These guys stayed dry.
This is an ironic and unplanned follow up to my previous post. On Sunday, I was the Accidental Angler. No, I did not catch lots of fish by accident. I did manage to catch a few on purpose, but that was after my accident. This post could also be titled: Spey Tips…”Cast, then watch your step”.
I like to walk my swings when I am fishing water where I know my fly needs a little help to get deep and move slow. When one is walking down a well-lit gravel run, sand bar or water you know by heart, this is a legitimate tactic. When one is working down a boulder strewn ledge, on the dark side of a canyon, in weak winter light, caution is due. I let my fishing fever get the better of me and I stepped into a watery void. I found the big hole in my Simms waders. It’s on the top where you pull them on. My feet found no bottom, but I managed to kick and flounder up the ledge and crawl out. “Did you go over?” my buddies called. “A little bit.” I hedged. To my credit, I managed to finish out the run. You must understand that a year ago, I had moved a brown off that run that appeared to be pushing 30”. He’s been on my mind for a while and will likely remain on my mind for some time to come.
Not a good winter swimming hole.
I eventually hauled out on a big boulder like a dyspeptic sea lion and rolled down my waders to unload about a gallon of water. I also peeled off my socks and fleece pants, to ring out as much moisture as I could, while standing barefoot on the snow. I was damp in the middle and soggy below the knee for the remainder of the day, but we fished until dark. Wearing 100% synthetic fibers under Gore Tex made my day bearable. I’m not going to lie and say that I was perfectly comfortable all day, but I’ve actually fished less comfortably many times. I still relished the day which fortunately turned out quite mild for late November in Montana. We had fun catching trout on the swing and that was no accident.
Fred’s Spey Tip:
Cast and then step should be modified to: Cast and then watch your step.
Fun Fact: Until Sunday, I managed to go 14 months without soaking a cell phone.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I would have named this post, “I’m a man and don’t you forget it.” I probably wouldn’t have been there in the first place, but surely would have left after the dunking. You’re my hero Fred.
If by hero you mean man that’s missing that sensible part of the brain that says…head for a warm shower and watch some football on the comfy couch instead of flirting with hypothermia while pursuing an even colder fish, I’m your man.
I think this deserves a domain name all it’s own, Fred. Exceptional account of an unfortunate event that is highly amusing from where I sit, in the comfort of my warm home. I have only one complaint and that is your use of “dyspeptic”. There’s no need to go flexing your literary muscle by tossing around big words that intimate lesser educated men, like Howard^^
The best thing about getting cold and miserable is that it makes the couch so much more comfortable. I often wonder how people who never go outside in foul weather ever appreciate the comforts of home. But that might relate to my faulty wiring. Give Howard some literary credit, or are you just trying for a rise now that dry fly fishing is over for the year. And then there is your closed comments post about Tenkara. I’m with you on the “There’s no excuse for fishing without a reel” post and am getting my comment in here on my blog. What a relief to release that simple comment. Its been bottled up for days. You can be an evil blogger. Now I’ve to get back to work trying to sell fly rods and reels.
Kurt Warner, I never liked you when you played football either.