Coming Back To Earth

I have fly-fished for more than 50 years. Sometimes I start to think I'm pretty good. Then I endure a day that "brings me back to earth."

I experienced one of these not long ago. Seeking a morning hatch of flies, I had driven to the BFO River. I don't regularly fish the BFO because it is often overcrowded, but on this weekday morning it was not. When I arrived at a parking area, I saw flies emerging from the water. I had rigged up with an imitation I believed would match the real flies. In a half-hour I landed four modest trout but was disappointed: For the large number of flies hatching, f...