The Last Cast

On every fishing trip there is always one last cast. This could be because it’s time to leave in order to make it home by the promised time, because you are tired, the fish aren’t biting so you might as well call it a day, you are just cold and hungry, it’s getting too dark to see, or maybe you’ve caught your limit. With catch and release fishing it’s usually not the limit that’s the issue. For me, it’s usually because I know I’ve got a considerable distance to hike back to the car in order to start home in order to make it home by the promised time. But there is always “one last cast”. If it’s been a day were you haven’t caught anything, this is the cast you are putting all your hopes on. If you’ve been catching a lot and the fish are still biting, it’s because you don’t want to stop yet, you know you’ve got to get going so you say to yourself; just this one last cast and then you’ll go. The hope of course, is that this last cast will be the one that catches the fish of the trip, that trophy you’ve been hoping for. Other times it’s not by choice but by circumstance. For instance, it was the last cast because I just got a snag, my line broke and by the time I could re-rig, it would be time to go anyway. Or, it’s getting late and I just caught a nice fish and I might as well end the day on a high note, with the “just caught a great fish feeling”.

I got to work early Tuesday because it was going to be raining the rest of the week and this would be the last day I’d be able to get out on the stream for awhile. My last meeting went until 3:30. I hurried to the car, hooked up my I-pod and started to the river. As I got to Wanship, I stopped by the river near the I-80 overpass to check the condition of the river. It was little high and only slightly off-color but still fishable. Last year, according to my calendar, the full blown run-off started on this day, April 20th. I remember I was going to be meeting up with Paul on Thursday to go fishing but when the water was blown out on Tuesday, I e-mailed him to say we better hold off. He responded that he was a “day late and a dollar short”.

I drove downstream to one of the last access points on the river before hitting Coalville and the Echo Reservoir. My thought was to give the river as much time as possible to clear the silt from the river flow that was being dumped into it by the stream that flowed through Wanship. As I entered the river, I noticed that it was still quite off-color and high, but not to the run-off stage yet, still fishable. I started out with a black, rabbit fur streamer. After an hour and no fish yet, I switched to a larger, green two-hook fly with big eyes. I saw a few fish follow it but none that actually hit it. After an hour using it, I switched to the yellow fly I had caught the large browns on during my previous two trips. After a half hour with this fly I had still not caught a fish. This high, cloudy water is really taking its toll. By now I had worked my way upstream to the next access point and it was time to start heading to the dirt road and hike back to the car. But wait; one last cast! To be continued...