Yes, this actually happened. Take a good look at this picture and make sure you are seeing everything correctly. Nevermind the decent rainbow trout, there is a hook lodged in my upper lip! Believe what you will for this is afterall a fishing story (possibly my best), but I can assure you im not exaggerating. I suppose every fly fisherman hooks himself at some point- this was my first...
On friday, I was invited to go fishing with Thomas Schalchli and his father, who are both avid fly fisherman. Excited to inaugurate my new rod here in Chile, I couldn´t wait to get going. On saturday, I went over to Tom´s house to organize gear for our sunday morning departure. Once we gathered everything, Mr. Schalchli showed me his giant fish freezers, his private fly tying room, and tons of pictures from past fishing excursions. The following morning, we drove one hour south on the Pan-American highway and then some distance east toward the mountain range. Mr. S, like every other person in Los Angeles, works in forestry and was pointing out all the plots of land that he managed. To acsess the river we drove on the forest maintance roads dodging fallen trees and giant pot holes. The first few hours of fishing were wonderful, however, the wind was fierce! And so on an unfortunate back cast a gust wind whipped Mr. Schalchli´s hand tied Caddis right into my upper lip. I had caught myself. Full of embarassment and as helpless as the fish I had previsouly caught, I stumbled down river to where Tom and his father were casting. We managed to cut the line, but the barb was inbedded deep in my skin and so
attempting to remove it would have been difficult. Mr. S said we´d better drive back to Los Angeles and visit the medical clinic. I knew trying to remove it right then and there would only worsen my predicament, but a part of me wanted to keep fishing. Moreover, I felt awful that I was the reason for our early return. Not exactly sure how express myself, I proceeded with the comic approach and said things like, "I was just really hungry..." and "looks like I caught the biggest one today, eh?". I spent the entire ride home outlining this entry in my head trying to restrain myself from touching my accidental lip ring. In the clinic waiting room, I couldn´t do anything but laugh at the looks I recieved. Luckily, the removal procedure was quick and painless, however, with all this anesthetic in my lips right now I cant exactly speak, let alone roll my Spanish R´s. My host parents are in Santiago for family reasons and wont be arriving until later tonight. I can´t wait to try and tell this story in Spanish over dinner...
Yes, this actually happened. Take a good look at this picture and make sure you are seeing everything correctly. Nevermind the decent rainbow trout, there is a hook lodged in my upper lip! Believe what you will for this is afterall a fishing story (possibly my best), but I can assure you im not exaggerating. I suppose every fly fisherman hooks himself at some point- this was my first...
On friday, I was invited to go fishing with Thomas Schalchli and his father, who are both avid fly fisherman. Excited to inaugurate my new rod here in Chile, I couldn´t wait to get going. On saturday, I went over to Tom´s house to organize gear for our sunday morning departure. Once we gathered everything, Mr. Schalchli showed me his giant fish freezers, his private fly tying room, and tons of pictures from past fishing excursions. The following morning, we drove one hour south on the Pan-American highway and then some distance east toward the mountain range. Mr. S, like every other person in Los Angeles, works in forestry and was pointing out all the plots of land that he managed. To acsess the river we drove on the forest maintance roads dodging fallen trees and giant pot holes. The first few hours of fishing were wonderful, however, the wind was fierce! And so on an unfortunate back cast a gust wind whipped Mr. Schalchli´s hand tied Caddis right into my upper lip. I had caught myself. Full of embarassment and as helpless as the fish I had previsouly caught, I stumbled down river to where Tom and his father were casting. We managed to cut the line, but the barb was inbedded deep in my skin and so 
attempting to remove it would have been difficult. Mr. S said we´d better drive back to Los Angeles and visit the medical clinic. I knew trying to remove it right then and there would only worsen my predicament, but a part of me wanted to keep fishing. Moreover, I felt awful that I was the reason for our early return. Not exactly sure how express myself, I proceeded with the comic approach and said things like, "I was just really hungry..." and "looks like I caught the biggest one today, eh?". I spent the entire ride home outlining this entry in my head trying to restrain myself from touching my accidental lip ring. In the clinic waiting room, I couldn´t do anything but laugh at the looks I recieved. Luckily, the removal procedure was quick and painless, however, with all this anesthetic in my lips right now I cant exactly speak, let alone roll my Spanish R´s. My host parents are in Santiago for family reasons and wont be arriving until later tonight. I can´t wait to try and tell this story in Spanish over dinner...
1 comment:
hahaha niice! Love that you tried to drink a beer with the fishook in your mouth, that is classy. But a good story to tell at parties!! Or at RYLA...haha
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