Coming Back To Earth

I have fly-fished for more than 50 years. Sometimes I start to think I'm pretty good. Then I endure a day that "brings me back to earth."

I experienced one of these not long ago. Seeking a morning hatch of flies, I had driven to the BFO River. I don't regularly fish the BFO because it is often overcrowded, but on this weekday morning it was not. When I arrived at a parking area, I saw flies emerging from the water. I had rigged up with an imitation I believed would match the real flies. In a half-hour I landed four modest trout but was disappointed: For the large number of flies hatching, few trout were feeding; so I returned to my truck and zoomed to another spot, a "tunnel" that is tough to fish. Trout were rising along a bank. I quickly caught and released several, including a dandy 18-inch brown. I was feeling smug when I hooked the next trout. However, I raised the rod to fight the fish and tangled my line around a tree branch. I knew I'd have to yank the branch to break it and then retrieve my line. I yanked. Crraack! It wasn't the branch that snapped: It was the tip of my fly rod that I had not been paying any attention to. Knowing the broken tip was my own fault, I directed some nasty words toward the tree branch anyway. My fishing morning was over.

To break the news, I tried to call Donna on the cell phone she and my son require me to carry; but, as usual, I couldn't get it to work. I should've tossed it into the water.

When I arrived back at my truck, I noticed that the right leg of my favorite waders had leaked. I had not brushed through any multiflora rose. This pop-up leak seemed to fit right in with my breaking the fly rod.

After I got home, I contacted the repair service of the company who manufactured the rod. The representative explained how to get a replacement rod tip by mailing in just the ferrule and a "small fee." I quickly deposited the envelope containing the ferrule at the post office drop box. However, I had to return to the post office to retrieve my envelope: I thought I had addressed the envelope incorrectly, which I had. I had to return home to re-address the mailing envelope, which took me two more attempts before getting it right.

This day certainly brought me back to earth.