Written by: Jon Hill
You know you have a fishing problem when you schedule a knee surgery around your fishing schedule! I’ve been trying to see how long I can go catching at least one fish a month. When I tore my meniscus earlier this year I postponed the surgery to take a backpacking trip and to keep my streak alive. When it came down to setting a date for the surgery, I chose the second week of October. That would give me the first weekend in October to get on the water and hopefully catch a fish; then fingers crossed I would be healed enough to fish sometime in November.
So here we are, three weeks after surgery, and I was able to hit the creek for a couple of hours and get a few browns into the net (thanks to the Purple Haze) and keep the streak alive. That’s 60 months in a row of catching fish, and here’s to hoping I can keep it going and hit 120!
Jon Hill lives in Littleton, Colorado and works in the digital-graphics field. But he spends almost all his spare time chasing trout in the high country, and his photos have been featured many times on the Orvis News. (See here, here, and here for just a taste, or visit his blog, Ramblings.) He’s also a former Trout Bum of the Week.
Jon, congratulations, I completely understand your scheduling of surgery to keep your streak up. I recently had hernia surgery and scheduled it for the middle of October figuring I’d be ready to go in early November. I got my October fish on the second of October. I’m hoping the weather cooperates, it’s getting pretty cold now.
My buddy started what he called the “Quest” which was to catch a trout every month of the year, along with some other interesting qualifiers; such as catch a fish in three local streams, catch a fish with a bamboo rod and up until 2014 catch a fish above the Caledonia hatchery the oldest hatchery in the western world. What made this so challenging was the fish were very leery so they can easily see a feel you, furthermore you can not get into them stream.
As of today my buddy is closing in on 15 years and I am hopefully completing 14 years of catching a trout each month.
Good luck with your “Quest” and tight lines
Carl Palmer
Hi Carl,
Thanks and congrats on your 14 years and your friends 15 years. That’s incredible! Hoping someday I can hit those milestones as well. Hope you are healing up and can get out for you November fish if the weather cooperates.
Thanks!
Jon