Sunday/Monday

Josh, Alex, and I went on Sunday to float the Sandy to check out the river after it came down from the flood last week. We got out there early in the morning and were on the water at sunrise. It was a foggy, cold morning, almost freezing. When we got to the first run, I checked the water temperature, and it was warmer than the air temperature. Alex started fishing the top of the run, and I was fishing the middle. Once I started swinging this run, I quickly realized how well the run was fishing and had pretty good confidence that one of us would connect.

About midway through the run, my fly was almost done with the swing, then I felt a bite. Didn't even flinch, then the next thing I know, this fish is peeling line from my reel. The guys all yell down at me with excitement. Once it jumped, and all I saw was chrome, I knew it was going to be a wild ride. We fought it for a while, while Josh was coaching me the whole time, and taught me so many things while fighting these elusive anadromous fish. After a long, hard fight, I swung it over to Josh, and he tailed it for me. We removed the fly from her mouth and took a couple of photos. Then I took the whole experience in and let her swim off into the river.

We all walked back up to the boat, and Josh handed me a flask of whiskey for a celebratory shot. It was the best late Christmas present I could ever ask for. It was one of the best days I’ve had on the river. The rest of the day was such a blast; it was such a pleasure to fish with Alex and Josh. So many laughs and good stories were shared. We ended up having to push the boat over some logs that had blocked some of the corners. That made for an even more exciting float. First time floating this section of the river was one of the prettiest floats I've ever been on.

Eli Haak