A fly fisherman as “first responder” means a better than average chance of survival, especially if he’s armed with a two-hander …

Don Elder was practicing his spey casting in Oregon’s Big Sandy and landed a child and two adults – rescued from the frigid water by gripping his Spey line.

Makes you wonder why we can’t lose the “money shot” cover of a couple of angling periodicals to give props to someone that’s earned plenty. Sure beats the Red Headed Wookie doing a cavity search on a soon-to-be-dead steelhead.

Despite the heroics involved, I’m sure all that Mr. Elder was thinking at the time was, ” … I knew I should have retied that backing knot.”

Pretty remarkable tale.