The fish were one the bite at Meadow Lane. The weather was fine, the water wet enough for wet wading, and everyone but me caught fish. A lot of fish. As for me, I fell in almost immediately with my only pair of blue jeans, fell twice due, I think to a medical condition. From then on, I fished from the bank. With bad luck. I was at the swimming hole with Nielsen, throwing the same rig (swiggly worm, a killer) with a strike indicator, identical to what Nielsen was casting. He took three 16" trout in about 35 minutes, I got one bump.
The water was clear and not high, and there was not a leaf drop in significant amounts to hinder even dry fly fishing. Nielsen got a couple of hits on an October caddis, I got a refusal. Nielsen's pal, Groening and his pal Niel fished hard and caught lots of fish. Niel was a novice but a quick learner. He caught his first trout at the Swimming Hole, a nice one. About 1 pm on Monday. I was there and no one was dressed out.
I have a balance problem and maybe my wading days or over. I fell in about 2 feet of water, backwards both times wearing bluejeans as everyone but me was wearing shorts and running shoes. We all fell, but my falls were stupid and due to disorientation. Quite embarrassing.
Our group caught a lot of fish, all rather healthy and pretty nice. About 16-18 inches. A few less, but mostly in that range. October, this warm year, was ideal. We began fishing at 1 pm on Monday, everybody but me fished about 7 hours a day. There were others at the Grainary, and a family at the River House but I never saw them on the river.
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