Gaelen Kilburn A Tale of Two Fish I’m sitting in the bow of my neighbor Scott’s canoe as the spring breeze picks up, still

Draft 4.docx Gaelen Kilburn A Tale of Two Fish I’m sitting in the bow of my neighbor Scott’s canoe as the spring breeze picks up, still carrying a nip of winter and pushing the bow of the canoe back and forth. [...] Franticly, we scramble to unload the boat, which Scott had jerry-rigged to the top of his Corolla, my hands struggling with the impenetrable knots in the rope securing the canoe. [...] Montana banned stocking in 1974 after years of a declining wild fish population and the in the years that followed, the rivers saw a huge return in the numbers of wild fish. [...] As it reaches the end of its swing, straightening out with the flow of the river, I try to remember what Lynn taught me: a big sweeping half circle starting high and swooping the rod low to get the line up river and then sweeping the rod from low to high in the opposite direction and bringing it back over the shoulder, pausing a moment to feel the rod load and then pushing the rod forward. [...] I put all the force I can muster into the backbone of the rod, praying it’s enough to turn the fish out of the current.