We meant to stop the first night at an RV Park just outside Glenwood Canyon
to fish the Eagle River. We drove in and parked, walked down the to river,
and walked right back to the motorhome and left. The Eagle was blow.
Running brown. No fly fishing there. We drove on to Ruedi Reservoir.
Ruedi Reservoir is the reason the fishing is so good on the Frying Pan. It
delivers a constant cold flow between there and Basalt all year long. It's
a perfect place for trout.
We got to Ruedi in time to get set up just as it got dark. Another two
hundred miles. Another five hours. We fished all day Monday. It was good.
The water is cold. Your feet and legs get numb. The water is swift. The
bottom of the stream consists of rocks too big to wade comfortably. It is
not an easy river to fish, but it is so rewarding. The fish are big. The
fish are everywhere. You always know where several fish are working within
your reach, in addition to the fish you are currently working on.
It's so hard to step out of the water and walk away when it's time.
We fished till dark, drove the four miles back to the motorhome to spend the
night, and came right back the next morning. We needed to be off the river
by two o'clock to be able to make the drive home by dark. Really, there is
no way we could have exercised that level of self control, leaving the river
while the fishing was still that good, if something unusual had not
happened.
Remember how, years ago I succumbed to the Frying Pan by losing the tip of
my flyrod downstream? It's not that unusual to cast off the top of the
flyrod while you're fishing all day. Most rods are two piece, so they have
that joint in the middle. It works loose, you don't notice, and it flies
off during a cast. It's not a big deal, because you have several chances to
get it back. Since you're casting upstream, it's going to float right past
you. If you don't manage to grab it going by, it's still got all the
fishing line threaded through those guides. The drag of the line will
retard the float so you can step downstream after it to get it. All that
failing, just let the hook on the end of the line catch the tiny guide at
the tip as the line pulls though while the rod tip is trying to float away.
What are the chances the hook on the end of the line will slide through
every guide on the top of the flyrod without catching something?
That's what happened those years ago. I missed the grab. I couldn't catch
up to it as it headed downstream, and that little hook didn't catch a thing.
That's what happened years ago. And that's what happened this trip. Ken
and Brian were fishing downstream from me. I yelled to them and they tried
to head it off, but by the time that dark flyrod end had floated five feet
away from me, I had lost sight of it against the dark stream bottom. They
never saw it.
This is my wonderful new four weight, three piece flyrod Judy got me for
Christmas. Two pieces of a three piece flyrod aren't much use at all.
Years ago, I sent a letter to the manufacturer describing my problem. They
sent me a new flyrod. We'll go tell our friend Gerry at the fly shop our
problem on Saturday to see if he can help. If that doesn't work, we'll try
the sympathy letter to the manufacturer again.
One o'clock in the afternoon Tuesday my flyrod left me. That provided the
self control to get out of the river by two. For me anyway. Brian and Ken
still had to manage with a lower level of motivation. But they were good.
We made it home by dark. Brian and I each got to go to work the next day.
Ken got to continue his vacation.
So it's an entire week in Louisville for Judy and me. A week and a half,
really. Then we have a trip to Buena Vista for a new job. That will take
most of a week. Another week in Louisville after that, then we leave for
the bassinette exchange trip to San Jose. That should be good.
