North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine October 2015 | Page 22

Despite little validation during the day,
evening always happens and with it,
more hope. Most of the crew took off
in the mid afternoon heat to eat and
rehydrate and take a sensible break. I
volunteered to stay out with the boat
so we would not have to go through the
effort of taking it out, stowing all the
gear and then relaunching and loading.
Bruce stayed with me and we took a
run back upriver for several miles. We
parked in some shade and kept our
eyes on a good run. We talked the fish
talk while waiting for some magic to
happen as the shadows worked toward
the chosen water. Before the shade
reached our run, a couple fish rolled.
I couldn’t take it. I dashed up to the
top, waded into position and was just
working out line when I got a call. It was
Sam. “We are at the landing ready to
go.” I left Bruce to enjoy some swinging
goodness and jetted back down to pick
up the crew. They were rested, fed and
not ready to go. Jake was somewhere
up the hill. I was figuring Bruce was
already hooked up. I was starting to get
twitchy when Sam pulled out an Effie
Burger with my name on it. Big points
for Sam. The Effie burger is famous and
huge. I rarely eat processed meat, but
I wolfed down half of that Frisbee sized
burger concoction before Jake got in
the boat.