Though the preceding eight years of guiding operations had gone comparatively well, a bad moon was rising and all hell was about to break loose. We weren t twenty minutes into the float when my client, Kent Petersen, latches into a fine 20 brown trout. Not wanting to miss any good water while Kent wrestled with his fish, I drop anchor. Or so I thought. In fact, I had completely missed the anchor cleat with the rope causing it to silently pay out through the pulley system and promptly sink.
Anchors are like that.
That is, they sink real well. Unwilling to spend the rest of the day anchorless I pull ashore and dive into the 52 water in a futile attempt to recover my missing door stop. But the bone chilling temperature quickly convinces me to abandon my mission. Nonetheless, I m practically hypothermic and don t feel right for several hours. Fashioning a new anchor out of rock, spare rope and duct tape we manage to complete a great day on the river without further incident.