SPRING IN NW OHIO

Last night my family experienced the truest sign of spring in NW Ohio. The Maumee river Walleye run. The doll fly venders, fishing boats, men lined side by side in chest waders hoping to catch their limit; this is spring for us. The Maumee is so narrow in parts that fishermen facing each other from opposite ends get their lines tangled.It's a beautiful river, albeit pristine, with woods up to its shore in many places.
It brings back memories for me becuse fishing was one of my husband's and my first dates. In fact I received chest waders for a birthday present the first year we dated.
And now we walk, too many years later to recall. We pick up spinners, doll flies, sometimes a few sinkers embedded in the gravel long the road. But mostly we watch for deer, enjoy the Canadian geese, which while many never left, are returning from their winter vacationing grounds. We usually go after dinner, near sunset, giving us all a longing to be in the river.
The park rangers hover predictably near, watching for the occasional offender, snagging, not catching through the mouth, going beyond the present limit of 3 fish.
Most obey the laws, licenses are expensive after all, $20.00 a piece. No one wants his license revoked, because sometimes just the promise of that perfect catch, is worth the hours of standing in the river with nothing. And for me, just once more standing in the river would be worth it all.