| "My Daddy brought me trout fishing here every | | | | about fly fishing and the other was just another |
| summer when I was a kid. I've returned every | | | | way to catch fish, albeit more of them. |
| year since." The voice was a thin, leathery looking | | | | Now it is true that something like eighty percent |
| rancher-cowboy with slightly graying hair who just | | | | of a fish's diet consists of nymphs and the bugs |
| stepped out of the woods right where I was | | | | taken below the surface of the water, but this |
| about to go in. | | | | just didn't matter to me compared to the thrill of |
| He put down the wicker creel he was carrying | | | | taking a fish on the surface. |
| and his fly rod, put his two dogs in the bed of his | | | | I thought about how a more pragmatic thinker |
| beat up pickup truck, opened a cooler with some | | | | could come to the opposite conclusion when |
| food for sandwiches and sat on gate of the truck. | | | | looking at the question of how you could catch |
| I had decided earlier that as beautiful as this creek | | | | more fish. Joe struck me as gentle, assured and |
| was, there were just too many people camping, | | | | pragmatic. |
| fishing, dirt bike riding, and just plain hanging | | | | The next morning as I entered the canyon |
| around and I was either going to leave or hike up | | | | heading upstream trying to distinguish his |
| the creek right here where the road left the | | | | footsteps from the others on the bank, I realized |
| creek and formed a deep canyon heading off into | | | | I was following in the footsteps of someone who |
| the wilderness. I figured that a couple miles of | | | | had done this for over fifty years. As I expected |
| hiking might scare off most of these other folks | | | | it only took about a mile of fishing upstream for |
| and be enough of a challenge to keep all but the | | | | all the other footprints to disappear save for Joe's |
| hardiest out. | | | | and his dogs. |
| As I was getting my waders on to do just that | | | | My insistence on dry fly fishing whenever possible |
| for the remaining evening hours, out of the | | | | has left me with many fishless days, but the huge |
| woods steps a vision of how I would have | | | | wild native rainbow that slammed my fly in the |
| expected a fly fisherman to look 40 years ago. | | | | first big hole I came to assured me that that |
| He wasn't wearing any waders, just blue jeans to | | | | wasn't going to happen today. |
| protect his legs from the harsh California bushes | | | | Some of my best memories of fly fishing are |
| and some wading boots. He had two small dogs | | | | days with a good friend that enjoys the sport as |
| following him, a colt 45 strapped to his side, and a | | | | much as I do, working our way up a small stream |
| classic wicker creel hanging low at his side belaying | | | | taking turns catching fish. We would each cast |
| the presence of no small amount of fish. He had | | | | until we caught one and then the other would |
| the face of someone who had spent the better | | | | take over until he caught one. There's an intimacy |
| part of his life outdoors and at sixty-two looked | | | | and camaraderie to this approach to fly fishing |
| fit enough to hike wherever he wanted. | | | | that I can't get any other way. |
| He had that ram rod straight posture that comes | | | | I felt that camaraderie with Joe this morning as I |
| from always working outdoors and a face and | | | | moved up the stream with only his footprints. It |
| hands that fit that life. Years of fishing had shown | | | | seemed like every time I would decide to cut |
| him what he needed and what he didn't. On the | | | | across the stream to get a better angle on the |
| midsummer days, hot like this one, you certainly | | | | next hole there would be his footprints, having |
| didn't need waders. The coolness of the spring | | | | made the same decision as I did. |
| fed stream on your legs was a welcome relief | | | | I couldn't help wondering, when I caught a nice |
| from the heat you felt while hiking upstream on | | | | rainbow in a deep pool, if Joe had any luck at the |
| cloudless summer California days. | | | | same spot. I loved the idea that we were two |
| It was six o'clock in the evening and I figured I | | | | very different styles of fisherman that actually |
| would fish upstream for a couple of hours and | | | | thought very much alike. That we were two guys |
| then hike out. | | | | from very different worlds that enjoyed the |
| Joe had that endearing central California rancher | | | | solitude, the beauty, and the excitement that only |
| twang to his voice with a mix of soft spoken | | | | this kind of "hike up the stream for five miles" |
| intensity, intimacy, and self assurance. You could | | | | can offer. |
| tell that the day on the stream was the kind of | | | | I thought of this as I sat down for a little lunch |
| day he could appreciate again and again. | | | | and minutes later a deer stepped out of the |
| When he told me that he had gone in the canyon | | | | woods about fifty feet upstream from me. It |
| at seven that morning and was just now coming | | | | was one of those rare fortunate moments that |
| out, I reviewed my decision to just spend just a | | | | occurred only because I happened to be sitting |
| couple of hours here. The review was partly | | | | perfectly still, was downstream but downwind, |
| prompted by my periodic glances at his creel and | | | | and was wearing sunglasses that hid my eyes. I |
| guesses that he either ignored the five fish limit | | | | stayed perfectly still for the next ten minutes as |
| on this stream or had some very large trout in | | | | he nervously drank from the stream, ate reeds |
| there. Given his lifetime of fishing on this stream, I | | | | from the shore, drank more, and eventually |
| was inclined toward some latitude on the question | | | | slowly sauntered back into the woods as silently |
| of how many fish he was taking home, but as he | | | | as he had come out. A beautiful whitetail buck |
| opened the creel to put the fish in the cooler, I | | | | was as good a lunch companion as one could ask |
| was amazed at the size of the trout he was | | | | for. |
| pulling out. There were only five fish, but each | | | | The day got hotter and dryer and I forced |
| beautiful native rainbow was the length of his | | | | myself to keep drinking as I moved upstream, |
| lower arm. | | | | but the pools got bigger as Joe had promised, and |
| I was now convinced that this may well be the | | | | the fish got bigger and wilder also. |
| place to spend all of the next day, as he | | | | I always see wildlife when I'm on a hiking up a |
| recounted how he headed upstream and didn't | | | | stream, but today it just seemed like an endless |
| start fishing until he didn't see any footprints. He | | | | parade of nature's best. With every step a bit of |
| kept referring to some holes that were a few | | | | the river or the countryside I was in put itself in |
| miles upstream with large trout and the | | | | front of me. Frogs, snakes, quail, falcons, eagles, |
| abundance of wildlife in this canyon including bears. | | | | and tracks from deer, bobcats, and raccoons let |
| This explained the pistol strapped to his side and | | | | me know that I was never completely alone in |
| caused me to consider the same rig. | | | | this beautiful solitude. |
| He talked on about how the fishing had changed | | | | As I hooked into my fifth fish that rivaled Joe's |
| over the years and was open with me about | | | | largest, I looked over my shoulder for Joe's nod |
| what he fished with. When I asked him if he got | | | | of approval, decided it wasn't just the heat |
| any his fish on dry flies, he just said "I only fish | | | | making me do this, but the feeling of taking this |
| with nymphs." He said it with the sureness of | | | | trip with the guy I had only just met but felt as |
| someone who had been doing this for years, and | | | | connected to as anyone I had ever fished with. |
| I realized that I was only four years younger than | | | | After a long hot hike out, I made my last |
| him and might have made the determined decision | | | | beautiful pool a bath tub. Glad to have worn |
| to fish with dry flies whenever possible about the | | | | shorts today, I gave myself a dunking in the ice |
| same time as he had made the decision not to. I | | | | cold spring fed creek. A noticeable gasp emerged |
| made the decision by comparing the thrill of a fish | | | | as I realized just how cool this water really was. I |
| rising up to take a well presented fly off the | | | | took off my shirt and used it to towel myself off |
| surface and its adrenaline producing visual to the | | | | and wondered how many times Joe had done the |
| other choice which was a take so subtle that | | | | same thing. |
| without a taunt line it might be indistinguishable | | | | I realized that the footsteps I had walked in were |
| from hitting a rock as it moved along under | | | | the result of a lifetime of Joe's experiences like |
| water. To me there was no comparison; one | | | | mine today, and today they were the experience |
| embodied all that was important and visceral | | | | of both of us. |