I was hurting, that fish gave me a workout. I stumbled/ crawled back to
the bank, handed the rod to Rodney and cratered. 2 absolutely fantastic fish
and I was hammered. I just had to lay there for about 20 minutes and try to
relax. As I layed there I closed my eyes and ran both events threw my mind,
what a fantastic day it was.
About 1:30 Rodney hooked a good fish. It took line like no bodies
business. He crossed over one fisherman, (with his permission), and headed
down stream. I grabbed the camera and got up on my stick to follow. I also
had his net which he left buy me on the bank. I worked my way up behind him
telling him that I was going to clip his net to the "D" ring on his vest, (I
did not want to startle him and cause him to lose what appeared to be an
exceptional fish.
Every eye around was on him, then the fish surfaced and rolled. It
succeeded in wrapping the line around it's body and getting cross current.
The furled leader snapped at it terminal end and the trout was gone. I was
looking at it when it rolled and it was much bigger than his earlier fish,
close to 30" buy what I saw.
Rodney was frustrated, I was beat, so we called it a day. I hobbled my
way back down stream and to the truck behind Rodney. We sat on the tail gate
and laughed and chatted about the events of the day and the fine fish.
One gentleman who was fishing directly across from us came over to
compliment Rodney on the one that broke off. Seams he had a better view of
it than we did. After a bit of discussing flies and fish we found out he
frequented the VFB, (Virtual Fly Box) web site. We chatted about the folks
we knew from the group and such and he said he would sign onto the list when
he got home. When he shows up his name is Kevin and he is from Denver.
That night we had a good dinner and hit the bed for some much needed
sleep.
Sunday we were up early, (my back woke me up just after 3 and I got
Rodney up just a bit before 5). We had to head back today, but, we had
agreed to hit the water early and see what we could do.
We waded upstream to just about where we were the day before. Kevin was
there with his 2 friends who cam in the night before. Rodney was using my
spare rod, (Amanda's rod actually), and we worked the water. The morning was
slow and no one was catching anything. We tried fly after fly but the fish
refused our offerings. Then Kevin caught one on a #20 brown emerger. It
looked like the patterns from the day before were in order. I moved down to
a nice spot that I could stand without swimming and started to work the
water. I had 3 hook ups but they all got off before I could even get them
close. Then I had a great hit, that fish took line and the fight was on. I
could feel the head shaking going on then bam, it was off. I checked the
line and flies and all was there so I went back to fishing. Then it
happened. Perfect drift, right under the overhanging rocks, and all hell
broke lose. That fish headed down stream like a rocket. Kevin, (who was
between me and Rodney), pulled his line is and sat back to watch. It did not
last long. That fish went deep then the line went slack. I was palming it
but not hard, and it took line as it wanted, it just disappeared. When I
pulled the line in I found everything broke off at the leader end. I went to
shore and rested and started to rig up again.
Rodney hooked another marvelous fish that I got a picture of, then the
fishing just shut down. He tried for about another 30 minutes but no one was
getting hits.
It was close to noon so we decided we should head for camp and pack up.
After an rigorous walk back to the truck we headed for camp. By 1 we had the
camper down and the truck loaded. We headed out for the long drive back
home. I dropped Rodney off about 6 or a bit after. Got his stuff out and
headed for home. It was a long tiring drive and I got here just about 20
after 2 Monday morning.
Have some great memories and photos to cherish the moments with, at least
until I get up there again.
Someday...
Jimi
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