....We SUCK!!!

There's those days when fish are coming up out of nowhere for your fly for no apparent reason and you feel much like a magician yarding bunnies out of a hat. At the end of those days you feel like nothing can knock you down; like you've conquered the puzzles of nature like an ardent scientist, almost Godlike if your ego is really out of check. At the end of these days you say to yourself "fuck ya!! I've got it dialed now, never havin' a slow day again."

Then there's the days like the last 4 I've fished on the Columbia with one of my guides. It sucked, we sucked, the weather sucked it all just sucked!!!! In these moments you begin to wonder if all that lording you did while you were KING OF THE ELK is catching up to you as you stand there dumbfounded in the front knee brace holding onto what remains of your ass that was just handed to you.

The Columbia River tailwater can be tough, like any good rainbow fishery it has it's moments. All of us who fish it know this and many people who come here to fish it encounter those dead days and leave never to return. Probably why I see such an amazingly low number of anglers on such a vast and productive piece of water.

When faced with such angling adversity there is much pre and post fishing time tying up new bugs, thinking of different water or trying different techniques and for what it's worth it's our time as anglers to be creative with what we do and step beyond our limitations and find a way to put trout lips onto FLY!!! So for the last few nights and mornings I have sat at the vice wrapping up the ingredients to what will be called "The Answer" if it so proves itself during this cold snap.

So far all that remains is the question and keeps me reloading the vice. River "Y" re opens today which will be a welcome change phhhhhhhewww!!!