[VFB] Fishing this afternoon

[Tony Spezio]

It has been a beautiful day, I wanted to get on the river after the fog 
lifted off the water. When it did, the river was too high for wading so 
I decided to get some swap flies tied. Got everything ready and sat down 
to tie. I had been piddling in the shop yesterday and managed to get 
some light cuts on four fingers of my right hand. Nothing serious  but 
did require Band Aids on them. Have you tried to tie flies with a Band 
Aids on your fingers. After three flies I decided to quit. About 1:30 I 
noticed the water had gone down enough to do some wading and decided to 
hit the river. I had my waders on and started walking out to the dock 
when my wife called from the porch that some friends had dropped in for 
a short visit. I left my waders on and Skip came downstairs while his 
wife visited with my wife. When Skip visits we spend the time in the 
shop. Our friends left about 2 PM and I decided to go out. Heck I had my 
waders on. My wife called the Dam and they had turned on four units at 1 
PM., that would give me a couple of hours before the water reached 
Tucker, 1/2 mile up river. I like to fish there because of the water 
verity. There is fast and slow water, some back water deep and shallow. 
I looked upriver and not a boat on the water. I had it all to myself.  
The river was like glass as I headed upriver, there was very little 
surface action. I got up to Tucker and while standing next to the boat 
letting line out for the first cast, I felt a tug and saw a boil. I had 
a sz 14 peacock soft hackle with a green butt on. Cast the soft hackle 
for about a half an hour and got a few taps. Changed over to a sz 20 
yellow emerger. On the first cast I had a light hit and just rolled the 
trout. Worked this fly for a while and just got a few taps. Decided to 
try a larger fly. Tied on a sz 14 orange marabou streamer, nothing doing 
till I decided to change it. It was just hanging downstream as I was 
getting another fly out when I   felt a tug and saw a boil. This was 
getting to be a habit I thought. Tied on a sz 22 brown emerger, on the 
first cast I got a roll. Got a couple more splashes but no real takes. 
By then I started watching the rocks, that is my indicator that the 
water is rising. Still Good so I waded out a bit downstream. , looked 
down river and saw some surface action. I had determined the trout were 
taking emergers. Changed over to a sz 18 peacock soft hackle. Made a 
number of casts where the fish were working and got a couple of taps. I 
had decided that it would be it for the day and made one more cast. As I 
started too retrieve to quit , a freight train hit the fly. The bow came 
out of the water with it's tail flapping, made a run and came out again, 
almost spooled me before I got the upper hand. It came totally out of 
the water five times. What a beautiful sight. I finally got it to the 
net, it was a football size rainbow with a small head and a large fat 
body, The colors were vivid and it was clean as can be. It was a perfect 
Rainbow. About that time I started to feel some current and headed back 
to the boat. I looked at the surroundings and thought to myself, you are 
one lucky guy. It was so peaceful and quiet. All I could hear is the 
gurgle of the water starting to come over the rocks and I was safe in 
the boat. Just sat there for a while watching a pair of Blue Herons 
before heading back home. It was a one fish day but it was a lot more 
than just fishing.
Tony