[VFB] QUOTE FOR THE DAY

[Jimmy D. Moore]

Rest in Peace

"This past fall I was fishing "The Pool" on a small river in Cape 
Breton, Nova Scotia for Atlantic Salmon. I need not say where, as we all 
know "The Pool", and its reputation. A number of bright, large salmon 
had moved in overnight and the fishing promised to be memorable. When I 
arrived, I noticed only one other person. He was an older gentleman, in 
his seventies I speculated, and he had just started down the pool. His 
casts were long and graceful with so little effort. The rhythm of his 
movements and the beauty of the scene were hypnotic. His experience and 
dedication to the art were obvious and I was moved to sit quietly on the 
bank and just watch. After five or six casts, and on his last retrieve, 
there was a huge swirl of water and we both saw the dorsal fin of what 
was surely a 20 lb. Atlantic Salmon.

I knew from previous experience that this was a taking fish, likely to 
be hooked on the next cast. Just then however, a funeral procession 
started across the bridge about seventy yards downstream. The elderly 
gentleman reeled in his line and stepped out of the water. He stood at 
military attention with his rod smartly at his side and doffed his cap 
waiting there until the slow procession passed across the bridge and out 
of sight. He quickly replaced his cap and began stripping line as he 
made his way back into the water.

I was moved by this display and yet curious. I approached the gentleman 
and remarked that he must have known the deceased quite well to have 
possibly lost the opportunity to hook and land the large fish he had 
raised. He replied "Yes, and if she had lived until next Tuesday, we 
would have been married 53 years".

- Bob Boudreau, Flyfish@ 1995

--
Jimmy D. Moore - Author,Outdoor Writer,TOWA, TF&G,VP-GRTU 
Owner/Webmaster - Worldwide Flyfishing Info.
http://www.BIGTROUTMAN.homestead.com/MainPage.html 

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with outstanding campfire type stories about hunting and fishing.