Tom Lives (and still fishes)

 I know we like to rag on Tom for his lack of posts to this blog.  I had the chance to fish with him Monday on the Yakima River and since we haven't heard from him in a while, I asked him for a quote to begin this post:

    "I like to fish," said Tom.

Rob tried "Portrait mode" on his new iPhone and liked the results

There you have it.  We've now heard from Tom.  However, today, he also let the fish speak for him as he pulled out his "fish whisperer" mode and despite us using nearly identical flies, (mine was a size 8 and his a size 10), and despite me being in the front of the boat and getting my fly over all the fish first, he still managed to have many more fish to the fly than did I.  So much for my "front ending" him.

We spent the morning fishing with Shan from Red's Flyshop.  He was great as always.  Skilled on the oars, told us where to put the flies, modifying as conditions warranted, dodging the flying fish when I set the hook just a wee bit too hard, gently and confidently netting our fish, and telling me to not cast back upstream when I missed a fish.  He even had cold drinks for us!  We always enjoy fishing with Shan and have fond memories of his courage and grace when he went to Alaska with the Merrill Boys in 2019.  

    See that adventure here:  Alaska Adventures with Shan

We put in in the upper canyon and were on the water and casting by 5:00am as it began to lighten up.  River flow was up and slight turbidity was present.  Air temps were in the mid-60's which felt absolutely wonderful compared to the blast furnace we've been experiencing in Wenatchee.  Fish were a bit scattered but were hitting the fly strangely for the first couple of hours, making hookset challenging for me.  That's my story and I'm sticking by it.  By the time the sun was up, they began to become more consistent and it was fun to watch them come up to the fly.  Sometimes it was disconcerting to watch them swim downstream following the fly and decide not to strike at the last minute.

Tom should have used "Portrait mode"
on Rob's new iPhone for a better photo

We were off the water around 10:00 and headed home with new memories of fish found and fish missed.  And a photo of Tom to prove that he still fishes, even though he may have some reticence to blog writing.