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3. Half and Half Emergers, Page 3

I go for the fish with low self esteem.
There's plenty more of those. Those women out of our reach are usually snobby anyway.
Bruce

Ah yes, the “challenge”. Most often thought about in terms of catching a particular fish that is at least approachable within our limits of casting ability. But what of that lunker on the other side of the West’s ubiquitous canyons that are out of reach and separated by raging torrents? The mere challenge of crossing to the other side may result in a nasty dunking at the very least or worse. It’s amazing how the lure of a particular fish can compel a person into a perilous situation. I have involved myself in a number of these situations, the most frightening being those where I got about half way there only to realize I probably wouldn’t make it across and I probably wouldn’t make it back.

I guess in a way I could compare the challenge of trout fishing to getting the gal. I once had a guy confront me in a parking lot with a baseball bat. I wrestled it away from him after receiving a couple blows and won the day. I can only assume that he wasn't a trout fisherman.

Ah yes, Al. Dangerous wading... I've noticed of late that I don't "accept the challenge" as aggressively as I once did.:)

Baseball bat attack repelled? I would have been in the next county. Up close and personal, they can be as deadly as a gun. When fishing in bear country, always double up with a guy that runs slower than you. That's getting harder these days... Now I'm looking for a partner that will stand and face the bear. When are you coming West again?:)

I did the ultimate for a a fish last Fall. I ran a lower section of the SF in my small jet boat, and have had exceptional fishing in that lower section with few anglers fishing it. I learned why few make the run. I hit a log, flipped the boat with an 89 yr old friend in the boat. In a treacherous section we both made it out of the river alive. The boat was recovered by two other anglers, and it is now up for sale. A number of good fly outfits lost, wallets, car keys, thousands of flies, but I'm here to report it. We both had to walk approx. 3 miles to make it to a farm house.

Hell Kurt, that was the easy part, I eventually married the gal. Enough said.


As you may recall I’ve done that, but thank God the deck was stacked in my favor. Thank you Winchester.


Now you’ve gone and done it Kurt. You’ve brought tears to a grown man’s eyes. For fifteen consecutive years I spent the whole month of March and first week of April challenging myself on the waters and fish of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. But as life inevitably presents its curious twists of fate it seems as those days have been relegated to the recycle bin of memories. Thanks for the memories. Ah but all hope is not lost, curious twists of fate have a curious tendency to keep twisting.

Yes Safu, who ever said trout fishing is for pansies obviously never took on the “CHALLENGE”.

Holy smokes, Sayfu!

Yep, and why I didn't post for a long, long time. And I had an 89 yr. old angler with me that went under with a down coat on, and said he went down river like a scare crow with 200lb arms. He was washed onto a small pile of gravel below a long jam, and I swam underwater with waders on, and came up onto a flat gravel bar. Lots of high banks around, and I would have been a goner had I come up along side one of them. It was very difficult for me to pull myself up even on a flat gravel bar. A 2-3 mile walk out of their followed to get to a farmhouse.

Jeez Sayfu. That's one of those things that will put things in perspective real quick. Glad you and your angler made it out ok! I had to pluck an older gentlman from the water two years ago as he was floating by my in some pretty heavy water. I just grabbed him by the back of the vest and instructed him to put his feet down. He was pretty shaken up.


I had a father and son a few years back on a small mountain stream here and I set the son up on a few rising fish in a pool and then took the father upstream around a bend about 50 yrds to the next pool above the son. I then went back down to the son to check on his progress, i wasn't here for more than a couple minutes when I heard the snorting and sounds of a very unhappy bear coming from the direction of the father. I ran back upstream to see what was happening. When I rounded the bend and got to the tailout of the pool I see Mama black bear on one side of the creek, the angler standing in the middle of the creek and baby bear on the other side of the creek about 10 feet up in a skinny hemlock tree. Mama bear is snorting and stomping the ground while this guy is motionless in the creek. So I yelled at the mama bear and she then looked at me and back at the guy in between she and her cub, I yelled again and then told the guy to just start walking downstream toward me as I walked toward Mama to distract her. once he was downstream enough that he was no longer in between Mama and cub I turned around and started walking downstream with him. At that point Mama bear grunted and the cub came down the tree and crossed the creek and they were off in the opposite direction. I don't ever want to experience that again.

Crepuscular. We were extremely lucky. I have spent hundreds of hours guiding anglers, and running jet boats in Alaska, and in the NW. Our SF is extremely dangerous, and I choose to run the most dangerous of the sections rather than fish our very scenic upriver canyon stretch with the armada of guide/outfitters floating it daily. Running downriver is always more dangerous than running up, and on this very dangerous day, I made the run up holding my breath in one tough spot, fished the riffles for the day, and then when I got back down to the hairy spot, I chickened out in the poor light, and now wind that had come up...hit a log, trying to row the boat instead of up on plane running, and the boat flipped. Your ordeal sounds just as scary. The supposed expert opinion I've gotten on Black Bears is....you may survive a Grizzly attack being they only want to maul you, but a Black Bear?...they will eat you.

Bumped up.

That's a beautiful fly.

Louis - Thank you kindly for bumping this. My head is now spinning with information. That, however, is not a bad thing.