PART2.
ANTICIPATION
Most people, who have fished with me, often get annoyed, when I blurt out every” take” I get. When people ask others how their day was, they often say something like …“ I hooked one … and Calvin had 20 some eats … blah, blah, blah.” The reason I have always been so excited by any hesitation on my fly, comes from a particularly cold and sunny day on the Sustut River in BC.
I was fishing with legendary fishing guide Paul( don’ t know his last name). We walked up to the bluff above the run after we set up a man named Jay in the run. Upon turning around and looking down, I could count 18-20 pound fish holding in about 6-10 feet of water. With each cast and each step down, we could see Jay’ s fly getting closer and closer to the fish. After about eight casts, a hen broke loose and rushed his fly fast She did this repeatedly, about 12 times, opened and closed her mouth around the fly without turning. She was literally eating the fly right in front of us. I yelled to Jay …“ Jay she’ s eating it …” He said,“ Huh?” Then the hen returned to her holding spot next to a rock and her rather large double red striped boyfriend. I looked at Paul with a head shake and he just sat there and laughed. We told Jay to make that same cast, he did, and the fish ate 5-6 more times before she lazily went back to her lover. Cast numèro three would surely be the one I thought. So, Jay“ bombs” another one out there. This time the hen is contemplating whether to even bother moving to the black and blue fly invading her space. Finally, she lazily comes up one more time, eats the fly, and turns. Jay yells,“ Fish on!” I throw my hands up like,“ no kidding, Sherlock!”…. Then he lost it.
CONCLUSION
I have done a lot of thinking about these two moments, while wading in thigh deep water, searching for signs of fish.
From that moment forward, pretty much anytime my fly stops … it’ s a 20 pound hen trying to eat it.
9