the Upper Penninsula fell into the Pere Marquette....

My trip to the U.P., with Wolfgang, Jeff, Frank, Wayne and George and Jackie
went quite well. Knowing that I was amongst friends (at least before I went)
who would feel morally obligated to keep me from falling in the river and
drowning AKA Ira Hayes, left me free to maintain a vigorous drunk in between
bouts of fishing. So much so that Frank would pack the van in the mornings
before we left, putting my liquor in the rear where I could not reach it
while driving.

Frank moved up several notches in my book. I bet he'd be fun in or under
fire. You know how guys are, always playing rough. One day we were driving
down a road that led to nowhere when I had to dodge an obstacle on my side
of the lane and swerved to the right. Well, Frank had his window down and
WHAP. Danged tree limb on his side came in through the window and danged
near knocked him out. Other than that, the only other incident was when I
was twisting my rod case around while it was strapped to the ATV. The bungie
cord came undone, spun around several times as it broke free and hooked, you
got it, Frank. So, Frank was my biggest catch of the trip.

Yes, I felt so bad about my treatment of Frank that when he broke his rod, I
broke mine too the very next day.

Now, Frank may not feel like I do about Jeff. Jeff just keeps getting better
every time I meet him and when I'd get to gasping and shaking and searching
around under my seat for the bourbon Frank had packed in the rear of the
van, well... Ol' Jeff would say, "What's the matter John, you need a drink?"
Thank the fish gods that Jeff is never far from a bottle of Bacardi Select
and a can of diet coke. I pulled thirteen cans of diet coke out of the back
of my van this morning.

Now, Wolfgang I respect.I rather think that Wofgang feels kind of fatherly
towards me 'cause more than once when we were all around the fire he'd say,
"Dammit John, sit down .." Or words to that effect. And if it's words,
well... I read a lot and so does Wolfgang. But he remembers! Gosh, I wish I
had my memory back.

And then there was Wayne and his faithful canine canine companion Ralph.
What a pair. The neatest thing was when Wayne went to his car, vehicle, SUV
or whatever and Ralph thought he was going to go for a ride so Ralph jumped
in. Wayne wasn't planning on going anywhere but Ralph didn't seem to care.
After an hour or so Wayne had to take Ralph for a ride just to get him out
of the car. Old Ralph plays his Wayne like a fiddle...

George is a swell person who is a fishing machine. Doubly swell because of
his wife Jackie. I can imagine how pleasant it is to live with her, you will
seldom meet a happier person. If you want to relax, hook up with these two
people.

Anyhow I dropped Frank and Jeff off at the airport and wound my way down to
the Pere Marquette River. Frank, I really tried to go by the guard shack at
the KI Sawyer Airport, the one with the 'For Sale' sign in the window but as
Wolfgang was navigating previously I wasn't really sure where it was and the
map didn't take me that way.

I wound up by the river after a good hike by head light about 6 in the
morning and sat down to wait for an hour or so until it got light enough to
fish in a river that I knew nothing about.

About the time I was preparing to fish some guy waded in about thirty yards
down stream and totally trashed the water I was going to fish. I mean the
salmon were raising a ruckus in that eddy until he plowed into it. I spoke
up and commented that the sound of the salmon was pleasant to hear and he
rather acted like I was intruding on his space. I didn't let it bother me
and instead of fishing the eddy where he was standing just proceeded to fish
straight across. Well, he kept edging up my way like it was shoulder to
shoulder during a walleye run and I thought the heck with this, so I just
leap frogged down stream and had the river to myself. It wasn't crowded at
all in the early hours of the morningcome.

I hooked a couple and broke my flyline. Not the leader the line. However,
judging from the runs I determined that I was snagging the fish with my
buggers and streamers so I quit fishing. I won't snag fish, even
accidentally.

As I was walking back down by the river, I met a pleasant young chap who was
reeling in a fish. I watched as he landed and rested the fish before
releasing it. We spoke and in three or four sentences learned more by
listening to him than in all the articles I have ever read about salmon
fishing.

In casual conversation I gleaned so much I felt like I was stealing his
brain. I mean I was ready to go back to fishing but as I said, my line was
broke and I didn't have any egg patterns. I thought about hinting that I
didn't have any but, well, you know how that is. Anyhow I was happy he was
catching fish (he said it was the best run he had seen in several years of
fishing) and he was happy I was happy and although we only talked for two or
three minutes, we parted like we would meet on the stream again the very
next day. I tell you, he more than made up for the grump I ran into earlier.
Ain't fishing neat?

So, feeling somewhat horny I plowed on home and reunited with the wife.

The Snowbird rendezvous is looking rather iffy. My best friend is moving to
Florida and he and I are going to going down and work on his new (new to
him) house so as to move in with his wife. You help your friends. Anyhow, it
looks like I may be headed back north during that time so I figure he'll owe
me a day or two of R&R on the way home and will try to stop in and see
everyone.

He's a good cook and a likable person so maybe we can put him to work.

all my best...

john

asadi typed:
My trip to the U.P., with Wolfgang, Jeff, Frank, Wayne and George and
Jackie went quite well.
snip

Very nice, John, and as honest a TR as anyone could ever hope to read.
Thanks.
--
TL,
Tim
---------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

"asadi" wrote in message
...

Old Ralph plays his Wayne like a fiddle...

The way Ralph pointed, flushed, and, more importantly- RETRIEVED the grouse
near the Rapid on Friday he can play me all he wants!

asadi wrote:


all my best...

john

That certainly was.

Very good stuff, of a style we don't see often. Thanks for taking the
time to write that down.

Steve

Frank moved up several notches in my book. I bet he'd be fun in or under
fire.

I can honestly say that under fire is fine. After the shooting stops,
I have a tendency to scream and cry a lot.

Frank Reid