One of the best things about fly fishing is its uncertainty. Where the fish will be, what fly they will or won't eat, the direction of the wind and so on.
In my job as a fishing guide I sometimes think a few less variables would be good as you always want things to go well for your clients. But it doesn't always work out that way.

Brumby's Creek in Northern Tasmania is a place where there are many variables but one consistent feature is that the fish are never easy to catch. On this particular day I had one client on my raft, a very nice gentleman called David.

David informed me he had done a bit of fly fishing but had never caught a fish on a dry fly and this was his main aim for the day. The morning session proved fruitless and although we managed to improve David's casting skills we did not even look like catching a fish despite the fact that they were rising frequently around us. To make it worse fellow guide Peter Hayes and his clients already had a couple of fish on board their raft.

We stopped for lunch and while we were eating I noticed some mayfly duns starting to hatch on the water. I changed the fly to a nice brown dun pattern and told David of my confidence in the fly for the afternoon session.
We had moved only a short distance from the lunch spot when David started casting. At this point you are probably expecting the big fish part of the story, but it was not to be. In fact David executed by far his worst cast of the day which went only a short distance in front of the raft and tangled badly around the rod.

When David put the rod down to untangle the line though a head came through the surface and consumed the fly but alas no strike was possible as the rod was not being held. The fish spat the fly out and to make matters worse the fly line had drifted under the raft. David leaned forward to clear the line. I saw him lean against the electric motor and as it gave way a little I urged caution, but it was too late. His balance had gone beyond a critical point and he did a neat dive over the front of the raft.

Fortunately we provide inflatable vests for all our clients and I can tell you the automatic inflation devices work immediately. Soon David had been recovered, though he was rather damp and cold and it was a fairly miserable day. I turned the electric motor on and headed back to my car where I had a clean towel and a change of clothes. We mumbled something to Peter and his clients as we headed past them a little embarrassed.
Fortunately David was exactly my size and we soon had him dressed, warm and ready to go again.

We headed back into the pond and after a little while there was a tiny little ripple under the fly. David didn't notice, perhaps he was still recovering from the cold, so I yelled an instruction to strike. It worked as a two pound brown trout leapt from the water. Soon David had his first fish on the dry fly.

Later he got an even bigger one on the same dry. This one he saw the take and struck at just the right time. As we headed back up towards the car under the silent power of the electric motor there were big smiles on the face of the client and the guide. It's not just catching fish that counts but how you do it. This is a day that will stay in my mind for a very long time and I'm sure David will always remember his first fish on a dry fly.