The rain started to let up and I decided to drive to the north end of Tippy Dam Road. I parked at the lot across from Consumers Electric power plant. I got my wading gear on and walked over to Cardiac Hill. As I started down the 200 steps to Tippy Dam, I remembered the tough time I had in January and Febuary trying to get up and down when the steps were covered with ice and snow. It was sorta like ice climbing. Today it was nice going down. The weather was overcast and hopefully the place wouldn't be too crowded. There were 8 cars in the parking lot. Now how many fisherman is that; 8 or 12 or 16??
As I approached the end of the stairs and looked down at the Manistee River, I noticed that there weren't any fisherman on my side. Where were they? They were above the coffer Dam. Yeah, I get to pick my spot to fish.
Having the river to myself, I decided to start ar the stairs and work my way downstream.
I started fishing and moving slowly. After a few drifts, I didn't have a hit. Where were the fish? I relaxed and kepted up the methodical casting and retrieving. Time slipped away. I noticed a boy fishing with his grandfather and dad. They were fishing the north side of the river. I remember getting Molly or Ryan to go fishing with me when they were younger. Happy memories.
Finally a hit! I felt a throbbing fish on the end of my line. I know... a fisherman is a jerk waiting for a jerk on the end of his line. But this jerk was real. I brought in a nice 12" brown trout. It wasn't huge but now I wasn't skunked.
I worked my way down the river and waded out to the sandbar across from the boat launch. Actually I almost waded across the river but decided to be 'very careful' and not wade too far. Afterall, I was by myself.
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