Earlier in May, several of us took off for the Frying Pan River after the memorial gathering for John Gierach in Lyons. None of us had made inquiries into whether the blue-winged olive hatch was on, but rather just drove west on faith. It’s what we’ve done for more years than I can remember.

I’m not sure if any of us even checked what the water volume coming out of Ruedi Reservoir was. Over time you learn that just going fishing is what’s important and you don’t want to muck it up with too many details. I can’t remember ever canceling a trip to the “Pan” due to the water levels, although we may have delayed a trip or two in the past.

As it turned out, the river was in great shape when we arrived and trout were rising to what we assumed was a hatch of olives. I say “assumed” because a strong wind that occasionally gusted to a level approaching fierce blew the diminutive mayflies from the water’s surface before we could positively identify them.

If you fly fish with any regularity in Colorado, you learn to deal with the wind. Maybe you shorten the length of your leader a bit, move around a bend to shield yourself from the full brunt of it or if the trout are rising where you can’t get out of the wind you employ a Belgian cast that may not tangle your leader up in the wind as much as a standard cast.

The river wasn’t crowded on that first day and we managed to get a favored spot where all of us could fish within sight of each other, although Doug Powell usually takes off downstream to a place that has close to religious significance to him and some pretty nice trout, too. I’ve never been there because the current is too strong for me to wade across and I’m too bull headed to ask for help.

Doug is younger than me and covers a lot of ground when he fishes. I’ve always seen him as our trout scout who doesn’t hesitate to come back up river and lead us to a particularly good spot. He also has a beautifully smooth cast that is wonderful to watch.

It reminds me of a time when I was fishing with my friend, Dave Hughes and he said, “I don’t want to just get my fly to the fish, I want a pretty cast, too!”

The wind continued to be a nuisance the next day, but none of us complained because the trout were still rising. We’re not absolute dry fly purists, but we will go out of our way to fish a dry fly. The one concession I sometimes make is to trail an emerger or nymph a foot or so behind my dry fly in hopes of shaking loose a strike from any trout that might be feeding on emerging nymphs just below the surface or in the surface film.

We have our favorite places on the river and move around to them for a change or more often because other anglers have occupied the spots we intended to go to. This trip was unusual because the river wasn’t as crowded as we’re used to, so on most days we had our pick of where to fish.

I could say that’s the gist of it and we all caught and released trout and even managed to dodge a snowstorm on the drive home, but there is something else that stands out in my mind.

It’s when Doug came up river and got me.

“I want to show you something,” he said and led the way downstream. We stopped on the road above the river and he asked, “Do you see it?”

I looked where he was pointing. There was a rock close to the bank that created a wonderful little slow-motion eddy behind it. There was a very nice trout holding along the rock and picking off any Blue-wing Olive duns that floated by.

Doug said, “Catch him,” and suggested a casting position for me. I moved there, made a cast and nothing happened. I kept working the lie and eventually spooked the trout. A few minutes later Doug whispered, “He’s back!”

This time the trout took my fly after a few drifts. Doug moved out into the main current hoping to block the trout if it made a run.

We managed to keep it in the soft water where Doug netted it.

That rainbow trout measured 20 inches. Once the adrenaline wore off, I thought about how generous it was for Doug to put me on that fish. But he does that sort of thing all the time. It’s just the kind of guy he is.

I joked that I’m going to start telling other anglers that he’s in the guide business now!

“Don’t do that!” he replied.