Growing up, I was a good student. And it was important to my parents that I go to school and get good grades. But I never had perfect attendance. Fishing was my dad’s greatest passion, and he shared that passion with me. So, every year, near the end of April I would miss at least one day of school. The start of Trout Season! Opening Day!
Traditionally, the latter part of April is when fishermen can start catching trout in the Eastern Sierras of California. And every year, my dad would take me on a 6 hour drive north from Los Angeles, past Manzanar, to Crowley Lake for a weekend of camping and fishing. We ate the fish we caught, played cards at night and just had fun. My dad had plenty of fishing stories. Some of those were stories of when he would sneak out of Manzanar to go fishing. My favorite being a story of how he lost THE big one and found out later that the state record had been caught the following day from the same spot.
The stories in The Manzanar Fishing Club remind me of my father. I think his story would have fit right in.
And I almost forgot. My dad would send me back to school on Monday with a sick note so that I would not get in trouble with my teacher.
Randy Imoto
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