May 13, 2021 4 min read

April showers are over now, and May flowers are upon us. Trout season is still in full swing and crappie are hitting.

It is one of my favorite times of the year. Time to talk about those rarely seen but always worth it wildflowers of Enlow. For those of you who might not read my articles regularly, I write one about the lowly wildflowers. I say they are lowly but, in reality, they are grand, and if you haven’t seen them yet go have a look. You will not believe it. Then, you can call me and say, “George you were right.”

Travelling past Prosperity into the area is always fun in its own way. Then, when you hit the road that follows Templeton, you will not believe it. The area has the most variety of any area I have seen. From Templeton down through Enlow the woody wet area is just loaded with color. Here one can find carpets of Blue-Eyed Mary’s, Spring Beauties, Rue Anemone, Red Indian paint, Virginia Blue Belles a variety of Dog Tooth Violets and so many others.

Last year we found a stand of purple flowers so vivid we all stopped to look. My grandkids were along in a car behind us and poor Nick, who was driving, probably didn’t realize how many stops would be necessary. After a good ride, the fishing, of course, begins.

Last year we forgot the wildflower guide book, so this year we are planning to take it along. We will put it with the binoculars and search for that unknown purple flower.

Hopefully, the water is still cool and deep enough so that the trout will be hitting.

In the setting of all those flowers there is so much to see and do. We took a picnic lunch last year and hope to repeat it this year. We also took our kids and their fishing gear. My granddaughter, Teagan, really got into the fishing and Max, her brother, got into playing with the worms, dirt, sticks and the trout. If you take the kids, then allow for the mud. I am not the best kid person – I like them more when they get a bit older – but even I enjoyed this day.

We drove down around a big bend where we like to fish to a beautiful hole. The kids were excited to find some tadpoles. I was headed for the stream with Nick. Kathy, Jen and Teagan were fishing above us. They hadn’t had a bite when Nick and I appeared. Jen said she thought she had seen a trout, so I cast out my spinner. Bam! Mr. Trout flashed golden brown and grabbed that spinner. The kids were amazed. After all, I am getting up in age, but I hauled in a nice brown to the shore.

Kathy took the trout off at the shore as he was a big one and we were on a steep bank. Just as she unhooked him, he put up that last battle and off he went.

I could have cried.

Kathy looked like she might. But I set myself back up, took a breath and cast back out. Guess what happened? You got it, I hooked another big brown trout, very similar to the first. This time no mistakes. I know this story seems a little fishy, but I believe to this day it was the same fish.

If you’ve heard or read this tale last year, remember that’s how great fish stories go. I didn’t make the fish any bigger.

After we fished awhile, admired some of the wildflowers, you could never see them all, and released some tadpoles that happened to fall into Max’s pockets we headed back home. We were all tired and muddy, but it was a great day and I hope to repeat it this weekend. Hopefully, you will get to drive there and admire the show of the wildflowers, maybe enjoy catching a fish story of your own.