March has been said to come “in like a lion and out like a lamb”. Those who pioneered the term may not have been anticipating what global climate change would do to the month of April. I am not one to catalog historical weather patterns, but I do keep track of those conditions when I am fishing. I do not really subscribe to barometer readings and how they affect fishing. It’s not that I do not believe in them. I fear that if I did follow them for guidance I would become more selective when I fish, and that is foolish. If I were to see one weather pattern that surpassed the month of March and well through April it would be wind. Last month I wrote about wind too. April started with wind, and lots of wind. Along with enough April showers to bring May flowers. Add in a little straight line and tornado action to bring 6 cans of gas and a generator. Needless to say, the first few weeks of April were a literal wash.

Things started to look up in mid-April. The sun actually shone on the dog’s rear-end. Rivers started to come off their crest, people in floodplains breathed a sigh of relief, and fish were excited to be able to see their homes look a little more tidy. As a part-time fishing guide I am left with only a few days to plan a person’s fishing experience. At least until school is out. Making the most of the days you are given should be your mentality every day. It does not become less true when you plan a fishing trip. Especially at others expense.

Fortuitous weather conditions led to a very nice Spring day when 13 hours of fishing was scheduled to ensue in the form of two guided trips. The first, a fly-fishing client who is getting ready to retire and wants to learn to fly-fish before this happens. The second, two older gentlemen who won a trip I had donated to the Kalamazoo Chapter of Trout Unlimited, but wanted to upgrade to a full-day trip. Both had been rescheduled because of the lion-like April to be combined on one beautiful day. Each of these trips were very different. They required twice the amount of preparation as what a typical “two-a-day” trip might look like. All of them are things I enjoy, but it is truly work.

The first trip was focused on my client learning to fly fish. It was a lesson on technique, equipment, as well as him hoping to catch a fish or two. It was essential for me to be able to cram the very bare basics of fly fishing into 4 hours to set him up for success in the future. We spoke of high-mountain camping and elk hunting. Things that I thought might not be happening when I reach the same age. We enjoyed our time. I offered future help to help him select the equipment he would inevitably be looking to purchase, and we parted ways. He for home, and I for the same water in a different section.

The second trip was focused on two anglers who were older, yet shared the youthfulness found in my approach to life. They spoke of marathons run, 1,000 mile bike trips in foreign lands, and high-elevation trout fishing expeditions. The type of things you might expect from much younger men. When they caught fish that day, they were thrilled. Here were experienced anglers who have likely caught thousands upon thousands of fish, acting as though they had not. At the end of the trip we talked about life-altering experiences such as surviving cancer and other tumors, both formerly and currently. The three of us left to understand that life is a gift and it needed to be fun. Nobody wanted this day to end.

The day of these fishing trips was bookended by lions. Not in the sense that they roared into the experiences but in the sense that they walked through life with the heart of a lion. People with a wide variety of experiences but all searching for what to accomplish next. All coming together on the same day on the same water. It makes the wind, rain, and general nastiness provided by Mother Nature a very tolerable almost endearing quality of April 2025.