that story.

Soon after entering college I realized that Whey Pond was just a stones throw down the road and even closer was the Ausable and the west branch, and numerous ponds loaded with fat brook trout. I lived what I use to just dream about. Later on I did live by one of the Great Lakes, and fished in two others for Salmon and Walleye. I can still see in  my mind Curt Gowdy and Phil Harris sitting on some shoreline  and the guide preparing them a shore lunch of some walleye, onions and fried potatoes. I can smell it!

Life's all about dreams and living out your dreams. A philosopher ( forgot which one) once said "if you can dream it, you can do it"! Dream big my friends, adventure awaits!