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Learning to enjoy life again
BOND, COLO. - The trout rose and sipped a mayfly off the surface of the Colorado River. Joshua Williams caught the small disturbance on the water from the corner of his eye. Standing in a drift boat, he raised his fly rod and the trout rose again and gulped in the artificial fly on the end of the line.Suddenly, Williams was in trouble.He'd done this a hundred times before on the rivers and creeks around his home in Virginia, passionately throwing a fly at rising trout, holding the long rod in his right hand and gently stripping in the slack line with his left, a delicate two-handed operation.But on a recent Friday, the 22-year-old Army staff sergeant, who had spent a hellish year engaged in street combat in Iraq, had a problem.He didn't have a right hand.The trout surged into the current. Williams, holding the rod in his left hand, hung on.
Adam Thompson column: Old lure still has lots of luck
It's a fish tale that's true, touching, spans three generations of a family and was told Sunday near the conclusion of the 36th annual Coho Derby. Gary Markus has a lure that he, for lack of a better term, inherited from his father, Bill Sr. Old and steeped in tradition, the lure doesn't get much use for fear that it could wind up a casualty of a broken line. But this lure has, in the past, proven to be magic for the Markus family and it was again Sunday. It was 14 years ago that Bill Markus used the lucky lure to catch the second-largest rainbow trout at the 22nd Coho Derby. Last year, Gary's son, Grant Markus, won the rainbow division of the Cleveland Fishing Derby at Hika Bay. Earlier this summer, Gary's other son and Grant's brother, Scott, hooked the first-place rainbow at Hika Bay.
Going fishing in the fall
I can hardly believe the calender! Summer is rapidly coming to a close and fall fishing is right around the corner. I do not know if it is me or if time just seems to be passing by very quickly these days.
As I sit here at my computer writing this, I am a week away from another milestone in my life. After working for 34 and a half years, the last 29 here for Placer County, I am retiring from my real job. On Friday, September 1st, I will be walking out of an office that has been my workplace since I moved up here in 1977. It will seem strange and I certainly will miss my co-workers whom I also consider good friends.
I wonder just how much my life will change without my regular job. There will be a little more time for fishing and a little golf. Perhaps a part-time job doing something that I like or that would get me some golfing or skiing privileges might be something that I will do.
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