Okay, I hate to do this....

In article , Wolfgang
writes
Well, you know "fish stories."

Just about a month ago, I spent three glorious days fishing in the Great
Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the company of three
splendid gentlemen, notorious habitués, one and all, of this
assemblage. I averaged about three fish per day,
I think.

So you were in Wayno-land eh? Was he one of your companions perchance?
--
Bill Grey

"W. D. Grey" wrote in message
...
In article , Wolfgang
writes
Well, you know "fish stories."

Just about a month ago, I spent three glorious days fishing in the Great
Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the company of three
splendid gentlemen, notorious habitués, one and all, of this
assemblage. I averaged about three fish per day,
I think.

So you were in Wayno-land eh?

Well, I was in the state of North Carolina. Looking at my World Atlas, I
see that the isle of Great Britain is about 581.43 miles, from Beachy Head,
southeast of London, to Cape Wrath in the northwest highlands of
Scotland......as the crow flies. North Carolina, from Nags Head on the
Atlantic coast to the the tri-state corner shared with Georgia and
Tennessee, is about 493.89. So, yeah, roughly.

Was he one of your companions perchance?

Sadly, I must report that he was not. Sadly, because although we have never
technically "fished" together, I have enjoyed his company (immensely) at
three or four of these gatherings, and he was definitely missed at this one.
The "gentlemen" referred to above were Messrs. Knight, Miller, and Vance.
This one was not slated to be a ROFFian get-together. It just happened that
a few people planned to be in the area at approximately the same time, and I
took advantage of the opportunity to avail myself of benefiting from their
good manners by showing up and counting on the justly famed southern
hospitality to keep from being summarily and forcibly ejected from the
premises. It works every time.

Wolfgang
on the other hand, the *******s caught all the fish, leaving me and my bum
left hind flipper to lurch along, whimpering pitifully (though, evidently,
not pitifully enough), in their wake.

In article , Wolfgang
writes
So you were in Wayno-land eh?

Well, I was in the state of North Carolina. Looking at my World Atlas, I
see that the isle of Great Britain is about 581.43 miles, from Beachy Head,
southeast of London, to Cape Wrath in the northwest highlands of
Scotland......as the crow flies. North Carolina, from Nags Head on the
Atlantic coast to the the tri-state corner shared with Georgia and
Tennessee, is about 493.89. So, yeah, roughly.

We may be small but we have a huge heart :-)

Was he one of your companions perchance?

Sadly, I must report that he was not. Sadly, because although we have never
technically "fished" together, I have enjoyed his company (immensely) at
three or four of these gatherings, and he was definitely missed at this one.
The "gentlemen" referred to above were Messrs. Knight, Miller, and Vance.
This one was not slated to be a ROFFian get-together. It just happened that
a few people planned to be in the area at approximately the same time, and I
took advantage of the opportunity to avail myself of benefiting from their
good manners by showing up and counting on the justly famed southern
hospitality to keep from being summarily and forcibly ejected from the
premises. It works every time.

aA I write I'm looking at a baseball cap issued for the '99 ROFF Fall
Ball ans I see Jeff Miller's signature on it !

I treasure this cap !

The other signatories we-Daytripper, I.J (Indian Joe) Wayne Knight,
Louis LaPlac (the rev Dave laCourse) Charlie Choc, Waldo (where is he?),
Tom Brown, Steve Zimmerman and Bill Crowe.....and NO Wayno !!!......
..... I nearly forgot - Ken Fortenberry.
Wolfgang
on the other hand, the *******s caught all the fish, leaving me and my bum
left hind flipper to lurch along, whimpering pitifully (though, evidently,
not pitifully enough), in their wake.

I hope they shared their fish :-)
--
Bill Grey

"W. D. Grey" wrote in message
...

aA I write I'm looking at a baseball cap issued for the '99 ROFF Fall Ball
ans I see Jeff Miller's signature on it !

I treasure this cap !

The other signatories we-Daytripper, I.J (Indian Joe) Wayne Knight,
Louis LaPlac (the rev Dave laCourse) Charlie Choc, Waldo (where is he?),
Tom Brown, Steve Zimmerman and Bill Crowe.....and NO Wayno !!!......
.... I nearly forgot - Ken Fortenberry.

I have one of those up in the closet. It wasn't till the next year that I
got to meet some of those signatories face to face.

...the *******s caught all the fish, leaving me and my bum
left hind flipper to lurch along, whimpering pitifully (though, evidently,
not pitifully enough), in their wake.

I hope they shared their fish :-)

Well, Chuck let me photograph one.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:

...the *******s caught all the fish, leaving me and my bum
left hind flipper to lurch along, whimpering pitifully (though, evidently,
not pitifully enough), in their wake.

Despite his protestations to the contrary, Wolfgang got around quite
well despite a truly awful blister on his "flipper". He scrambled over
rocks, waded through water I wouldn't even attempt, and in general
handled himself like a man who is immediately at home as long as the
water is wet and has the promise of fish in it. :-)

He did finally have enough of it after 5-6 hours (?) on the stream,
and turned back. Jeff and I fished for a while longer before heading
back ourselves, and what did we find when nearing the trailhead, but
Wolf back in the stream catching fish. :-) (I think he said he got
tired of waiting for us.)

I hope they shared their fish :-)

Well, Chuck let me photograph one.

Hey, that's right. Whatever happened to that photo, anyway? :-)

Again, to be fair, this was shortly after Wolfgang arrived at my
campsite. We were sitting around chatting when some bug activity
started on the river right below the site. He insisted *I* fish the
mini-hatch, and not only coached me on a long-leader technique, but
re-rigged his rod and handed it to me with one of his flies tied on, and
proceeded to direct my casts to willing fish.

I figured the least I could do was try to catch one. :-)


Chuck Vance (or two ... or three)

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...
...and what did we find when nearing the trailhead, but Wolf back in the
stream catching fish. :-)

Well, not so much catching as fishing. Um.....truth to tell, not so much
fishing as casting. I DO love fly casting!

(I think he said he got tired of waiting for us.)

Nah, I wasn't waiting at all. I was taking it easy and had stopped a couple
of times to photgraph bugs and flowers....and an awesome three inch long
pencil thick megalegged crawly thingy....but my foot was bothering me
despite the glacial pace I'd been keeping. It was time to cool my heels and
reflect on the rare beauty of a suddenly pellucidly clear etymology.

I hope they shared their fish :-)
Well, Chuck let me photograph one.

Hey, that's right. Whatever happened to that photo, anyway? :-)

I'm checking over my list of lame excuses. I'll get back to you on that
pretty soon now.

Again, to be fair, this was shortly after Wolfgang arrived at my
campsite. We were sitting around chatting when some bug activity started
on the river right below the site. He insisted *I* fish the mini-hatch,
and not only coached me on a long-leader technique, but re-rigged his rod
and handed it to me with one of his flies tied on, and proceeded to direct
my casts to willing fish.

It's astonishing how easy fly fishing becomes when one assumes the role of
sage advisor and stands on the bank pontificating while the fish are
actively rising during a substantial hatch.

I figured the least I could do was try to catch one. :-)

Why every sniper has a spotter.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...

...and what did we find when nearing the trailhead, but Wolf back in the
stream catching fish. :-)

Well, not so much catching as fishing. Um.....truth to tell, not so much
fishing as casting. I DO love fly casting!

And it shows. :-) I hope to one day reach that point myself. And
actually, I did somewhat on the evening when you were "coaching" me.
Working with that long leader and casting across my body forced me to
abandon my preconceived notions (mostly gained from casting oversized
"flies" for bass), and "go with the flow". And of course it didn't hurt
that there were cooperative fish in the area. :-)

Hey, that's right. Whatever happened to that photo, anyway? :-)

I'm checking over my list of lame excuses. I'll get back to you on that
pretty soon now.

No worries. It's just that I told Carol that there was *some*
evidence that my whole time there wasn't spent drinking beer around the
campfire. :-)

Again, to be fair, this was shortly after Wolfgang arrived at my
campsite. We were sitting around chatting when some bug activity started
on the river right below the site. He insisted *I* fish the mini-hatch,
and not only coached me on a long-leader technique, but re-rigged his rod
and handed it to me with one of his flies tied on, and proceeded to direct
my casts to willing fish.

It's astonishing how easy fly fishing becomes when one assumes the role of
sage advisor and stands on the bank pontificating while the fish are
actively rising during a substantial hatch.

IIRC, you were actually stretched out on a boulder the size of a
large sofa, but that doesn't affect your point in the slightest. :-)

Anyway, the irony wasn't lost on me that after four solid days of
fishing, I caught the most and biggest fish of the trip within 40' of my
campsite, while being given casting advice and using a borrowed rod and
fly. :-)

I figured the least I could do was try to catch one. :-)

Why every sniper has a spotter.

My only problem was I felt like I needed a semi-automatic to keep up
with the rises of the fish. :-)


Chuck Vance (of course that would have made C&R a bit more difficult)

"W. D. Grey" wrote

The other signatories we-Daytripper, I.J (Indian Joe) Wayne Knight,
Louis LaPlac (the rev Dave laCourse) Charlie Choc, Waldo (where is he?),
Tom Brown, Steve Zimmerman and Bill Crowe.....and NO Wayno !!!......
.... I nearly forgot - Ken Fortenberry.

well, um, that signature event just might have taken place when i was,
ah, ...resting...

yfitons
wayno(nothing i'd rather do than sign it for you some day.)

Wayne Harrison wrote:
"W. D. Grey" wrote
The other signatories we-Daytripper, I.J (Indian Joe) Wayne Knight,
Louis LaPlac (the rev Dave laCourse) Charlie Choc, Waldo (where is he?),
Tom Brown, Steve Zimmerman and Bill Crowe.....and NO Wayno !!!......
.... I nearly forgot - Ken Fortenberry.

well, um, that signature event just might have taken place when i was,
ah, ...resting...

I remember you being outside trying to jumpstart a dead battery
on your old Mercedes.

--
Ken Fortenberry

In article , Wayne Harrison
writes

"W. D. Grey" wrote

The other signatories we-Daytripper, I.J (Indian Joe) Wayne Knight,
Louis LaPlac (the rev Dave laCourse) Charlie Choc, Waldo (where is he?),
Tom Brown, Steve Zimmerman and Bill Crowe.....and NO Wayno !!!......
.... I nearly forgot - Ken Fortenberry.

well, um, that signature event just might have taken place when i was,
ah, ...resting...

yfitons
wayno(nothing i'd rather do than sign it for you some day.)



I may take you up on that Wayne - nothing I'd like better :-)
--
Bill Grey