- June 12, 2024 -

I hustled to the river anxiously trying to use the last hour of daylight to fool a few. It was 8:15 PM and the water had just come down making it wade-able again. I was hoping for a good spinner fall like the one we had two nights ago. The spinner fall had been so heavy, it was like a frenzied cloud over the river. I cautiously stepped to my favorite spot in the middle of the river, there was no time to explore new holes, light was fading fast. I had a size 16 sulfur tied to a 9 foot leader. I wish I had tied on another 2-3 feet of 6x tippet, but again time was short, so I went with what I had. Five or six casts into my evening, a very good rainbow rolled my fly. I hooked him -- and then I didn't! I missed him, too slow in my reaction to set the hook. I shook my head and shrugged to myself "Well, there are more fish in this river." Another 5-6 casts in a slightly different direction offered more excitement. A large trout came up and vigorously snapped-up my sulfur, my line tightened, and then it released. I missed another one, bigger one than the first! My knot had failed where I had tied on tippet using a surgeon's knot. 0-2! Daylight now strained for attention but was giving up fast. My leader was only 7 feet, too short. I hurriedly tried to tie on more 6x tippet but my line broke on the surgeon's knot as I tightened the knot. I guess I'm no surgeon!!! Darkness now reigned in my heart, "Oh well." Time to head back to my cabin. The trout had won tonight, exploiting my weaknesses. Yet, on a positive note, I had fooled two, an encouraging sign. I resolved to come back on another night, to try to fool them again, but next time I resolved to introduce them to my net by learning how to tie a surgeon's knot.