| It was one of those fishing trips. You | | | | (hmmm, are they just rubbing it my face, |
| know, everyone catches fish but you, you | | | | or are they tenderizing the |
| loose six or eight of your most | | | | meat?)Questioning my decision to become |
| expensive streamers, it rains buckets, | | | | a fly fisherman, I head over to the dock |
| and you sink the boat. That's right; I | | | | to pick up my 5 year-old son and a fresh |
| got skunked at Steamboat Lake over | | | | styro of night crawlers. I'll let my son |
| Memorial weekend. | | | | fish the meat before I crumble and load |
| I was determined to show those meat | | | | one up on the spinner myself. |
| huckers (worms and power bait) that a | | | | Surprising, no luck with the meat |
| well chosen and strategically placed fly | | | | either, and hear comes the rain. I throw |
| was as effective as anything a | | | | my arms up and ponder my karma activity |
| conventional fisherman could load on a | | | | of the past year. |
| hook and hang under a bobber. Well, no | | | | We charge for shore as the lake turns to |
| such luck, I got stomped. | | | | white caps. The rain and lightning moves |
| The fish were rising like mad on a midge | | | | in fast. Did I mention that we got the |
| hatch, and I threw everything in the box | | | | boat for free and have no clue what to |
| at them. I could swear I saw a hefty | | | | do in the rain? We pull the boat up |
| rainbow nudge my fly to the side to eat | | | | close to shore near our camp, outside of |
| the natural laying only centimeters from | | | | the no-wake zone. We leave all of our |
| my damn near perfect replica. As we | | | | gear and head for the soggy camp. |
| watched the group of 12 year olds add | | | | Well, apparently it's best to leave your |
| another 18" fish to their stringer (full | | | | boat in protected cove in the no wake |
| loaded, I might add) I decided it must | | | | zone. From what we could tell, our boat |
| be a lake thing. I don't fish lakes | | | | was hammered with 300 to 400 gallons of |
| often. | | | | water from the waves and boat wakes from |
| I usually have good luck with a streamer | | | | boaters rushing back to the dock. Yes, |
| in faster moving water, so I head for | | | | it sank in 18 inches of water. I didn't |
| one on the several tributaries hoping to | | | | realize a boat could sink in 18" of |
| get the boat up far enough to make a | | | | water! All of our gear is floating |
| make a few good casts. No such luck, | | | | around the shore. The gas tank and gear |
| here comes the wind. Determined and | | | | which included an Orvis waste pack with |
| frustrated, I proceed to lose several of | | | | hmmmm, some 500 plus flies. Every box |
| my best streamers in the dense shrubbery | | | | any fly had to be opened and dried on |
| surrounding the mouth of the creek | | | | the dashboards of our trucks. |
| (can't retrieve them since the current | | | | We bail the boat, load the truck and |
| is too strong to get the boat any | | | | haul our soggy gear and crippled egos |
| further up the creek). | | | | back home. |
| On the way back to camp we are passed by | | | | Next memorial day, it's back to the |
| a couple of boats with stringers of fish | | | | river!!! |
| crashing off the bows of their boats | | | | |