Gabe Lopez's fly fishing trip guided by Altamont Anglers

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Altamont Anglers' guide Travis Honeycutt has techniques for fishing (and catching) big trout on the Davidson River that have made him a much-requested guide by our clients. While not revealing his techniques here, we can tell you that one of them is not catching big fish himself, in front of a client (strict rules at Altamont Anglers forbid a guide from fishing unless a client demands a "demo cast" from his guide). But, on Sunday, June 1 2008 the cardinal rule was broken...

Travis Honeycutt hoists a heft hunk of Davidson River Rainbow trout (click the image for a larger view)

It was the end of the half-day contract and time to head for the truck. As they were leaving Travis noticed his client--Gabe Lopez, angler extraordinaire from San Franciso--involved in the classic and time-honored tradition practiced behind the bushes by any angler who starts his day with a cup of coffee. Just killing the time, Trav threw a lazy cast towards a big shadow in the water and--the ultimate embarassment for a guide: the shadow ate the fly!

Gabe sent us these photos, along with these comments:
"What a morning! I still can't believe the size of the Rainbow Travis caught at the end of the day. What a monster! His pic came out great, mine - not so much. It was pretty dark and raining early in the morning. Plus the one fish has half its tail missing!"

Probably got chewed off by Travis' lunker...

Rest assured, Gabe: we've docked Travis a week's pay for his grievous transgression!

Gabe Lopez' soul occupies Travis Honeycutt's body to share in the glory of the trout that should have been Gabe's (click to enlarge)

In an alarming turn of events, we received an email from Gabe upon his return to San Francisco: apparently Gabe has a fishing buddy who is also an expert at ~~photoshop~~ voodoo sorcery, who thought it outrageous that Gabe had allowed his guide to catch the big fish of the day and vowed to right the wrong. In less time than it takes to say "hocus pocus", Gabe's friend ~~opened photoshop~~ transmogrified through time and space, replacing Travis' soul with Gabe's for the moment of piscatorial glory.

We'd just like to disavow any claims of ~~photoshoppery~~ sorcery that may arise involving the depictions of anglers and their fish elsewhere on this site: All the fish are real, the anglers are nice folks, and our guides are all above average...

Click the thumbnails below for larger views of Gabe's early morning work on the Davidson:

(Altamont Anglers operates on Pisgah National Forest Rivers under USDA Forest Service Permit #PIS6560)

They Coulda Been Contenders!
Or wall-hangers--but we released them all!!

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