This was a big day for Dave, a very big day. In fact, it was Dave’s idea to put #44 on the list and he had been looking forward to crossing it off since last year’s tour when he spent a whole day casting into a river and caught nothing but a tire. You see, Dave has never caught a fish before in his life, so when we lined up a professional fly fishing guide and a trip to a trout-packed pond in Idaho, he couldn’t stop talking about it. When Debby, our guide, told us that the pond was so riddled with trout that there was “No way you won’t catch a fish”, you can imagine how Dave’s eye’s lit up.

Debby, our very fly guide

So, Jonnie, Duncan and I did what any good friends would do in this situation, we stepped back to let Dave take the lead and gave him all the encouragement we could for his big moment…of course, this was after we cut the hook off of his lure…

Sure enough, with Dave’s first cast into the trout infested pond he felt a bite and yelled out with glee, “Oh! I think I got one!!” This of course was followed by the inevitable, “Oh crap! He got away!” This pattern continued for the next hour or two, Dave would get a bite and everyone would pipe up with encouragements, the fish would get away and the three of us would voice our concerns. “Are you setting the hook Dave?” “Do you think it’s a technical problem?” “Keep it up Davo, you’re close!” In the mean time, Jonnie, Duncan and I were having a grand old time as we had caught fish at our whim and took in the calming Idaho landscape.

Rainbow Trout #3 (Not Dave’s)

Finally, after a 4th or 5th “Do you think it’s a technical problem?” from Jonnie, Dave checked his lure and realized he was without a hook. Needless to say, Dave wasn’t too thrilled with our little joke. However, the joke ended up being on us because in the last hour Dave caught more fish than any of the 3 of us had caught the whole day.

Jonnie ‘Gumbo’ Penn

Back in good spirits, we took our catches, gutted them with the help of Debby and cooked our fresh fish over an open fire. It was a wonderful day, one that Dave will never forget. -ben