As I walked back to the truck I kept thinking that I'd done this a few times before, though, and that was disturbing. Leaving equipment behind. Once in Sweden I got halfway to the River Atran and realized I had left my waders hanging at home. You can't fish a salmon river without them, so I returned home to retrieve them. Once on Penn's Creek, too. I got halfway down stream and realized I didn't have a rod in hand. Luckily it was only 500 yards away from the truck, and the path was flat. Once in Cheeseman Canyon as well. That one wasn't too bad, either.
Today, though, I hiked a mile and a half to the river and dropped 400 feet in elevation in the process when I realized my sunglasses were on the dash of my truck. Not ideal, but I thought it would be okay. I would just have to concentrate a bit more, and definitely the advantage would be to the fish, I thought. But then, a few minutes later, I realized my reel was neatly tucked in my gear bag in the back of my truck. #*$@!. Again.... #*@!. Yeah, that's a big deal. So I hiked back up the trail, got my glasses and reel, and then back down. An hour later I was stream side gearing up and a bit more relaxed. Still, things like this can throw you off your game.
Today the flow was 200cfs and clear. Within the first five casts I had two fish on so felt a bit of redemption. Throughout the morning a dry dropper rig (#16 Yellow Humpy, #18 BHPH, #20 red thread midge) that pulled in about 8 fish and just as many missed strikes. So, not a total disaster, but next time I need to get my act together.
