Determined to start the New Year off right, Average Joe Fisherman Scott and I decided to spend a good chunk of New Year’s Day chasing trout. Scott did not get to do as much trout fishing as he would have liked in 2010 and he seemed driven to start 2011 off on the right foot. As an individual who enjoys company while fishing, that was fine by me.
The day was unseasonably warm. Traveling north, the temperature gauge in my truck read 42 degrees. Scott and I speculated that the higher than normal temperatures would have melted most of the snow and caused the stream to rise, and in doing so, dirtied the water. In our limited experience of casting large streamers for large trout, this seemed like ideal conditions to us. Unfortunately, it must have sounded that way to many other fishermen as well, because most of the stream access points had cars parked at them. Slightly discouraged, we continued to look for an uninhabited spot. Eventually we found one, suited up and started to fish... and fish… and fish… and fish some more. Fishing just shy of four hours, not seeing a single trout between us, we decided to pack it in and in a last ditch effort we headed to another stream. It was then that, with our waders still on but pushed down around our knees, hurling down a country highway at sixty miles an hour, karma decided to intervene.
Ever since I was little, hearing my father say things such as, “What goes around comes around” or “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” I have believed in karma. The funny thing about karma is that you never know when it will rear its head. The only thing you can be sure of, for better or for worse, is that it’s coming.
As Scott and I raced toward our next fishing destination, probably faster than law enforcement officials would have liked, we noticed a small animal up ahead. Not slowing down, we were able to see the animal was in fact a small dog. In my rearview mirror I saw the dog stop, turn, and watch the truck as we continued on. “Pretty small dog out here all by himself,” I said to Scott. “Do you think we should turn around and see if he has tags?” Scott replied. Sure that this was the end to our fishing for the day, I turned the truck around. Scott hopped out of the truck and called the dog, “Here pooch.” The dog, being friendly, ran to Scott. Once in the truck we quickly found his tags. As luck would have it, the dog’s name along with a phone number was easily visible. I called the number and asked the gentleman, we’ll call him Dave, if he had a dog, a dog that was missing. He said he did and gave me instructions to his house which just happened to be a cabin situated on 28 acres of land with the North Branch of the Ausable running through it. The owner, who was extremely grateful to us for returning his dog, gave us a history lesson on the stretch of water in front of his cabin and invited us to fish it. “It’s the least I can do,” he said. 
Still half dressed in our fishing gear it did not take Scott and I long to be standing knee deep in the North Branch. Within the first fifteen minutes of fishing, Scott, who has never caught a trout on a streamer, fought and landed a beautiful seventeen inch brown trout. Dave, who seemed genuinely excited, watched the whole thing unfold from the bank and even cheered Scott on. Shortly after Scott’s fish, I caught an equally beautiful thirteen inch brown trout just before dark. Upon returning to my truck, Dave once again thanked us for our kindness and gave us his name and phone number inviting us to come back anytime.
If that’s not karma, I don’t know what is.
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