Today will be a day that will stick with me for a long time, and not because I spent a great day fly fishing with my brother, Kris, and long time friend, Davis Russell-Smith. Today the three of us experienced a two-ton Toyota Tundra barreling toward us out of control, providing a very unpleasant near-death experience. But before that, we fished.
"Damn! Did I bring the wrong boots?" David asked out loud, projecting his English accent and looking inside his boot for a size.
"Don't tell me..." I answered back, fearing he was going to go through the day with no boots.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they were wrong!" David added, "You damn well sold them to me!" He said with a laugh.
"What's up?" Feef asked, after layering up from within the cab of his truck.
"Nothing... David just hasn't fished in so long that he forgot how to gear up!" I said back, and picked up his boot to loosen it up for him.
"Why thank you, Erik!" David said, laughing. "Are you going to help me tuck in my shirt too?"
"Wouldn't surprise me, David. After all, you are getting old." I said, handing his boot back. David plopped his boot on the ground and stuffed his foot into it with a grunt.
"I am getting old." David echoed back as he synched his boot tight. Together we put our fly rods together and found our way to the river.
I watched a few fish rise before I selected a size 18 BWO adult pattern to offer up as a meal. Feef had gone upstream to throw a streamer, while David remained across the river tying on some nymphs. With my fly in hand, I waited for the fish to show itself again, and it didn't disappoint.
"Erik, a fish just rose right in front of you!" David yelled to me from across the stream.
"Really?! Gee, I didn't see it!" I yelled back, sarcastically.
"Well, catch it then." David said.
The fish rose again, and by now I had the fish's feeding timed. I laid out a well-timed cast, and a mouth took in my fly.
"Boom!" I yelled lifting my fly rod to set the hook on the fish. By the time Feef came down to aid, if needed, I had netted my fish and held it up for a picture.
"That was a nice fish there, Brother." Feef said to me as I dipped the fish back into the water and let it slip from my fingers.
"Anything on the streamer?" I asked.
"Nothing." Feef said bitterly, as I redressed my fly.
Whooping and hollering echoed down the canyon wall, catching our attention.
"What is that?" Feef asked.
"There must be someone on the mountain." I said, as we both scanned the canyon wall.
"There!" Feef yelled, "I can see three guys up there... They look like they are sliding down." It took me a sec, but I saw them, and brought out my camera to take a picture.
I looked back down and saw another fish rise.
"Here..." I said, holding out my fly rod and recapturing Feef's attention. "...catch that rising fish over there."
Feef took my fly rod and looked to where I pointed. He saw the fish and it didn't take long for him to get hooked up!
"Yeah, Brother!" I yelled over to him.
"Feels good to fight a fish again, Brother!" He said back, with a happy growl. Feef held his rod tip high as he brought in the fish close enough to get our first real glimpse at it.
"It's a nice fish, Brother. Don't screw it up!" I said with excitement.
"I'm not!" Feef said, bringing out his net and scooping up the fish.
"Yeaaaaaa!" Feef yelled, after seeing his fish fill up his net!
"Let's get a pic!" I said, and Feef was happy to cooperate.
I called David over so he could have a shot at a rising fish.
"Did you see it, Dave?" I asked, after a fish rose. I had already given Dave the fly that was working so there was no question that it would work.
"No." He said.
"No? It's right in front of you." I said, and this time he saw the fish.
"Okay, I see it." He said, and pitched out his fly.
"Erik, you need to make these flies with a big white top so I can see the bloody things!" Dave complained. But it was true; even I was having a hard time seeing his fly. Another cast, and we both watched for a rising fish.
"That's you!" I yelled as a fish rose, and David set his hook.
"How could you see the fly?" David asked, as he fought his fish.
"I couldn't, I just figured your fly was in that same vicinity." I said loudly with excitement. David brought his fish in fast, and I had my camera out for a picture.
"No! You are not getting a picture with me and this little fish!" David said laughing.
"Come on, Dave, little fish have feelings too." I said, but Dave didn't even touch his fish, he just dipped the net back into the water, after netting it, so the fish could slip away, unharmed.
"I guess if I caught a small-ass fish like that I wouldn't want a picture either." Feef added, after Dave's fish was long gone.
"It's not all about catching fish, you know!" David said in protest, "It's about being out and enjoying the wilderness with friends!"
"Yeah!" I said loudly, "That's what I say too..." I turned to look at my brother. "...when I catch small fish."
I hooked into another nice fish, but it snapped off when my fly line knotted up and was suddenly stopped by the guides as the fish ran. Another feeding fish caught my eye quickly, and it looked bigger than what any of us had caught so far.
"Oooooo, go get that, Brother!" Feef said, also spotting the fish.
"Don't screw it up, Erik." David added, for some extra encouragement.
I crept closer to the fish, practically crawling through the snow, to get into a good casting position. The fish was close to the bank and would spook if I approached it any other way. My first cast sent my fly right into the low hanging bush that sheltered the fish's feeding lane. I broke off the fly after some rousing from my audience, and was back casting in no time. Then it happened: I was close enough to see my fly float into the fish's feeding lane when it's head came up and ate my fly! The fly line wicked off the water as I set the hook, and as soon as the fish felt the pull it shot off tail-walking out into the river! The fish was bigger than I thought, so I stood quickly as my reel screamed to life.
"It's a pig!" David yelled, watching from downstream. The fish was running hard, and leapt completely out of the water... where it spit my hook.
"Damn it!" I yelled, throwing my rod back into the snow behind me.
"Well, you almost impressed me, Erik." David said, adding injury to insult.
"I didn't see it, was it big?" Feef asked, as I sulked in silence with my hands holding my head.
"God, it was a pig!" David said, and he was right. It's not very often I pitch a fit over a lost fish, but it just got to me because it was in such a difficult place to cast. I deserved that fish.
Both Feef and Dave went back to fishing as I finished up my little pity-party.
The sound of the water flowing by us was magnified due to the silence created by the falling snow. A slight breeze was cooling the already freezing temperature, which aided in the decision to go back to the truck and warm up. With everyone having caught a fish today, we decided to end the day early and go home to grab an early dinner. We did not expect what would happen next.
Feef kept his truck in 4-wheel drive while we slowly made our way back out of the canyon. Around a blind corner and headed down a slight decline, we pulled up next to a car that had slid off the road into a deep ditch.
The car was high-centered, and there was no way they were getting out without help. After Feef found his tow rope, David strapped on the chains he brought for some extra grip.
"There was a Subaru stuck in the ditch just back there." One of the guys said, pointing to a section of disturbed snow. "It took six of us to push it out, but there was no hope for our car."
"How fast were you going?" Feef asked, as David finished tightening up the chains.
"Slow, I would say 20 miles per hour." The driver said.
"Hey! Were you the three guys sliding down the canyon earlier?" I asked.
"Yeah, that was us. Were you the three fisherman we saw?" The driver of the car asked back.
"Yep." I replied, and brought out my camera to snap a picture of them.
 |
| Driver, Friend who lost his phone, and the other one. |
With the rope in place and tire-chains secured, Feef hopped in his truck to pull out the car. The chains dug away at the earth as he stepped on the gas, and just as the car started to budge... SNAP! The tow rope broke, and the hope of pulling out the car was lost.
The tire-chains take forever to remove, so David got to work on them right away. With the driver side done, he moved over to the passenger side of the truck. This side was near the snow filled ditch away from the road next to the steep incline that continued up the canyon wall.
"What's going on, Dave?" I asked, as I saw him stick his head behind the tire and struggling with the chains.
"I can't get this link..." David said with a grunt, as he stuck his hands back there again, feeling for the link. We were both kneeling when we heard yelling.
"Oh, $#!t! That truck is not going to stop!" The friend with the red hoodie yelled, pointing up the road.
"$#!t, He's going to hit my truck!" Feef yelled, as I looked up...
1...2...3...4...
1... I looked up to see a silver Toyota Tundra barreling down the hill traveling at 35-40 mph. Its wheels were turned towards the large ditch, but the truck was not turning. Instead it was coming straight toward us, only seconds from slamming into Feef's truck with a force that would pin both David and I under Feef's truck and most likely into the ditch.
"DAVID MOVE!!!" I yelled.
2... I turned towards the ditch and leapt over it, scrambling up the steep embankment to avoid being pinned under Feef's truck. I looked back at the truck, and saw that it was not going to slam into Feef's truck: the driver kept his foot on the gas to propel himself in the direction his wheels were turned. The only problem now was with the speed of the truck, there was a chance it could bypass the ditch, slam into the steep embankment fast enough to climb it before it stopped, and it was headed straight towards me!
3... The truck slammed into the large snow pile that lined the road, causing it to explode in a cloud of white. I backed away, scrambling down the embankment towards the back of my brother's truck, without taking my eyes off the Tundra. The truck flew into the ditch and slammed into the far end of the embankment.
4... A tsunami of dirt, rock, ice, and snow was so large that it completely disrupted my vision of the truck. Like Luke Skywalker avoiding being squashed by the foot of an imperial walker, I dove backwards without looking where I would land. While being pelted with the wave of earth created by the truck, the last thing I saw was the truck tipping on two wheels, before it came to a stop.
I opened my eyes, and felt something weird under my chest, like I was on a soft, round rock. I pushed up to realized I was on David's head.
"Sorry, Dave." I said, as he got up and removed his glasses that were caked with snow.
"Holy $#!t man, are you ok?" The driver of the white car came running towards me to help me up. "That came so close to hitting you." He finished, as I stood.
"Is everyone ok?" I asked, looking to see David up and my brother standing by the driver side door of his truck. The kid with the red hoodie ran over to the wayward truck to see if they were ok, and they were.
I walked over to Dave who was brushing snow off his hoodie.
"I thought that truck was going to roll after both those tires came off the ground." David said, checking his glasses.
"I saw that too." I said with a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.
Everyone was shaken up, but okay. I pulled out my camera, and the beeps emitting from it indicated I had turned it on to take a picture.
"You're joking, Erik..." David said in disgust, "how can you think to take a picture right now?" His reaction made me laugh, but with everyone ok, I saw no harm in taking a picture.
The Tundra that slammed into the ditch was stuck, but the gentleman inside had a tow chain, which Feef used to pull him out. As they worked I walked to one end of the road, while one of the other guys walked up the opposite way to slow down any incoming traffic.
"So much for getting back early." Feef said, as we followed the two vehicles up the road. We passed them when they stopped to unchain the car, and we waved goodbye to our new friends as we cruised by.
"I'm glad we didn't get hit." I added.
"Well I had Erik jump on my freaking head as he tried to get away from the truck." David said loudly. The image of David pulling his face out of the snow with his glasses and face packed with the frozen element made me laugh.
"Yeah, laugh it up, ERIK!" David said, laughing along.
"Well gentleman, I guess we'll die another day!" I said.
"Oooo, James Bond!" Feef said happily, and drove us back to Boise all safe and sound.
PS. If you happen to find some keys on the South Fork road, please bring them into Anglers Fly Shop.
