Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Do I still have it or just how good am I?

While hanging out on the porch at Headhunters fly shop after a day on the MO one of the owners asked when I was going to start guiding. I asked a few questions about how to get started as a guide and eventually asked how many fish a guide would be expected to catch in current high water conditions. The answer was 10 to 20. On my best day lately I have caught 5. Mark, one of the owners and a guide himself, told me that 10 to 20 is “to hand” and that you could expect to lose just as many. My 5 are hooked, not necessarily to hand. So I told him that right there would rule me out as a guide. Mark assured me he could teach me to catch the 10 to 20 “to hand”. He said it was a totally different program fishing as a guide and that as a guide you would oar the boat back up river to re-fish a run several times making changes to the setup being used until you figured out what would work on that run at that time. He implied this was not what the typical recreational (do it yourself) fisher would do and was why a guide would catch more fish. I’m not a competitive person but have been known to go to some pretty extreme lengths to catch fish. I’m not competitive but I do love a challenge. So this last weekend I decided to see just how many fish I could catch if I really put forth the effort. Saturday was my dad’s 75th birthday so I did fish but didn’t have the time to “really put forth the effort”, that had to wait until Sunday. Saturday was a short version of my typical day on the river fishing the usual spots but spending less time at each. I managed to catch 2 fish “to hand”, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. A great time was spent with dad, friends, and family. Sunday I showed up at the put in ready to give it my best effort. I fished the usual spots and spent more time at each. I also wondered a bit and tried some spots I haven’t fished before, at least not in this high water. I changed my set-up several times and tried several different flies. Including some I had purchased over the years that where highly recommended or just looked good. Some of these flies have been sitting in the dark recesses of my fly box for years waiting for me to deviate from my tried and true and take a chance on the new guy. I even drank a little less to spend more time fishing and to keep my mind sharp. I did smoke the usual number of cigars though. At one point I took a channel that in normal summer flows is to shallow to bother with. I anchored the boat just inside the channel and the water was flowing pretty fast. I thought to my self that the water was probably a little to fast to find a fish in but decided to give it a try. On the second cast I hooked up with a beautiful rainbow. It would have been close to the 20 inch mark. I didn’t bring him “to hand”, but I know how beautifully colored it was and how big it was because the channel was narrow and the fish leaped from the water several times giving me several good looks at it before my knot failed. It was spectacular and a sight that is well burned into my memory. It was a huge disappointment to have lost such a fish on such a day because of a rookie mistake, but I still have the memory and after a day of fishing really memories are all you have any way. Well at least it sounds good. The final body count was 5 hookups with 3 to hand. I fish solo most of the time as was the case on this trip and anchor the boat to fish. I was talking with one of the guides that night on the porch and he said that not having someone oaring the boat is why I didn’t do better. He said you need to get the long drift to get the fly down and keep it down for an extended period of time. It makes sense and I do use more weight than most to get the fly down quickly. At any rate as I said at least it sounds good. No matter how many fish I catch I am always happy when I am on or near trout water. I have had many 30 fish to hand days over the years and the body count is not the issue most days, but it is fun to see just what can be accomplished now and then when you really apply yourself. Maybe I’ve just become an old guy that needs to see if he still has it or not. Either way fishing is always good, it’s the catching that is better or worse and the catching is just the bonus anyway.

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