[brent_e]

lime.

thanks, Joe!

[Average Joe]

I'd planned to have this TR finished a couple of days ago, but apparently Mitch left some spores at Wayne's cabin, for I've come down with the flu.

I'm feeling a bit better now, so time to wrap this up.

The next morning I woke up and made my wife her favorite breakfast: bacon, tater tots fried in bacon grease, eggs over-easy fried in bacon grease and butter, and English muffins.

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She likes to then slather it all with ketchup.

I'm OK with that, as long as I don't have to eat it that way.

Some people might say, "That's not very healthy."

Fuck those people.

After breakfast I floated a little brandy in my coffee and then went out onto the porch and enjoyed my first smoke of the day.

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My friend Wayne had a large roster of first-time fly fishermen he'd agreed to guide in the weeks ahead, and with the river still high he needed to find some spots where a beginner could wade without drowning.

He asked me if I wanted to tag along and do some scouting with him, so I grabbed a rod and jumped in his truck.

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Wayne did his thing...

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... and I did mine.

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I found an old box of flies I forgot I still had. Pretty sure they came from this swap.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26153&hilit=stone+swap

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I tied on a big golden stonefly nymph and joined Wayne in the river.

He caught fish.

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I caught nothing.

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Later that evening I went back out with the glass rod and the Royal Wulff-type thing.

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I managed to find a stupid one, and then called it a night.

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Back at the cabin I spread the contents of my pockets onto the table outside and hoped everything would be dry by morning.

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After a short nightcap, I headed inside and went to bed.

[Kfoxwyo]

That is some might fine stuff. Tater tots are my favorite food group...

[Average Joe]

The next morning I decided to see if the fish might be interested in something other than a Royal Wulff-type thing, so I went through my flies and pulled out a selection of crap to try that day.

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A bit later I saw Wayne, and he pointed out that my boots were starting to come apart.

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I walked into town and went into the local fly shop and asked the proprietor if he had any Aquaseal. He didn't, so he gave me a pair of rental boots instead.

No charge.

Didn't even ask for my name.

When I got back to the cabin, Wayne said he had another spot he wanted to check out, and asked me if I wanted to join him.

"You bet."

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Wayne caught fish.

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I caught nothing.

Wayne was feeling a bit under the weather, so after awhile he headed back to his place to rest.

I decided to do some more exploring on my own.

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I even caught some fish.

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That evening I took a walk past some of Mitch's favorite swimming holes.

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I ended up here...

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... and noticed that there were quite a few fish rising in the pool below the falls.

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I started casting, and with each cast I saw fish rise above my fly, or below my fly, or to the left of my fly, or to the right of my fly.

Often they rose no more than six inches away from the shitty-looking artificial drifting along at the end of my tippet.

It started getting darker, and then the bats came out, and I said to myself, "I'm just going to keep fishing this thing until I can't see it anymore."

I made two more casts and finally got a take.

It was a good sized fish, and in less than ten seconds it was gone.

I made a couple more casts, but couldn't see my fly, and when I reeled in I saw that the fish I lost had taken the fly with him.

By now it was quite dark, so I dug through my pack and pulled out a gift I'd received from BM.

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By the time I returned to the cabin, my wife was already asleep.

I changed out of my wet clothes, had a quick drink on the porch, and then called it a night myself.

[austrotard]

I think I left a bag of weed in the airing cupboard.
and $20 for the mess I made in there.

[B.M. Barrelcooker]

This is top shelf as always Joe!!

[Kfoxwyo]

even better, thank you sir.

[ironman]

How were the wild blackberries coming along?

[TX.]

We need to fish.

[BigTimber]

You can always tell how good a restaurant is by the quality of their tots. Yours look magnificent!

[Jon]

Hell yes. All hail foldy chairs, old glass rods and porky lipid soaked tots - and even a few trouts for lagniappe.

[stillsteamin]

Great as always. Thanks Joe