Suckered

I typically don't fish around opening day, but my father wanted to so why not? We went somewhere I thought would be relatively open. It was. The water was high but clear, and caddis were coming off. Neither of us, however, could move a trout. Suckers had moved into the stream to spawn and feed. We started targeting them, struggling to get nymphs deep enough to get their attention. We could see many of them, nose down in the sandy part of a deep pool. They were big. My father hooked and lost two; those things were fighting hard in the strong current. I got two hits and missed both. We left slightly disappointed, but glad to have spent some good time on a beautiful stream.