Allan -
What a great story! Thanks for sending it along.
Regards,
Roger Cotner
Grand Haven, Michigan (3 hrs too far from the AuSable)
Allan Fish wrote:
>
> >"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]
