River Etiquette

We made it to the river for our first trouting outing of the season this past Thursday, and the river was covered up due to the holidays. Fishing was tough...the catch and keep crowd appear to have been highly active and brutally effective during this mild stretch of winter weather...not bitching mind you, after all that is why the good Lord made 'em and why our underappreciated OK Wildlife Department stocked 'em, but that's my excuse for us catching only 3 fish that afternoon. As Collin Raye puts it...that's my story and I'm stickin to it!!!

Now, on to behavior that is near and dear to my heart. River Etiquette.

We've all done unto others and had others do unto us, unintentually as well as intentually, just for giggles as well as with malice, but it seems to me, as an educator, maybe it's time to add Social Graces 101 to our public school curriculmn!! At least that way our youth will grow up knowing WHEN they've committed a "breach of etiquette" and they'll understand WHY someone served them a knuckle sandwich!...now, the REST of the story...

We (Alan, Felix and me) parked at the west parking lot off SH 7 and hoofed it to the first area where the road bends next to the river. Suprised to find it unoccupied, we entered the water and Felix, new rod in hand, said he hadn't caught anything with it yet. I told him we'd christen it at this spot...fortunately I was right. He caught his first, and I'm sorry to say, last trout with that rod...it broke about 2 hours later. If he had only known this little tidbit of intel shortly after his first catch, this story could have turned out significantly different.

Each of us, Felix and me with lines on the water, and Alan, on the bank playing shutterbug, were doing our thing when a couple of kayakers came banging along headed upstream from the south. They had to portage the small falls behind us and I found out later that us cousins were thinking the same thing...there was plenty of room behind us and SURELY they would not go over our lines, but instead portage behind us. Never assume...a maxim that has come home to roost too many times, and will again. You can't tell from the pic, but Felix's rod and line made a lovely pointed arch for one of them to continue their journey.

As I said, if Felix had only known at this moment how his rod would meet it's demise...

When the rod broke later that day, I mentioned to Alan that Felix maintained his composure quite well...better than me...he never uttered a word and I was suprized. To paraphrase "A Christmas Story", I would have woven a tapestry of obscinity that would still be hanging in space over Blue River. Alan's reply? He was suprised how well Felix maintained his composure, and I'll stay with the "Christmas Story" theme here, during what would have surely become known as the Red Kayak Affair!!

Yodellers like Red Kayak may never understand river etiquette, but maybe Social Graces 101 could help keep some kids from eating a knuckle sandwich, or at least understand why their jaw is wired and they're dining on Gerber products for the forseeable future.