Blue Friday

Today is better known as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that serves to be the busiest shopping day of the year. It's a time people go to spend the money they have and in many cases money they don't hoping for a better time up the road. It's also a day many people take off from work with big plans to do something but instead end up staying on the couch watching some lame ass football game. Black Friday is certainly not my cup of joe so several days ago I planned on having me a Blue Friday.

My plan was to spend most of today on Blue. I knew Lane Kregel from Denton and his crew were hitting the catch and release area. I also knew that Chris Adams and Ralph James would be on the Blue and I needed to see the both of them. Originally I was going to hit the catch and release first and fish with Lane and then trot down to the campground area to catch Chris and Ralph, but best laid plans go arwy. First, I had to hit the workplace which I hadn't really planned to do and secondly the chest cold I'd been fighting had only grown worse. After work I thought I could afford thirty minutes on the couch but that thirty minutes turned into two hours. I hate that feeling you have when you wake up late...you know...confused, rattled, shaky all over. Yuck! But I got geared up and hit the road.

As I was passing Scotty's I noticed the familiar coffee colored Xeterra belonging to one Ralph James so I pull in the parking lot. Ralph and his son Brian were having their lunch and had some fish stories to tell. I came to see Ralph and Chris to give them their copy of the fly tying DVD we recently made and to visit with Ralph about a project he has in mind that will help the future of Blue River. We chatted for awhile and then Ralph and Brian were headed for the river. I visited with Scotty and he was in a good mood reporting that he had his best November on record and that's good news to me. What's good for Scotty is good for Blue River. Scotty also told me he had sold seventy fishing licenses so far on Blue Friday. A little known fact about Scotty's Blue River One Stop is that the store is the number two seller of fishing licenses in Oklahoma.



I got to the river and found Chris and chatted with him. For Chris I had his DVD and a small Blue River token from Miss Carol. Miss Carol also had one for Ralph. After leaving Chris I went to look for Ralph and found him below the crossing with his backside planted on a boulder so I wade out and plant my butt on a boulder by him. Out of the clear Blue, Ralph was plucking bows with one of his favorite flies and it wasn't even the Red Midge but he did tie that on later. I flung a booger downstream and started getting strikes but no hook-ups. Ralph suggested I shorten the tail and I did but again just strikes with no hook-ups. Then there came a rise downstream and I tie on the Adams I used yesterday. I really don't like casting a dry downstream but I did and the result was not even a look. So I spooled up and sit on the rock and visited with Ralph about his project. Eventually, I would tie on the Flashback Pheasant Tail and capture two small bows which was the extent of my catching today. My goodness, I have to say these early stockers are especially small this year and I certainly wish something could be done to increase their size by a couple of inches. These boys and girls are tiny.

The river was crowded today with anglers of all types up and down the river. Ralph's son Brian was on the sandbar and I guess I watched him catch twenty or thirty fish in the short time I was on the river. Ralph and I was taking incoming from both sides of the bank but it was all innocent with no ill intended. Just young over-excited young-uns wanting to catch a bow.

For most of the day the sun was being flirtatious...time from time peeking through the cracks of a heavily laden gray soupy sky. But, about an hour after I arrived at the river ole sol broke through that pewter colored barrier and warmed the surroundings up. The river was really pretty today and the water is gin clear.

I only stayed on the river for about an hour and a half today. Still feeling lousy I set course for my harbor to hit the rack once again.

On my way home I felt a cold one coming on so I pulled into the Middle Of Nowhere Market and had that cold one. The shelves in this store are pretty well empty these days because the owners have had some bad luck with health issues. The beer cooler was full though and a Coors Light, not a can of pork n'beans, was what I was after. I've always thought this little store would make a good store slash fly shop. About four years ago when it was up and running good I started to buy it but didn't. I still think it would make a good store slash fly shop but I'm getting kind of old to be buying anything these days.

So, even though my plans kind of fell apart today I still got to spend a couple of quality hours on the river Blue on this Blue Friday. I'll take two hours at Blue anytime compared to standing in line at Wal-Mart. I mean geeezzz.