It was sunny and warm, climbing to 80 degrees, but the fickle wind manufactured whitecaps for the powerline fishermen and convinced most of the fish to stay away. It's not a fish market. It didn't even qualify as a fish convention, but that didn't dim the confidence of Steve Krolczyk and Leo Blameuser. Blameuser helped arrange the powerline rig but let Krolczyk make the crucial decisions on baiting and equipment as the 7 a.m. start time approached. Krolczyk was not alone in that ambition.
Fishermen are by nature patient optimists.
They will stand for hours in uncomfortable weather hoping for a nibble, and that's without the inducement of prizes. Some sat on overturned plastic buckets. Most stood, casting and reeling in empty-handed. Not William Kennedy, who sat on a rose-colored towel, his feet hanging over the concrete embankment. Kennedy hauled in a brown trout using 8-pound test and a green KO Wobbler spoon.