- 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 - Scout Exec. BSA (Ret.), TOWA, TF&G Contributor, GRTU Past VP. Past Pres. McGregor Rotary. Freelance Outdoor writer, humorist, half-assed Texan and collector of classic bamboo fly rods and classic golf clubs
Author - "MOON HOLLER MISFITS Fishing & Hunting Club", © JIMMY D's Fly Fishing Website: http://home.earthlink.net/~rayado/rayadoflyfishingflypatternstips/index.html ******************************************************************** "Being able to read trout streams is just as valuable to a fly fisherman as the ability to read a defense is to an NFL Quarterback." Jimmy D. Moore - © [2004] *******************************************************************
