How about "most forgetable" moment?

[SullyTM]

I'm going for the 2-4-1 story...After being away from fly fishing for over 30 years I purchased a 6 wt outfit 4 years ago. The family vacation that summer was a camping trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. Two days before we loaded up the '97 Honda Civic I still needed a pair of waders...By chance I saw a pair hanging over a fence at a garage sale and they fit! Neoprene, made in England...I even got a used fly vest. All for $10. Since my fly fishing ability was raw at best I did alot of reading and not as much practicing as I should have...After about week in Yellowstone with no luck, but plenty of beautiful country, we got rained on big time and broke camp a day earlier than planned...Dried out at a dude ranch and got some directions for a great place to fly on the Snake River in the Grand Tetons...off the beaten path. When I located the "secret" body of water I was amazed at what took place. The river rose and fell before my eyes and as the river fell the trout all gatherd at the base of a condemned bridge awaiting brunch! I was litterly standing in them, changing flies every half-dozen casts, not knowing what to do(remember, I was just beginning my fly fishing odessey)...I never did hook one, however, I can still remember that day like it was yesterday.......Yes, I'll be baaaaack!....still have the waders but the vest is vapor.

[Moose]

A few friends and I went to Loreto for some Dorado fishing and have travelled together before, everyone's pretty cool and we all get along well. We're a mello group and like to blend in and just fish and relax. This other guy we know, who seemed normal enough, wanted to come along and so we agreed, no big deal. We told him exactly what to expect (we go regularly) and what to bring. He couldn't join us on the drive down but would fly down a couple days after we arrived.

Well, this fool shows up with nothing but a change of shorts and less than half the cash we told him he'd need. He proceeded to turn into the "Ugly American" and would treat every person we ran into as though they were there solely to serve him and, of course, acted as though every one of the locals was beneath him. He lost a rod and reel to the sea, one the guide had to loan him, tangled lines constantly, yelled and swore at local shopkeepers, wanted to go to the brothels (that was not going to happen) and party, ordered drinks in nice restaurants and walked off without paying, etc, etc..

For the first couple of days we had to appologize and cover for this jerk constantly, then we began fighting with each other because one of us always wanted to beat the crap out this guy ( we took turns with this attitude) and the others would have to contain the current "Irate Other" in the party. Finally, with 2 days to go before his flight outta there we left him in town as he again wandered off. He showed up at the house in a taxi a day later, drunk and apparently in debt, and we denied knowing him to the cabbie but offered to pay the cab fair of the Dumb American gringo to the airport where, apparently, he slept it off until the flight home.

Never heard from him again!


I too had an experience like the above posted mule story.

In Idaho we rode a dozen miles into the Bighole mountains to bowhunt for elk. A friend lives in town there and we rented a guide to pack us in and had a drop camp set up, but our local buddy would not rent a horse since his wife had one. So on the first night we hobbled the horses and mules and my buddy says, "Hell, this ol horse loves me, he ain't goin nowhere".

Of course we woke up to find the horse long gone. Ol Wiley had to ride a pack mule all week and worry about the wrath of the wife when he'd return home without her horse.

The horse had walked home. She was waitin for him!

[Hairstacker]

Moose, that is another GREAT story! "This other guy we know, who seemed normal enough..." just set it up perfectly.