He didn't barge into the pool. He just stood and watched. Sort of taking the stance the Old Bag takes when she wants to discuss my bad habits. Just a patience that you can feel.
Well, hell, we had just arrived at the pool, taking possession, ignoring the large backpack on the river bank, noting that there were fishermen upstream in the next run. We figured a backpack wasn't the equivalent of a claim, and if it was, we jumped it.
We hadn't made the long hike, early in the morning, to this prime pool, without the resolve to fish it.
And, neither had the stranger on the bank.
But he was prepared to wait. He'd packed food enough for the day, warm clothing for when the sun went down behind the hills and a gallon jug of ice-tea for the hot afternoon.
My fishing buddy, Les, Les Linfoot, is married and it didn't take him long to feel the presence either. I thought I could detect an edge to his voice as he queried the stranger on his intentions.
"Just watching", said the stranger. "I'm looking for Dolly Varden".
That's really all it took for Linfoot to become intrigued and a conversation was struck, followed by an invitation. Les noted that it was a rather large pool, and big enough for the three of us.
The stranger took a position downstream and began heaving a heavily weighted, leech-like fly with barbell eyes that Charles Atlas couldn't lift.
If he never caught a fish, just watching him cast the equivalent of a Volvo motor-block with a five-weight was both entertaining and instructive. Man, that guy could cast.
Of course he did nail himself in the back a couple of times, apparently quite a painful experience, but in the main he drove that fly quite a distance and to the mark and picked up a rather nice Dolly.
Stuck in my ways, I continued to fish for rainbows and nailed a rather nice specimen with a Griffith Gnat on my five-weight.
The stranger was watching as I whooped and yelled to nobody in particular, "did you see that"? "Dollies are after my trout". Three of them chased my catch as I relaxed my retrieve, hoping one would take my bait.
But, the Skagit has a bait ban, so I reluctantly brought in my trophy 13-inch rainbow and released it.
The stranger had seen the Dollies and one of them had got his attention. It was huge and hungry.
I vacated the pool and the stranger took over, nailing himself a couple more times with the Volvo, and then screamed, "get my camera, get my camera".
"It's in my pack".
He was on and he was on the biggest of the Dollies we had seen.
A ten pound Dolly takes a while to bring to hand with a five-weight, so I had plenty of time to find his camera, get mine out and for Linfoot to get his. Yup, we just had to take a few pictures and a few more. Both Darren Smith, the stranger, and Linfoot ran out of film before we were done. I had an extra roll.
"You guys made my day", said Darren. He had proof that he caught fish. Big fish. And, he couldn't have captured the moment if he had been alone.
And maybe that's what the Old Bag has been trying to tell me.
