TR--Solo Death March--attention Danl

I made my way down trail at 7:00 AM, as the Sun was waking from it's nights
slumber. The local weather was said to be clear and sunny *all* day, well
that's what they said last night anyway. I made it to the stream by 7:25
AM. I had planned to walk up the stream a good distance before putting-in,
since the last time I fished this stretch of water Mr. Miller and I almost
didn't make it out. Much of the most spectacular waters are in the last
third of the fish, and I really wanted to hit the huge pools that Jeff and I
missed on our first attempt. Well the waters got the best of me, and I
didn't go near far enough up.

I caught a nice brown on my first cast. I was fishing one of my own ties.
It's supposed to be an Adams, but I doubt anyone else would recognize it for
such. Fortunately, it still catches fish. I caught a bow next, and
he/she/it fouled my fly. I decided to go to the flys that I had bought from
Mr. Mason's troutflies.com. Bill's flies are really wonderfully tied and
draw fish to them like flys are drawn to sugar. Unfortunately for me, all
of the flys I received from Bill are barbless. I lost 5 fish in a row. I
had them on, got them to reel, and would be bringing them in on a taut
line--and suddenly slack? Whether it is me or whether it is a problem with
barbless hooks, I won't ever use a barbless again (unless required by law).
The first I lost was likely the largest fish I hooked all day. I didn't
lose another fish after changing back over to barbed hooks, except for on
that I stupidly broke off. My terminal tippet was rated 1.4 lbs. and I
tried to bring another nice sized brown out from under a rock. He didn't
budge until the line came back at me, less my fly. Mind ya, I'm not bad
mouthing Mr. Mason's flys, fish seem to like them a great deal, I'd just
prefer to be able to decide for myself (barb vs barbless).

I would fish for a while, and then hike up the stream a ways skipping some
really good waters, but I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to
fish the big holes that Mr. Miller and I had missed the last time out.
Well, Murphy decided to rear his ugly head and the sky turned dark--except
for some really brilliant flashes--deafeningly loud thunder clapped and I
got freaked! Of course the hail had to follow. I had been a bit
apprehensive about fishing this section alone, but it wasn't because of the
weather. I figured that I'd fall and break a leg, or hit my head. I did
fall twice. the first time I was able to twist my left leg up under me
while falling back on my ass. The second time I landed flat on my back, but
managed to bruise my palm and scrape-up my arm. I brought along an extra
rod just in case I broke one. How did that work out, you ask? NOT TOO
GOOD! I had sewn Velcro to my backpack so that I could secure a rod tube
firmly in place. Unfortunately, I didn't plan on having to bushwhack my way
out--AGAIN. It's bad enough having to climb up ridges to get around
impassable boulders, but crawling on one's belly like a reptile thru rhodos
in a lightning and hail storm sucks!

All in all, a very good day on the stream. I made my way to the Falls
parking lot around 4:15 PM and hike the 2 mile down the highway back to the
Greentown Trail and my most wonderful truck. I stopped by Optimistic
Campgrounds on my way home and had a couple of Greg's beers--al the while
hoping he would offer me some Vicadin to relieve the toothache that has been
tormenting me all day.

Anyway, I should be in top shape for Octobers Anti-Clave, as long as I fish
this stretch once a week from now till Oct.

Mark