Autumn on the Rapid, part II

Tuesday, 14th:

No fishing today. There was hard rain after breakfast and I chickened
out. Instead I stayed in the cabin, kept warm with a nice fire in the
Franklin stove and finished Red November, a book by W. Craig Reed about
the inside secrets of the U.S. and Soviet sub programs, including some
that I was involved with - Holystone, Barnacle, Clarinet Bullseye,
Boresight, and some others.

It rained off and on most of the day. We went for a bike ride in the
afternoon after the rain and ran into a couple of guides that are
friends. They said it was not a very good day on the river, and
friends staying at Lakewood confirmed it. With the hard rain and hard
fishing, I was glad I made the decision to not fish.

Wednesday, 15th:

No rain, but some serious looking clouds. Pretty chilly with a north
wind. After breakfast I made it to the dam with some friends and
fishing was not good. Again, I threw everything at the fish but not
one strike for over an hour. Finally a nice brook trout of about 14
inches fell prey to a size 18 brassie. A few more followed, including
a 17 inch salmon that did not break the surface while I was landing
him. Just as I was about to net him the hook came out of his jaw and
fouled itself in the leader along with the split shot. What a mess. I
cut off the brassie and the hook was bent. I finally gave up trying to
untangle the mess and cut off the leader, stuffed it into my waders and
put on a new one. First cast with another size 18 brassie and another
salmon hooked up. But, like his hefty brother before him, he too
slipped the hook just as I wad about to land him. Checked the hook and
it was bent. It shouldn't have been - the fish was not that big, so I
tied on another brassie tied with a scud hook. The next fish, a fairly
good brook trout did not bend that hook, so I can only assume that the
two brassies tied on straight hooks had a defect in the hook. The
brook trout was beautiful in his fall coat, bright orange belly with
bright green sides. I took pictures of the trout from this trip and
will post them later.

Some doofus tried to fish 20 feet upstream from where my friend George
was fishing (and catching fish). George told him to please leave. The
guy made a face and reluctantly moved on. George changed fishing spots
about 15 minutes later and this dude rushed to the vacated spot. The
guy must have figured it was a god spot because George had taken about
5 fish in the past hour. However, this doofus took none in the hour
that he was at the spot. Sort of makes you feel good when that
happens. The fish abound in this river. It is not where you fish, so
much as how you fish. Presentation, presentation, presentation.
George continued to catch fish at his new spot.

I finally took my first fall; slipped while carelessly moving over some
big rocks and landed directly on my tail bone. Hurt like hell. I sat
there for about five minutes until another fisherman came over to see
if I was ok. I'll be sore in the morning.

Only six of us in camp now, with two leaving in the morning. The
Polish girls have returned to Poland and college, so the place is very
quiet. Maureen is the waitress, while Whit is the cabin boy bringing
us enough wood to be comfortably warm during the day. Three blankets
and a furry dog names Jenny get us through the cold nights. One of my
pet projects (no pun intended) is teaching Jenny how to start a fire in
the stove about 0500 hours. So far she has been a lazy beast, staying
in bed until *I* make the fire. Ingrate!

I have a good bottle of red wine for dinner, and then it will be to bed
early. I am very tired.

Dave