Rio Grande Fishing
By Bob Antiel
I convinced Kay Watkins to go fishing on a stretch of the upper Rio Grande. We crossed over because he says the other bank always fishes better [I tend to agree]. Water color was stained; we decided eggs and worms must be on today’s menu. Kay goes with worms, so I try eggs. We began landing a few nice rainbows, then several more. After maybe a dozen each we were feeling good; sometimes we had hookups on three continuous casts. How much better does fishing get? Even the professor was impressed.I soon hooked another monster that broke me off at the leader-tippet junction – my fault for not checking all my knots more often. Kay continues to catch several nice bows and one larger brown he claims was 20 inches [I didn’t see it but he don’t lie like most fly fishers I know]. Kay hooks another oversized bow and I walk back to help him net his latest trophy. “Hey Kay, I thought you were fishing worms, and there’s one egg tangled in that mess of tippet and squirmy worms. Damn, you caught the bow that broke me off just 20 minutes earlier! Thanks! Can I have my egg back?” He graciously conceded.
Granted, this is a fishin’ story, but it’s also the damn truth.
PS: Fishin’ was pretty great after lunch too.
PPS: Though we have shared a lot of excellent fishing, the final tally isn’t necessarily the best part of the day. It starts on the drive to the river of the day [pre-Covid]. He has a great depth of stories from his years of past misadventures. I enjoy the rolling humorous commentary throughout the day. It is always self-deprecating and hilarious. Thank you Kay!
