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With apologies to the Beatles
The day started and ended like most of my days; thinking about fishing. Actually, it started just after midnight. I loaded the last of my gear into the truck and took off for the coast. I was meeting two fishing guides at a primitive boat launch on the peninsula to show them a new boat incorporating an ice cooler as a bench seat for two clients up front. I was fishing with one while the other simply wanted to preview our new design. I was more interested in how the long winter affected my casting stroke and whether I could shake hands with a wild steelhead. Just before Easton I saw the first of several vehicles in the ditch. I probably could have white knuckled it over the pass but the return trip looked even worse, with a winter storm advisory from Kalaloch to Kittitas. With heavy snow falling, slippery roads, and still 30 miles to reach Snoqualmie summit, I made the decision to admit defeat, turn around, and tuck tail for home.
4:00 AM-After pulling into the driveway and unloading my gear, I turned on my computer to email the guides and notify them that I just couldn’t make the trip because of dangerous roads. A little after 5, I got my first text, the guide notified me that the river was on the rise and fishing would have been tough anyway; we agreed to look for another opportunity soon, the wild winter run was just starting. Knowing that it took the second guide a half hour to drive from her house to the launch, I calculated at what point I should text her just in case she didn’t see the email: 6:15 seemed like a good compromise…not too early but with just enough time to catch her before she left. She thought it was a good decision on my part…the fish would still be there later and better safe than sorry. We agreed to try again later. Offering to take the kids to school at 7:00, I made my to-do list consisting of exactly 21 items while waiting for the right time to leave and planned the rest of the day.
After getting back from school, I crawled back in bed, just for a minute telling myself but then abruptly awoke at 11:00 and dejectedly thought there went half my list. But it was a good nap and to-do lists are mostly overrated anyway. I turned the computer back on and dove in. Many of my tasks included phone calls, emails, and ordering parts. After a couple of hours, the wife called me down for a nice lunch.
Wanting to get out of the house, I wrote down the things I needed to do while in town which included trips to the post office, barbershop, and picking up new set of headphones. I also needed to drop off my pram cover, which needed a little maintenance and I wanted to get it done before lake season begins in earnest next month. However, the sign on the door was locked; they were closed. Just my luck, the one day all year I plan to drop off the cover, they close early. Hopefully my second sewing job would turn out better. I have two pontoon boats stuffed inside carrying bags. One has backpacking straps and the other does not. There was a place outside of town that would sew backpack straps on the second carrying bag.
Thinking I needed to get back by 4:00 to let my kid in from school, I high tailed it for home. But pulling into the driveway, I noticed the truck was gone. Then a text comes in…wife took the truck to change the oil and rotate the tires. She also used the truck to drop of the recycling…good that was on the list-scratch off one more. Kid went swimming after school so I had a rare hour at home alone. I ripped open my headphones and thought about which song I wanted to hear on YouTube to break them in. I decided on Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here and responded to the emails that came in over the last few hours. I found and ordered two new backpacking straps on Ebay…high quality military-grade ones. I figured since I was doing one, I might as well upgrade the other one too. I also “Googled” Smith Action Optic’s repair process…need to send a pair back.
I waited for 5:00 PM and the close of normal business hours, hoping for a response from a business I contacted earlier but didn’t get it. With the days getting a little longer, I thought there might be just enough time to head down to the Yakima and try a new Spey rod I just got. The truck was loaded by 5:05 and I habitually turned on the radio even though it was less than 5 minutes to the parking lot. First two pre-set stations were static but the third one was just starting Wish You Were Here…that almost made up for the upholstery shop being closed. Leaving the key on ACC while the song finished, I pulled on my boot foot waders. It would be bad luck, if not sacrilegious to stop Pink Floyd in the middle of Gilmore’s solo. I specifically chose my bootfoots to save time, which I then appreciated. However, rubber soles are terrible traction on ice and snow and any time I saved putting them on, I probably lost on the trail, having to choose my steps carefully.
I knotted a small articulated sculpin to the end of my line. My new toy was a Winston 11 foot 4 weight Micro Spey, which I just picked up the previous week. Not having a specific line or reel for it, I grabbed my Ross Gunnison #4, already loaded with a 275-grain head. It worked well enough for my Redington rod I and figured it would match up with the Winston just fine. It did. It was a nice, smooth rod and fun to fish. With river left, I mostly used a snap-T cast but also dinked around with a dominant left-hand Perry Poke. I had about an hour of daylight and fished through the run without any takes. I did see exactly five midges (yes, I counted them) and even saw a trout rise just below me where my swing was ending. With slightly more enthusiasm, I made an additional half a dozen casts in the same spot but no love. Still it was a good time to be on the water and at least be out fishing, rather than thinking about it. I am the least artistic guy in the world but even I noticed the soft yellow and purple colors in the sky of a sunset on a cloudy day at the end of winter.
I started out the day thinking I would be fishing the OP with a big Spey rod for wild steelhead (and probably no hook ups) but ended with the same result only 5 minutes from home casting a light Spey rod instead. But at least I accomplished a whole bunch of monotonous stuff in between to at least salvage the day. And I checked off 17 of the 21 items on the to-do list. Maybe not as exciting as the lives of John, Paul, Ringo, and George, but it is pretty typical for me.
The next day there was a small break in the weather and we got out for a quick test row on the local lake.
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