It was a good twenty minutes before day break on derby Saturday and I found myself standing on the bank at Seventeen trying to reserve a spot for Miss Carol.
You see, Miss Carol picked up the fly rod early last season and actually done quite well with it. However her concerns being in the water and wading unfortunately sent her back to the bank and the jars of Power Bait and salmon eggs. She had decided to bait fish for this year's derby.
At the first sign of light she came to the river and took her position that I had been squatting on and I went about my way entering Seventeen and drifting flies through the pockets and runs.
Within thirty minutes I had my derby fish in the basket and was pretty well through with that part of this derby thing. Two hours later I looked at Carol standing on the bank...fish-less, looking rather sad so I gave her a holler asking her "Why don't you get your waders on and try the fly rod?"
Almost eagerly she replied "Okay!"
Coming back to the river at Seventeen dressed like any self respecting fly angler Miss Carol entered in the middle and we crossed over to Sam's Rock. It was here she started to drift...yes drift...an olive/yellow split-tail bugger through the run directly in front of her.
Although she missed a number of takes and most likely got sick of hearing me say "Mend, mend, mend!", she took two bows in fairly short fashion. The action then slowed and it was time to try something else.
Out came the Partridge and Orange and I tied it on as a trailer to the bugger. Three more bows came to Carol's hand and now she needed only one more trout.
After a break Miss Carol struggled to find bow number six so we headed for the Island below the crossing. Here in this sweetest of sweet spots she had number six on four different times but never brought any to hand. Carol would end her day with five bows under the belt.
For me personally this derby Saturday was the best derby experience I've yet to have. There was no hurry or rush to capture fish, the weather was absolutely perfect, and I got to spend some wonderful time with Miss Carol...time that reminded both of us that we truly are each others best friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment