At least you made sure you had a fly. Fishing a #18 adams recently I pulled my line out of a bush behind me and cast foreward. I couldn't see the fly come down but that happens to me often in those sizes so I fished out the cast by watching the end of the line. I cast several more times before realizing that I had no fly and probably hadn't had one for a while. No wonder those fish just got so damn fussy.