Gnu Bee Flyer,

Liked the fish landing tip at the end of the story. My father-in-law changed some of my way of fishing about forty years ago when I learned to trout fish from him. He would let you fish through a place before him, tell you where the trout were and then fish behind you and snatch a few out every time! What he told me was to never ignore any cover no matter how shallow the water. I was always fishing deeper runs and cover etc. Years later, while fishing a small stream, I spied a small tree branch laying in about six inches of water right next to the stream bank. Remembering what he had said, I let my lure ( before my fly fishing days) drift under the branch and was rewarded with my biggest brookie to date - a citation sized 17 1/2 beauty. Since those early days of fishing with my father-n-law have never neglected to fish all the water, no matter how shallow.