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Kevin
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« on: March 24, 2011, 07:35:41 PM » |
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Whenever I meet someone that reads my column they ask, “Where is Ellie”. If I am wade fishing on my own, she is usually by my side. My wife, Lori, already owned her when we met. She had originally been purchased as a show dog and had spent a bit of time in her early years in the show ring. She is a yellow British Lab with a respectable pedigree. She had a pretty good career and won her share of shows but retired fairly young. By the time we met, she had plenty of time on her paws.
I remember the first time we went fishing together. Lori had hired me to guide her on the White River. We had met a week or two before, when I taught her at a fly fishing class on the Spring River. She brought Ellie along fishing with us. Ellie was young and very active. In fact, we kept her on a lead. Every time Lori hooked one, Ellie went crazy and tried to jump in the river and retrieve it. One thing was certain; she loved the water and was absolutely intrigued with trout. Throughout our courtship and marriage, fishing with Ellie has been an integral part of our life.
I don’t have to tell her that I am going fishing. If I put on my fishing clothes or move my fishing duffle to the front door, she gets excited and follows me around not letting me out of her sight, for a second. She does not want to be left behind. If I walk out the door, she bolts out and runs toward my ancient Volvo and waits for me to let her in the back seat. If I am working and she cannot accompany me, she is very disappointed.
Before we depart the house, I ceremoniously put five dog biscuits in a Ziploc in front of Ellie. I make sure that she sees me put them in my pocket. When we are on stream, I will give her a biscuit at random times throughout the day. As a result, she stays by my side all day and does not wander off. I save one biscuit for the end of the day to ensure that she does not balk at loading back into my Volvo for the ride home. I just toss it into the back seat and she readily climbs in.
When we first arrive at the access I leave Ellie in the car, until I have donned my waders and strung my rod. When I am ready to fish, I let her out and we walk to the river. This way she doesn’t bother anyone else or get in the way of an automobile. I do not want her hurt.
We walk to one of my favorite spots. If Lori is with us I tempt Ellie with a biscuit until Lori is situated as she tends to wade deeper and it would be a challenge for Ellie to stay with her all day. Lori doesn’t like for Ellie to chase her fish and encourages me to fish with her. I don’t mind Ellie chasing my fish and I don’t care if I occasionally lose a good one because of it.
As Ellie has gotten older, I have found that, if I wade deep and she has to do a lot of swimming to stay with me, it wears her out and she is sore the next day. We now give her a child’s aspirin before we go to keep the pain down. In addition, I have changed the way that I fish, when Ellie is with me. I will only fish runs where I can cast from shallow water and she can sit or stand beside me without fighting the current. I probably catch fewer fish but it is worth it to me to have her companionship.
We have fished together so much that she knows all of the accesses and all of the spots where we fish and walks straight to them. She doesn’t understand if another angler is already there and looks to me for an explanation. I just point out another spot for us to fish and she cheerfully heads out.
Whenever we run into anyone on the stream, Ellie walks up to them with her tail wagging in hopes of obtaining a treat. She has had extensive obedience training and is not aggressive in any way. If she meets another dog, she gives it a perfunctory sniff and returns to my side.
I used to carry her with me on guide trips. Then one day she got a bit carried away and stood over a twenty four inch brown as my client was trying to land it. We lost the fish and Ellie got a reprimand. The client was okay with it as he had already landed a couple of browns that were an inch or two longer. I was still concerned with her behavior. Now she stays home, when I am guiding.
I have only had one angler tell me that I should leave her at home. He felt that dogs had no place on a trout stream. I heartily disagree. If my dog is polite and does not interfere with anyone’s fishing, she has as much right to be there as anybody.
One of my greatest joys in life is to finish a day of fishing by sitting on the bank with Ellie watching Lori catch fish. Then I feel that all is right with the world.
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