Swing the Fly Issue 2.4 Spring 2015 | Page 97

absolutely no pressure to land a fish. Taylor was so relaxed that he took us to the run, helped us identify the right spot to wade across the undulating lava troughs and returned to prepare eggs benedict with crab patties left over from the night before.

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t touch a fish. More unfortunately, I choose the wrong line wading back to shore, lost my footing and began floating downriver!  I finally decided to abandon my rod and swim to solid footing, losing my Hatch reel and Beulah spey rod to the Deschutes depths, a fitting end to my quest!   

Why fitting? Because nothing hard should be easy? Because you need to pay attention to what you are doing?  Because fly fisherman over 70 should be wearing floating devices?  Because Taylors’s egg benedict is worth dying for?  Well maybe and maybe not.  My demurrer to my insurance company was that I deserved recovery of my loss because steelhead are worth dying for!