Rick:

I am wishing you and your family, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Lover all your articles as well as all the other who write for FAOL, willing to share their fly fishing experiences.

When I am not busy being Swapmeister of the "Beginner's Only Fly Swaps, I am down in the archives of FAOL, coping and pasting past article that have run over the past 13 years. I save them on my computer (plenty of space using PDF) and sharing them with other members of FAOL who want a specific article, or one of my free CD's!

That metal basket that you talked about in this week's article, brought back a real old memory, when my father and I were fishing. We found a "Honey Hole" full of large Crappies, and were catching them as fast as we could unhook one fish, put a new worm on the hook (my baitfishing days) and get the hook and bobber back out on/in the water. My father was catching less fish then me, because he had to place all the fish I caught into the metal fish basket hung over the side of the boat.

Finally it was time to go back in, and when we got to the dock, my father (glad it was not me) found he had not pulled in the metal mesh fish basket. When he pulled the basket into the boat, it was empty!

There is a trap door at the bottom of the basket to empty the contents of the metal fish basket, and it got open from still being in the water as my father motored the fishing boat back to shore.

After the "Great Escape", my fathered wrapped heavy wire on the trap door at the bottom, never againt were there any last minute reprieves for the fish he caught! ~Parnelli