Up the Creek

It was in November of 2001 and there I was out on the Upper Klamath River with two clients fly fishing for steelhead. The day was sunny but brisk at about 37 degrees and fog present on the river. This trip was little different than others being that neither client knew the other, they had wanted to go out as a single on the same day and split the guide fee. That was always ok by me, though it does place a little more pressure on the guide as you don’t want either one of the clients to ever feel you’re favoring one client or the other. So we made our first run down to the section you can finally start fishing and immediately the client in front had a hook-up on a steelhead. So I pulled the anchor being that it was safe slack water with a mild current. The man continued to fight the nice size steely and I looked over to see that one of my light weight Sawyer Oars was missing from my Sawyer Cobra Oar Locks on the right side of the boat. In one second I realized, I didn’t true my oar locks and make them correct for the size of the oars I was running! (Horror) I said, “Oh %$#^&&% where is my oar?” Then the client in back said,"There it is!" About 10 yards down stream on the opposite side of the boat. With out a moments time to lose, I jumped out of the drift boat in my waders and swam as fast I could and grabbed the oar as it ran down the river and swam to shore. By then it was probably 43 degrees and I immediately stripped off my waders and all my clothes and could see my clients were still safe out in the boat, the client in front still fighting the steelhead trout about 50 yards from me and that oar.

So I put back on the waders naked and thought to myself, when will the hypo set in? (Trying to smile)

I swam back to the boat with the oar and climbed into the boat, like a wet drowned rat that I was. Boy did I feel stupid, didn’t pound my oar locks into place and feeling pretty wet inside, I laughed and all I could think about was that saying, “Up shit creek without a paddle!” I knew then how that phrase got invented.

Meanwhile, the client landed his steelhead and was really happy! We continued fishing down a little further and then the guy in back hooked-up on a steelhead that jumped out of the water in front of us.
I remember the sight of the fish warmed my heart and even though the water was sloshing in the bottom of my feet and in the seat of my coconuts, the trout lifted my spirit and I didn’t feel cold anymore.
I thought I would be shaking by then, but the clients started hooking steelhead and each one was like 10,000 BTU’s being pumped throughout my soul.

The leaves were brilliant yellow, red and purple in the amber tones of late fall – early winter, we were winning in spite of an ominous and unpredictable start that had occurred on the first riffle of the day.

At the end of the day, both clients told me this had been the best fishing experience of their life and thanked me for hanging in there with no clothes all day other than my waders.

As life lends itself like fishing, you never know what to expect, some days just unfold differently than others and some experiences that really seem challenging at the time are really growth lessons and you don’t gain without a little pain in life and carry a spare oar.

I use my Cobra Oar Locks on all my boats I guide out of in Chile and in California and wouldn’t use anything else!

Best to you all, Jack Trout