The Year's First Trout

With a series of spring-like days during early January, you'd think I would've gotten out fishing a few times. After all, area streams were flowing nicely; and despite low water temperatures, some trout would have been biting. However, I was unable to fish until the M.L. King Holiday.

I had recently had a couple of procedures performed on me by a surgical dermatologist. He had to perform a procedure on my back and two weeks later remove a spot of skin cancer from my forehead.

I was paying for my indiscretions under the sun. As a fair-skinned, little blond kid, I was constantly outdoors without...