Post edited 1:05 pm – October 30, 2009 by fiveweight

I almost didn't want to post this because it's not a real report, but being halloween it's fitting enough, and I certainly thought it was funny as hell (pardon the pun) after the fact.

I had a nightmare about fishing recently. Yes, a nightmare. Psychologists say dreams are an extension of your real-life fears and emotions, or some other psycho-babble bullcrap. All I know is this was the most realistic dream I've had in years.

Have you ever seen the old 50s Ingmar Bergman film "The Seventh Seal"? It's dubbed from Swedish but my uncle made me watch it as a kid because it was a classic. Well the grim reaper from that movie came to collect me. Except he carried around a sickle which he didn't have in the movie. And he was super cocky. I challenged him to a fish-off. If I won, he would leave me alone and if I lost he would do his thing. He was so cocky he even let me set the rules, so they were this: We would fish the river of my choice (White) using only artificial lures or flies, and fish for four hours counting only numbers – size didn't matter.

As I was putting on my gear, he was perched on a large rock, dipping a rooster tail with a children's Zebco like a cane pole, looking totally out of place. I can say I was extremely nervous, but sort of woke myself up laughing at the spectacle before settling back into the competition. My wife would later say I woke her up with my laughter. Then, things got worse. In a foreshadow of my next trip to Rock Creek in Kentucky, I had forgotten to bring any smaller sized tippet. Then when I went to cast, I got wind knots that took forever to untangle. During that process, the Grim Reaper had figured out how to cast, and was catching fish. Just to rub salt in the wound, he even held up a couple of the larger browns. By the time I had gotten my knots untangled he was in the thirties and counting. The water started running muddy and I got so nervous I woke in a cold sweat, unable to sleep for the rest of the night.

Well it's not a real report, but I thought it was worth a laugh, and timely for the season. 

Happy Halloween.