In no particular order, here is the good mojo that was needed. I wore the underwear Ella bought me recently with dry fly designs on it. I used my brand new Winston Home Waters 8'10" 5wt. rod, which arrived by mail yesterday. And I have been reading Ernest Hemingway's trout fishing short stories, namely Big Two-Hearted River and Now I Lay Me.
Adding to the mojo, I ended up in an area of the river I have not visited since my very first foray at fly fishing. (That's Mount Si looming above the river)
Spring finally sprung today. Hardly a cloud and temperatures pushed 60 even in the upper elevations. I headed for the hills after my son's baseball game and got in a couple of hours. I mainly just wanted to try the new rod, but then of course I had to catch a fish. One more cast. One more cast. Wait, how about I try that area. It looks good.
I fished a couple of pools near the road and then hiked about 15 minutes through a dense forest to an upper part of the river. I fished a promising area for nearly an hour switching from a stone fly to a nymph.
The wind was whipping through the valley right in my face, I was about to leave when I figured I'd try a run just below a curve and rapid. The water looked pretty still.
I cast into the current and let it carry my Copper John down river. Nothing. Finally I looked downstream and noticed calm water. I made a long cast close to the bank, which sloped down gently and then quickly. I also decided to stip the line in with a little more purpose.
Along that shelf I finally felt the happy tap of a trout. I set the hook and brought him into shore. I didn't bother taking a photo because I felt they might be feeding and I didn't want to miss the action. There was not further action so I should have taken the photo.
What a nice day.
A word about my new rod. Trout Unlimited offered the rod (and a full set-up) as part of a package to attract life time membership. Winston created a limited edition -- TU Life Time Member -- rod that I hope stays in our family for generations today. It's a "fast" rod with great action. I was able to cast with great accuracy today and a good long way. What a great investment. I opened the box just last night. The rod is batting 1.000!
From "Now I lay me" by Hemingway: "I had different ways of occupying myself while I lay awake. I would think of a trout stream I had fished along when I was a boy and fish its whole length very carefully in my mind; fishing very carefully under all the logs, all the turns of the bank, the deep holes and the clear shallow stretches, sometimes catching trout and sometimes losing them."
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