One and done

I don't put much stock in New Year's resolutions, but at some point I did form a firm intention to fish more often this year. (Which shouldn't be hard, as I didn't get out at all last year, and only once or twice the year before.) So yesterday I set myself an arbitrary challenge: leave work on my lunch break (I get 45 minutes), drive to some public water, catch a fish, and then get back to work on time. A guerilla-style, hit-and-run mini-expedition, if you will.

I budgeted the time thusly: Ten minutes to drive to a municipal lake. Two and a half minutes to reach the water's edge and gear up. Figuring another two and a half minutes to pack up and another ten to drive back left twenty minutes on the water. (And since the mercury hit 104°F yesterday, I wasn't anxious to stay longer.)

I affixed a tiny crankbait—a Wiggle Wart from Storm—to my ultralight rig and began casting. (I'm not much for bait-fishing as a general rule, and this was to be a catch-and-release outing, which is much easier with artificials.) A rather pretty bluegill—but then ain't they all?—hit on what was to be my last cast, was gently unhooked without ever leaving the water, and I clocked back in precisely on time.