Fish Goggles....

Now I know we have all heard the old song about beer goggles and the unfortunate circumstances that follow the wearing of them can be, but what I call fish goggles can only be a good thing. I still remember my initial brushes with Fish Goggles. Cat and I used to fish a ton up at Grape creek where we would get to the water about 8:00 in the morning and fish until 7:00 in the evening. Dry droppers to start the day but after about the first 40 or 50 fish we go straight dries. The evenings would be filled with laughter and stories and when we would lie down to sleep, the Fish Goggles would turn on. It seemed the second my eyes shut, rising fish would fill my head. The visions were so strong that most takes would cause my whole body to twitch. After a short while I would make myself get up, open my eyes, shake my head and try to remove the Fish Goggles. Well as time went on my fishing style has changed and the visions of my goggles have changed as well.

  The last few weeks I have noticed a strong return of my fish goggles. If you read much of our blog than you know how fond I am of sight fishing, lately, I have seen so many fish that as I lay down to sleep I am seeing what looks like fleets of fish everywhere. One particular vision seems to be the most prevalent. I had a client out last week and he was pretty good at getting his flies where we wanted them. We were tip toeing down the river when I spotted what looked to be an incredible fish on the other side of the river. The long rosy stripe gave me chills and the length had to be at least twenty inches. I could tell by where the fish was sitting and eating that this was not his first rodeo and a poor cast or drift would make us look like fools. We huddled and made a quick plan but the first cast fell three or four feet short. Luckily we did not spook the fish. The next cast made my whole body tense up, it was perfect. The flies moved down and I watched the bow move about three inches and open and close his mouth. My client set the hook and I watched the bow thrash his head back and forth three times before he turned and ran down river. The fish got about five feet and the whole rig shot back at us. We both shrieked with both joy and disgust but the vision was firmly planted in my brain. He caught many more fish that day but that image has been really hard to shake. When I was younger, the cure for sleeplessness was counting sheep. I can firmly attest to the fact that counting fish does not work. I guess it’s a great problem to have but as I am closing my eyes at night my Fish Goggles first make me drool at the runs full of shadows but the head shake of that one fish makes me twitch. My hope is that everyone that reads this blog gets to wear a championship pair of Fish Goggles.

  I wrote most of this blog earlier this week and got a chance to experience someone else’s Fish Goggles over the weekend. I was with Cat at the shop when Angel and Katrina came in. They had just gotten off the water where they had had an okay morning. They were telling us a little about the morning when Katrina’s eyes began to light up. She went on to tell us about a fish she had hooked up at Deckers a few days before. As she began telling the story her smile filled the room and she began to get fidgety. She went on to talk about the take, then the run, and then the fish exploding out of the water that she said reminded her of the old carnival games. I couldn’t help but laugh and knew those visions would not leave her mind anytime soon.

  Cat and I got to fish today and had an incredible time. My Fish Goggle story came midday when I saw a really nice fish feeding just above the first bend. Cat was talking to Tyler up on the bank and behind some bushes when the take occurred. The mouth headed straight up and he began to thrash the top of the river. I called for Cat and they got around the bushes just in time to see me throwing one of my quickie tantrums when the fish popped off. Tonight when I sleep it won’t just be the Goggles but also the sound of him bashing the water with his enormous face. Oh well, I will still sleep with a huge smile on my face tonight. Fishing was pretty good most of the day and the fish were on RS2’s, SOL’s, Ninjas and a few on the J-bomb. Don’t know how much time we will have left before the river explodes so enjoy while you can. As Always, Connell, Cat, Winston, Katrina’s near bow, and The Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading……..