Day Off

The heart of the 2009 guiding season has been extremely busy. Most of our guides, including myself have worked between 20 and 25 trips each over a 25 day span. Make hay when the sun is shining.

I did have this past Saturday off, and it was a great rest. I awoke to a beautifully cool morning with a fresh dusting of snow on the mountains. After a leisurely breakfast (eggs, bacon, juice) I decided to head to a favorite honey hole to spend an hour or two fishing for myself. There was a bit of wind and no bugs on the water. After a while drifting dries and emergers over a normally productive run, I decided to go subsurface. Just as I finished tying on a small woolly bugger, a family of merganzers ran through my hole. Squawking and splashing. I cursed the merganzers for a second then threw my fly under a deep undercut. I let the fly start to swing. The line tightened and there he was, a big cutty thrashing about. After a short battle I had a gorgeous 21" Cutthroat Trout resting in my hand. The fish's colors were spectacular and I quickly released him back into his run. I fished a bit more, but that fish was my day.

I returned home and settled into the couch to watch the Yankees / Red Sox game. I half watched the game and half napped on the couch. Me dozing, the Yankees winning, what a great way to spend a lazy afternoon.

Soon a friend called with an offer to go to the lake for an evening waterski session, accompanied by putting back a few brews. By the time I got off the couch to start getting ready, some rain had started and the plan got cancelled. Bummer. What to do next? I decided that I would head down to a local tavern that has a poker table in the back.

I walked in and there was one seat left at the table. I sat down and cashed in for $100. After a couple of hours my stack was $800. I bought a round of drinks for the table, cashed out and headed home. Sleep came quick and deep and the day was done.

We don't get many days off in the middle of summer, but it is good to take full advantage of the ones we get. This one, was a good one.