TR - Stolen Opportunity

So, I had forty hours of overtime by 10:00 a.m. last Friday. The boss is
taking Fridays off because he is in "use it or lose it" vacation mode.
So I told the rest of the gang, "I'm outa here. I'm goin' fishin'."

I went home grabbed my gear and headed up the canyon. I was time to hit
my "home" stream. I was just hoping that the recent warm weather hadn't
turned it into a muddy, raging torrent. There was a truck parked in the
first turnout for access to the stream and a car in each of the next
two. It was apparent that I was not the only one taking a Friday
afternoon off.

The next turnoff, that leads to my second favorite stretch of this
stream, was empty so I pulled over, rigged up and headed for the stream.
Like the day before, it was a great day for fishing. The temperature
was probably about 65 degrees and the sky was overcast with high,
nonthreatening clouds. I was pleased to note that the water, though a
bit higher than average, was fairly clear. Now I could only hope for
hungry fish. I walked downstream about half a mile and then started
fishing my way back upstream.

The next three and a half hours were complete bliss. Whereas, the day
before I was struggling with my casting, now I was able to put my fly
pretty much where I wanted with relative ease. There were few visibly
feeding fish but it was not hard to get them to rise to various, well
placed, attractor patterns. I caught fish on Renegades, Royal Wulffs,
Royal Trudes and a couple others that I'm not even sure what they were.
I did have to use smaller sizes though. I got several sniffs and
refusals on a #12 RW. All the fish I caught were on 14's or 16's.

And (I don't like that rule of not starting a sentence with "and.") I
caught a lot of fish. I stopped keeping track at 15 and that was in the
first hour. Most were in the 9 to 13 inch range. When it was time to go,
I doubled back on a hole that I had made a mess of the first go around
and my more careful approach was rewarded with the fish of the day, a
beautiful, fat, 15 inch brown that put up a heck of a fight.

I have all ways been impressed with the fighting strength of the fish in
this stream. They usually try to go deep if they can and then will
sometimes surprise me by going airborne Rainbow fashion.

I had a blast. It was a great couple of spring fishing days. Now I've
got to get some yard work done.

Russell

On 13-Apr-2007, "Russell D." wrote:

So, I had forty hours of overtime by 10:00 a.m. last Friday. The boss is
taking Fridays off because he is in "use it or lose it" vacation mode.
So I told the rest of the gang, "I'm outa here. I'm goin' fishin'."

I went home grabbed my gear and headed up the canyon. I was time to hit
my "home" stream. I was just hoping that the recent warm weather hadn't
turned it into a muddy, raging torrent. There was a truck parked in the
first turnout for access to the stream and a car in each of the next
two. It was apparent that I was not the only one taking a Friday
afternoon off.

The next turnoff, that leads to my second favorite stretch of this
stream, was empty so I pulled over, rigged up and headed for the stream.
Like the day before, it was a great day for fishing. The temperature
was probably about 65 degrees and the sky was overcast with high,
nonthreatening clouds. I was pleased to note that the water, though a
bit higher than average, was fairly clear. Now I could only hope for
hungry fish. I walked downstream about half a mile and then started
fishing my way back upstream.

The next three and a half hours were complete bliss. Whereas, the day
before I was struggling with my casting, now I was able to put my fly
pretty much where I wanted with relative ease. There were few visibly
feeding fish but it was not hard to get them to rise to various, well
placed, attractor patterns. I caught fish on Renegades, Royal Wulffs,
Royal Trudes and a couple others that I'm not even sure what they were.
I did have to use smaller sizes though. I got several sniffs and
refusals on a #12 RW. All the fish I caught were on 14's or 16's.

And (I don't like that rule of not starting a sentence with "and.") I
caught a lot of fish. I stopped keeping track at 15 and that was in the
first hour. Most were in the 9 to 13 inch range. When it was time to go,
I doubled back on a hole that I had made a mess of the first go around
and my more careful approach was rewarded with the fish of the day, a
beautiful, fat, 15 inch brown that put up a heck of a fight.

I have all ways been impressed with the fighting strength of the fish in
this stream. They usually try to go deep if they can and then will
sometimes surprise me by going airborne Rainbow fashion.

I had a blast. It was a great couple of spring fishing days. Now I've
got to get some yard work done.

Russell

Nice TR,

I had a similar "stolen" opportunity a few weeks ago which I will post on
another thread
Sincerely
Fred

I had a similar "stolen " opportunity

My mother in law passed away
It was not unexpected!
She was sick and my wife & duaghter were with her in FL for a week before
she passed on Tuesday
They wanted me to come to West Palm Beach for the funeral on Thurs
(not my favorite place to be)

I booked a flt for a Wed morn at & 7:20 AM which meant that I had to get uo
at 4:45 AM
So of course I really did not get any sleep.
At 3:38 AM the airline called to tell me that my flt was cancelled.
What to do?? It was during spring break and getting to FL was not possible
in time for the funeral.

I called my wife as soon as she was awake and she asked me instead to make
the burial in NY the following Sunday
So I had 2 days -
With a mesage already on my machine stating that we were out of town due to
a death in the family

So w a friend, we went to Rock Creek MT for 2 days and had a ball fishing
for rainbows and white fish
(Truth be told she was not a " nice " person anyway)

I returned home late Fri nite and made a flt to NYC early the next morning
and made the funeral on Sunday
What a trip NY is!
I used to live there.
I don't miss it.

Fred