How I met Rosie Cotton and learned to love the Patriot…
Rosie, although a bit player in the movie, is strikingly beautiful – her name is apt –cheerful disposition, rosy cheeks, blonde hair with curls upon curls, a smile that lights up the screen, and, well, you get the point.
So what has this to do with fly fishing, you ask? Well, it happened like this…
I was at Grayrock in northern Michigan last year for the first time. I had just completed my first bamboo fly rod and was excited to meet all of the elders of the craft I had read and heard so much about. I rented a small cabin on the bank of the Manistee River not far from the gathering. I spent as much time as I could listening to the wise graybeards explain the history and craft of rod making but I was also torn by the desire to try my own rod out on the Manistee.
Each evening I would leave the rod makers and return to my cabin to have a quick dinner then put on my waders, take up my rod and fish the river. I picked up a few trout here and there and learned about the unique nature of these northern sandy-bottomed spring-fed rivers in Michigan. I studied the bottom carefully so I could fish as the evening turned to dusk then dark and still safely navigate back to the river’s edge.
This pattern continued each evening – eat quickly, don gear and fish until dark – but I only caught a few fish. Few and far between. I saw the usual mix of other fisherman wading the river, the canoes and the tubes and other observers, including a bear.
As the evenings passed, I saw how other fisherman who weren’t staying on the river would enter the river at the bridge upstream of me and work there way down stream, through my area. Some were courteous, others not so much.
On the last evening of my stay I noticed a fisherman, not a tall one, working down the far bank of the river, closer and closer to my location. Usually they would try to steer around me but this one came closer and closer and my ire began to rise. All manner of thoughts about fishing etiquette were rambling around in my head when the person started to come directly over to me.
Then I saw her clearly.
The first thought I had was, “This can’t be possible!”
Standing in front of me, smiling a radiant, brilliant smile, with rosy cheeks, blonde curls falling out from under her hat, was a dead ringer for Rosie Cotton in waders, vest and fly fishing gear!
I could only stutter when she asked me how I was doing. All thoughts of poor fishing etiquette flew out the window as I introduced myself and what I was doing.
She explained she was fishing the river with her husband who was in the cabin down from mine and had been working up one side of the river to the bridge and now was getting ready to leave the river. The only way out was right in front of me so she came over to say hello and see how it was going.
As I mentioned to her the struggles I was having catching fish she introduced me to a pattern I had never seen before – the Patriot.
Red, white and blue, it is an attractor pattern by Charlie Meck. Then she handed me a couple with a big smile and a wave goodbye. And I started catching fish.
Now it’s almost a year later and I am booking my trip to Grayrock. There are two things I will be sure to take along this year, in addition to all my other gear.
One is an ample supply of Patriots.
The other is the DVD of The Lord of the Rings – who knows, I may see Rosie Cotton on the river again…
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Bob is a retired engineer who has discovered fly fishing, fly tying and bamboo rod making. He hopes to be able to put it all together to catch a few fish.
And in full disclosure, Bob is happily married to the same Kathy he met in 1971 and married in 1973 – a most beautiful woman and my one, true soul mate.
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