With Tania having friends over today for a tea party and a devotion, I was planning to spend the morning fishing solo. But it had been a while since my friend Ron and I had fished together, so I reached out to see if he wanted to join me. I did give him fair warning that the weather might force us to cancel, but we made plans and hoped we would get a window to fish.

The plan was to head south and look for trout. I was hoping we could find a few keepers and bring some home for dinner. With trout being our target, I kept the packing light—four rods, two for each of us, my inshore tackle bag, a cooler for the catch, and another with water.

I arrived at the dock around 6:45 a.m., and Ron pulled in shortly after. We got the boat loaded and were on our way a little after 7:00 a.m.

Our first stop was Middle Cover. My buddy Max had told me he’d been catching most of his slot trout there over the past week, so it seemed like a good place to start. Once we left the channel, we put our lines out and trolled toward shore.

Ron got things started with two small jacks. Shortly after his second fish, I finally got a bite and brought in a jack of my own. We hadn’t found our trout yet, but at least we both had a little action on the way in.

As we approached the far northeast corner, there were signs of life all around us. A gentleman was already wade fishing along the shoreline, working his way north toward the same corner. I tried to give him plenty of room and keep us outside his casting range. He was there first, and I didn’t want our boat getting in the way of his morning.

For about the first hour, the bite kept us busy. Nearly every cast brought either a bite or a fish, and we started catching trout along with some ladyfish. We had found the species we came for, but the trout were all running about 13 to 14 inches. Plenty of action, just nothing for the cooler.

Once that bite slowed down, we decided to keep moving south.

Our next stop was Little Mud Creek. There was plenty of life there, too, but we couldn’t get anything interested in what we were throwing. After giving it a try, we moved on to Herman’s Bay.

That move paid off. We found another bite, and Ron landed a 16-inch trout. We finally had one for the cooler!

On our second drift, the weather started getting our attention. The clouds were building, and the wind shifted and began to pick up. We had talked about the weather before the trip, and neither of us wanted to push our luck. It was time to start working our way north toward the marina.

On the way back, I decided to make one last stop at Bear Point. We both had a few good bites, but nothing committed. By 11:30 a.m., we called it a day and headed in, making it back to the dock around noon with one fish to clean.

I had hoped to bring home a few more trout, but I’m not going to complain about a morning like that. We caught fish, explored a few spots, and had time to catch up. It had been too long since Ron and I had shared a morning on the water, and I was glad he could join me.

Sometimes one fish in the cooler and a few hours with an old friend are enough to make it a good day.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all our fellow anglers. May your time on the water be safe, blessed, and filled with tight lines and good memories. Until next time, keep casting, keep believing, and keep chasing those dreams on the water.