What does it mean to be back? It means being present in the moment and making the best out of each day. The end goal for me currently is to go 1-0 every damn day for as long as possible and that is exactly what happened when I got back out on the water with some of my best buddies. It all started with Clint Packo who just so happens to own some pretty sweet private properties on the North Fork of the South Platte. He reserved the entire Rawhide Ranch for us and even supplied Razors for my somewhat limited self to ride around on. A first-class move by a truly first-class guy. I know what you all are thinking... private water, big whoop... Now let's be honest, I doubt any of you would pass this up either.

The weather wasn't particularly good which was sort of a concern for me, but again you really do only live once so whether my doctor loved the idea of me walking 8,000 steps in 30-degree weather or not, I was dead set on doing it. The objective was pretty simple for all of us. Let's stick together, watch each other toss some streamers, and have the best time we could. And that is exactly what we did. Given the prospects of where we were, catching fish wasn't really in question and that was exactly what the doctor ordered.

While we fished slowly and goofed around the day was full of intermittent breaks where cigars were brought out and stories flowed. As usual, we hardly let Ivan fish and made him our cameraman for the day. Okay, that's only half true, but knowing Ivan you won't see any pictures of him in this essay. Now here are some pictures... damn, it was good to be back!