The Clackamas

Tales from the backyard:  Funny how things trigger your memory.  Today as I was running errands, I was driving along the ?creek and was taken back to an earlier day.  I was going to fish Steelhead on the Clackamas river in Oregon one weekend and having not a clue as to where to go, just drove along the valley road until I saw what looked like a good pool some 100 feet or so down.  I found a parking spot, collected my gear and worked my way down.  I set up my gear and tied on the first of many flies.  The pool held many fish, which I could see, loafing on the bottom some 15' down.  Tried as I might, the fish would not budge, no mater what fly I put on.  With the sun setting, I decided to put on an Umpqua special, which I had tied years ago.  Several casts  later into the crystal clear water, I saw a huge fish starting to come up from the bottom.  I waited as it slowly approached the fly from behind, opened its big mouth and inhaled it and turned to head down.  I set the hook or should I say "tried" as the hook just came out.  Examining it later, I had broken the barb off on the rocks behind me on one of my back-casts  Such is the life of the fisherman..  Don't really know if I have had a better day.