Years ago, Neldon and I had a streak of several years of fishing Good Friday for spring run steelhead. Job changes, family resposibilites and a long list of other excuses prevented me from carrying on this tradition for the past six or seven years. (Though I think Neldon streak is still going strong). This year, my son Carter and I hoped to start the tradition again and headed to Leeper Park, downtown South Bend. Carter did feel the power of a steelhead for the first time in his 10 years on this earth, a battle that lasted less than a minute, but converted a new steelhead junkie. After a beer and a burger at Fiddlers Harth, we headed back to the Amish country.

The bite was not exactly hot that day, though Neldon did bring a few to hand. The good news in, the river is in good shape and fishing will only get better.