What seems like a million years ago I was fishing steelhead on the Gualala. I was by myself working my way upstream on the south bank hitting every pool and riffle that looked promising. Beautiful trees and ferns and a misting light fog surrounded the area. I had hooked one nice fish that took me a ways upstream before breaking off in a snag.
I could see quite a ways farther up and there were two fellows in the water but only one had a rod. One was an older fellow and the other was his guide. They had come onto a bar from the north side of the river and had waded to their waists. As I watched, the guide would take the rod from the older gent, make a nice long cast, and then immediately hand the rod back to the older man. The old man would then slowly swing and strip the fly back in and then pass the rod again to the guide who repeated the process.
As I continued working my way upstream closer to this paired team, the guide yelled across the water to me that I had steelhead holding almost under my feet at the bottom of their swing. I immediately backed away trying not to spook their fish.
Back on the path again I moved farther upstream even with the team and could hear them talking. I thought I recognized the voice and called over to them. "Hey Mike, is that you?" It was and he called back, "Tony?". We conversed briefly and I moved on not wanting to interfere with their fish.
I thought then, and remember often now, how nice it was of this guide to be helping the older person out so as to enjoy the fishing he could no longer do by himself.
That guide was Capt. Mike Costello, now mostly known for his expertise chasing stripers in the delta.
Tony
Last edited by Tony Buzolich; 02-12-2014 at 10:44 AM.
TONY BUZOLICH
Feather River Fly
Yuba City, CA.
(530) 790-7180
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