AARP will send your letter soon, enough with the giggles

Even the Mayflies were smaller than last monthThe 40’s ended abruptly and the 50’s started with a bang, but I’m still officially an “average” fly fisherman. I’m vague on the source but I read the average fly fisherman was 51 years old – the demographic angling publications target.

I was struggling mightily to keep a midlife crisis at arm’s distance, but my insurance company and AARP pulled the rug out. Nothing like ripping open a missive to find out you’re an old guy.

I sought solace in the muddy bosom of the Little Stinking. She doesn’t discard “Gray Hair’s” like the rest of society, she’s odiferous and loyal.

Nearly a month since my last visit – and the water is lower still. The tomato fields have been in for a couple weeks and other crops are being sown and irrigated. The waterline is down nearly a foot and it doesn’t leave much room for fish.

I had my girlfriend in tow, part of my sinister master plan to build an angler out of raw clay, and the warm weather, low flows, and gravel bottom builds confidence in someone that’s never waded before.

I call it “the Brotherhood of the Muddy Boot” – it’s not quite fishing, more of a sweaty and arduous hiking trip – with the occasional cast for a visible fish.

..and the fish weren’t visible, so we covered a lot of ground without tossing a fly in anger.

Big Yellow Something

I was explaining the intricacies of watching your line tip when something obligingly ate the fly. It was big, bright, and unknown – an inferior mouth like a carp, a bright yellow lower half and an olive upper. The dorsal was near midpoint on the back – so I knew it was no Pikeminnow.

My “cameraman” obligingly snapped what she could but the fish slipped from my grasp without posing. I’m assuming it may have been a Selenium enhanced super-strain of something – but I’ll have to do more research before informing the authorities.

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8 thoughts on “AARP will send your letter soon, enough with the giggles

  1. KBarton10

    It took a natural Bird’s Nest about a size 12. The picture doesn’t show size, this was a large beast – somewhere between 3 and 4 pounds.

    Still haven’t figured out what it was – despite consulting the Davis fish list.

  2. Igneous Rock

    Hmmm,…Safeway’s tomatoes will require another 12″ of stream depth, maybe you could work on a fish photography blog for struggling, young stream & gutter biology majors.

  3. Tom Sorenson

    So, then, that makes me below average? Man, I hate that!

    odd looking fish – would have liked to have seen it better. Sounds like a fun fish, anyways.

  4. KBarton10

    Igneous – you may want to look at the UC Davis link for your fish ID, it may have been a hitch or a hardhead, both are silvery as you described.

    Tom – I don’t quibble much about what it is if it eats flies readily, it’s one of my many shortcomings.

  5. Igneous Rock

    Thanks for the lead. It turns out that the fish I caught was a Hardhead. Commonly associated with Pikeminnow. They get as lrg. as 30cm in sml. streams. Mine was about 23cm. or 9″. Nearly spooled me!

  6. A. Wannabe Travelwriter

    At your age I would watch any activity too arduous out there. If I hear your muffled moans from the back forty I ain’t leaving the couch to drag your arse back up the bank,but I might send ‘little meathead’ back there to yap at you.

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