William arrived at the river with a calmness that only comes after doing the mundane tasks such as fixing fences or tidying up the garage. The little pack of sandwiches were carefully placed in the inside pocket of his wading jacket alongside the little slice of homemade fudge cake, Gabrielle never ceased to surprise. He smiled as he slowly tackled up, one of the kids had shouted after him " catch a big one dad, one as big as Hanks". Children have that special talent of incessantly putting their parents under pressure, William dare not fail, not this time, especially not this time.
As William sat on the boulder he had a feeling of deja vu, he somehow sensed that he had been here already this season, yet this was his first outing. Opening his fly box, the newly tied brassie soft hackle caught his eye, I wonder he thought, its early season and the trout will be down deep, "yeah....why not" he said out loud. A brassie on the point and a smaller brassie on the dropper, that should do the trick and just in case he used 5X leader rather than 6x.
William started on some barren water just to get his casting going. The first cast was perfect, as was the second and the third. "Heck this weird, it usually takes me outing or two to find the rhythmn, I must be getting good at this fly fishing". For no particular reason William waded quickly towards the inside riffle.
Taking up position, William noted the currents , adjusted himself a few yards instream and readied to cast. The line floated out and the leader turned over perfectly, a quick upstream mend and the brassies drifted back perfectly but unmolested. A rustle in the bankside vegetation startled william and slowly a human form appeared. Hi said the stranger, I'm Lykos, sorry to scare you but I thought you should know that I fished that spot for two hours and caught nothing. " Lykos !!!, that name sounds familar, I'm William". "William, not William Anderson stuttered Lykos, I am so sorry , I thought you would be fixing fences all day. I had to find out how big that trout was" Both anglers stared at each other and burst out laughing. I guess we will never know said William.
They retreated to the boulder. Lykos took out his flask,William his sandwiches and for the next hour or so they shared stories of great trout , swapped flies and told a few white lies as all anglers are prone to do. As they stared at the river they heard another angler splashing down the riffle. God, its busy here today thought William, I usually have the place to myself. " I wonder did he have better luck than us said Lykos.
As the angler came closer they realised that he was a she. "Hello lads , god I'm whacked I have been out for hours she announced , too much tv over the winter"
Hi the lads said in unison, any luck ?
Just one she replied with a beaming smile, a little one of about 4lbs. Caught it up there , she pointed to the inside riffle , on a little brassie soft hackle on my first cast. I always try and get to the river early, the early bird catches the worm or so they say. By the way my names Vicki, who are you guys, any luck.
It's all fishing channel and history channel, honest.
