Connecting with Keith: Chapter II

The next morning we met again at 9:00. The sky was blue, the wind was down, the water was clear, and our hopes were high.



Okay fine, yesterday we just skipped the 10 fish each, day and decided to just jump ahead to a 20 fish each, day. We both liked that idea and had hopes of several doubles. We headed for a different section of the river but one that we both have fished many times, and again, like yesterday, a section of river that has been good to us.

We both definitely had shots at tailing fish as opposed to cruisers and comatose fish. I hooked a nice Common and got to play him for awhile. He ran out through a weed mat and into the river. I really thought I was going to get him in but he finally broke off in some weeds that were below the surface. Dang it!

Keith hooked up an hour or two later and also lost his fish in the weeds. We were seeing tailing fish but not nearly as many as we have in the past. Keith commented a couple times that he had never seen so few tailing fish in this section of the river. And there we were, two such nice guys, but not many fish to cast to. How could that be. We waded the river for a several hours. We got to the turning back point and saw a few fish tailing. A fish that I cast to tolerated easily 50 attempts from me to get him to take. I have never had that many shots at the same tailing fish. Virtually always if they don't pick up the fly they either swim away or bolt away when they make the fly as a fake. This fish was having some serious lunch. His nose was down and his tail was up swinging slowly back and forth. I would get several casts near him and he would move away. Instead of heading for the deep part of the river he would move 10 feet and start tailing again. I have never had that many shots at the same fish. Amazingly he finally took the fly. He made a nice run down the river and was just two turns from the backing and then he hit some weeds. Bye bye fish.

We had seen so few fish we thought about not fishing on the way back to my Carpwagon. We took turns on the way back walking in the lead and being the one who was "fishing". We only saw a couple more fish and that was that. Again, we were away from the truck for 6 hours. Certainly we both wished that we had caught more fish and that we had a double or two. It is not an effort at all to say that we both had a good time, actually an excellent time. I really enjoy Keith's company and enjoy stalking Carp with him. Catching so few fish was a great impetus to talk about another trip this year before the weather gets bad.

This critter, and I don't know what it is, was sitting in the shade by my truck as we got back. As we approached he scampered into the weeds and just kept an eye on us. He let me take three pictures (with the zoom of course) before disappearing.







There were quite a few grasshoppers on the bank of the river. Most of them were the same gray/olive color. This one was a different color than I have ever seen before. He also posed for a couple pictures before getting back to work.






Thanks for a great trip my friend. Another day Keith--another day... Soon I hope. I want chapters III, IV, V, and VI to happen this year.