Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.

All of the places that he can fish, and this is where he’s going to do it. Right here. Right next to me. I mean, I could practically cast up to where he’s standing.

What is it with people? Don’t they want peace and quiet? Solitude? I mean, that is what fly fishing is all about – right?

What’s he doing? Looks like he sees a fish. Of course he does. That is where all the fish are. I was working my way up there, but I was going to take my time: enjoy myself, not rush things.

I’m going to stand here and glare for a little bit. If he can see me doing that, he might get the picture and leave. Surely he’ll see my expression through my sunglasses from 75 yards away and understand the severity of his faux pas.

Did he just wave at me?

Come on. Seriously, buddy? A wave? I wouldn’t wave at you if I was cutting you off in traffic. Yeah, nice wave Mr. Catalog Model. I wonder how much he actually fishes in those $600 waders. That reel looks like one of those new super-light numbers that has a heavy-duty drag. Not going to need that for anything you catch out of here, pal!

I was going to move up there before I saw him, so I’ll just keep fishing up that way. See if he’s got the nerve to say anything.

Looks like he’s nymphing. There should be a hatch coming off any minute now, so I’m going to stick with this dry fly. He’s going to look awfully silly once I start getting them on top. I haven’t caught much today, so there’s no chance he’s going to…

Well, great. He caught a fish.

Man, his rod is bent over pretty good. That thing is splashing up a storm. It must be sixteen, maybe even eighteen inches. That’s a pretty good fish for this stream. I’ve only caught a few like that around here, and never on nymphs.

That’s great buddy – manhandle the trout, why don’t you? Geez, he had that thing out of the water for like five seconds! Seriously, this is catch and release water. If a game warden saw him do that I bet he could get a citation. I didn’t see him wet his hand, either. No respect for the resource. Typical. Typical.

What the?!? He’s coming this way! You have got to be kidding me! Alright, he’s going to get a piece of my mind. Can’t give another fisherman space, catching all the trout, and now he’s going to have the audacity to confront me? It is on.

…

I think that is what’s-his-face. The guy who wrote that book on small stream presentation. Yeah, I saw him do a talk on it at the fly fishing show last year.

He waved at me! I wonder if he saw my cast? I wish he would have seen me catch a fish! Maybe he remembers me; I did say hi and shake his hand.

…

“Hey guys, remember that fly fishing celebrity we saw at the show last year?

“Yeah, we fished together today on the lower part of the creek. It was pretty cool.

“Oh, super humble guy. I could totally see us fishing together – I gave him my card, so I bet we’ll do it soon.

“You can never tell who you are going to run into on the water. It’s like I always say: fly fishing is a brotherhood!”