The Grand Design

I got off work tonight and raced home to shed my work clothes and head into the hills. Thank God I remembered to get dressed in something before I went up, but getting to that fishing spot in the canyon was all I could think about. My sweet wife made me a sandwich and after a stop to pick up my shirts for work (damnit it all but I have to have pressed shirts) I grabbed some water and headed for the curve.

Mark if your reading this you know the spot. Hell you found it and after I spoke to you the other day via email, I had been thinking of that time we took Dave up there and worked that set of riffles for all they had.

I lugged to the spot, no other fishermen present and hopped into my gear. I went with my 2 weight 9 footer and frankly should have gone with my 1 weight 6 footer. That spot has changed a lot Mark. Gone is the gentle pool that we got hit after hit on the Elk Hair that night. It is now a continous riffle for about 80 yards.Not a bad thing really but it is tighter than it used to be, trees are right to the edge and high. So you have to fish it from the center and the obstacles in the middle have made it a lot more technical. Fun, but you have to be careful.

I threw a few different bugs and got a few glances at a Dave's Hopper. My Caddis were too big and all the fish would do is rise to the edge, look at it like a disapproving lover and jet back into the cover of a their rock lair.

Finally I found a small caddis as the hatch started to cook and by this time I had worked about half the flow to a good spot that gave me a glimpse into a backwater.

I tossed a roll cast at the edge of the backwater and mended right with the tip. The bug landed to the side of the bulk of the line softly and had a drag free drift for only a few seconds.

The Native caught the bug on its down swing into the water and I set back to see if he actually caught it. He was there and I brought him over behind a nice rock eddy to a grass bank to pick the fly from his lip.

This fish was breathtaking. Only about 14 inches (big for that water) but just stunning and full of life. No camera was handy so I quickly got the bug out and placed him back in the slack water. I found an image on the internet that could have been his brother, and thats what is at the start of this entry. But his colors were so much more vibrant, it could make you weep.

He wasted no time in heading out and that was all I needed.

I climbed back onto the rock where I had met a Cow moose once. It stands about 5 feet high and is a great place to stand and survey the scene. Way back when she had popped into the stream where I had been standing, took a big drink and raised her head to where I was crouching up on the rock. She looked at me and I at her, our noses about 3 feet apart. I could smell her wet hide, not unpleasant, but all animal. I got to watch her eyes as she realized I wasnt part of the rock, they rolled back up and her nostrils went wide and just when I though I was going to be part of that rock forever, she turned tail and ran back into the bush on the other side.

I have heard people say she was more afraid of me than I was of her. All I can say is that those people didn't have to change my diapers after that little face to face. I was pretty goddamn scared and I don't mind saying it.

Everytime I get on that rock I chuckle about that...but I also watch that big opening on the other side of the river pretty damn close as well. I might have been born at night, but I wasnt born LAST night.

I finally climbed back up to the road, old legs get rubbery fast and made my way down to the truck. It was cool and the smell was of the mountain. Clean with that pine spring water smell that I love.

The sun was down behind the mountain and it was getting dark fast.

I put my gear away and idled back down the hill. I felt like I had slept for a year. energized and ready to go.

God I love this place.