>"And I hooked my lip today with a #16 PTN......don't ask and no it wasn't >difficult." > >Barbless hooks are great, especially when the "catch" you want to "release" >is YOU!
I do all my hooks barbless now. Ever since my "buddy" (?) hooked my upper eyebrow with a size 22 BARBED hook. When I "backed" it out, he had a bit of Fish-bait attached to the hook. That was a bad day. He had just bought a brand new rod on the way up to the Au Sable (Michigan). It was a 10 foot 4 weight. The longest rod he had ever used was an 8-1/2 footer. We rented and Au Sable boat to float the river one day.....the infamous day. I was in the rear of the boat (which by the way was a ball to operate.......you steer them by dragging chains). About the second cast, poor Jim* looped his leader around my hat and cast it about 50 feet into the shallows. It really was a well-executed cast. I was impressed with how well the rod worked with all that drag. The leader, however was too light. It wouldn't turn the hat over. About ten minutes later Jim did the "harvest Al's eyebrow for bait" trick. That was back in my smoking days and it had me a little perturbed, so I lit a fag to calm down down. The very next cast, Jim made a brilliant back-cast which snaked beautifully all the way around my neck. The fly caught my burning cigarette. On his forward cast, which happened before I could even yell, the cigarette followed the leader around my neck, under the edge of my collar, and stopped when the fly left the cigarette and hooked underneath my collar. The hot end of the cigarette was pointed down. The Au Sable experienced a severe blue cloud about that time, emanating from the rear end of one of those beautiful long boats. Thankfully Jim decided he needed more practice with the 10 foot rod before using it any more in the boat and switched back to his 8-1/2 footer. He also kept all his back-casts high from then on. Thanks for reminding me. Great reminiscing. Allan We had a great day! *Poor Jim. I think he was about 62. He suffered terribly from emphysema. He had spent his life as a civil engineer involved with the construction of the interstate system in Indiana and had been breathing construction dust every day he worked. I don't know if he ever smoked. He was unable to walk over 100 feet without stopping to gasp. However, he was able to wade all day -downstream. He called me his "ghillie". We would sneak a pair of my walking shoes downstream somewhere. Then we'd get in the stream and wade to my shoes. Jim would then sit on the bank while I hiked back upstream to get the car. I really feel honored to have gotten to know him that week. A beautiful individual. That was his last fishing trip. Allan Fish Greenwood, IN [EMAIL PROTECTED]
