On 4 Apr 2006 13:13:31 -0700, "Frank Reid"
wrote:

I
would like to hear your best fly fishing practical jokes. Extra points
go if they were ROFF related.
One I would start out with, is a certain North Cakalakian tying his
favorite fly on your tippet. The joke comes in after the 6th or 7th
missed take when you realize he cut the hook off.

A similar thing happened to me on the Rapid one daymore than a few
years ago. I got tired of catching 13 inch landlocked salmon and cut
the hook off. The fish were rising, but they were small landlocks and
small brookies. I had caught my fill, but really didn't want to
leave, so I cut the hook off of a #16 Goddard Caddis. I was fishing
at the dam (Zimmerman's Run), and must have "missed" 15 or 20 takes,
much to the amusement of a newbie dude who sat on the stairs leading
down to the runway I was fishing from. It was fun in that I felt the
initial tug of the take, and I didn't have to reel in another little
brookie/salmon.

I finally left for a hot shower and a cold martini and the dude took
my spot. At dinner that evening he was bragging about how he had
"out-fished this old dude" and took six salmon at the dam. He
explained how this "old dude" couldn't set the hook on a rise. He
didn't recognize me, but after dinner when he was walking past our
cabin I called him over and showed him my "fly" and explained what I
had been doing. He was profoundly embarrassed and his face turned
several shades of red. We parted friends and actually fished together
the next day.

Dave