GREEN RIVER

UTAH
APRIL 22-28

THIS YEARS TRIP TO THE GREEN, MY NINTH, WAS A BITTERSWEET EVENT. BITTER BECAUSE ONE OF THE REASONS FOR THE TRIP WAS TO SPREAD SOME OF MY FRIEND ANDRE PUYANS ASHES, ON ONE OF HIS VERY FAVORITE RIVERS. AND SWEET BECAUSE WE WERE GOING BACK TO THE PLACE WE BOTH ENJOYED FISHING AS MUCH AS ANY PLACE IN THE WORLD. JOINING US WERE A NUMBER OF FLY FISHERMEN WHO HAD FISHED THIS SAME RIVER WITH ANDY AND I IN PAST YEARS.

THE DAY WE SPREAD ANDY'S ASHES WAS A VERY SPECIAL TIME AND I WILL SPEND A LITTLE MORE TIME ON IT LATER ON THIS PAGE.

FOR THE MOST PART WE HAD VERY GOOD WEATHER (MAYBE TOO GOOD FOR FISHING) AND WE WERE EVEN ABLE TO FISH THE "C" SECTION, WHICH IS USUALLY NOT THE CASE AT THIS TIME OF YEAR.

THE NUMBERS OF FISH WERE DOWN AND THERE WERE ONLY LIMITED AND SPORADIC HATCHES. HOWEVER, THERE WERE SOME VERY NICE FISH CAUGHT AND AS USUAL, SOME SPECTACULAR BROWNS!

WE HAVE DECIDED TO CONTINUE THIS ANNUAL TRIP THAT ANDY STARTED IN 1993 AS MANY OF THE REGULARS WISHED TO RETURN AGAIN.

                       ANDY AND I ON THE GREEN IN 2004

"The first trout of the season is always improbably pretty. It glistens and throbs in your hand, a slab of multihued muscle. if you put it back in the stream, you'll forget how it looked; if you keep it for dinner, it will fade to pewter. So you savor the moment, and the fish, for what it is...a transient, intimate, almost secret encounter with nature. And you know that if you're lucky, you'll have more encounters like these. but you don't think about exactly when, or how many more times, it will happen. Because as you stand there in the river, wet hand going numb, you realized that you love this sport so much you'll be fishing for trout for the rest of your life."                                                                                                Mark Toth

      THE SETTING

      OUR GROUP

CRAIG McMULLEN & JERRY CRISS	ERIC PATZER	ME & JIM HADEN	BOB MARSKTEIN & BILL DINSMORE
BOB KESTNER	ERIC PATZER	DAN COCHRAN	CRAIG McMULLEN
GIL MERCKEL	JAN HORN	RANDY ROEHL	DAVE TRAVIS

      THE FISH

CRAIG	BUTTERSCOTCH BROWNIE	BOB	JAN
RAINBOW	ME	A HANDFUL	TWO SPECIES

 A SPECIAL MEMORIAL AND TRIBUTE TO ANDRE PUYANS

ANDRE PUYANS WAS ONE OF THE PIONEER GIANTS OF THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING. HE WAS AN INNOVATOR IN FLY TYING, BOTH IN EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUES AS WELL AS A MASTER CASTER. HE WAS PROBABLY BEST KNOWN AS A SUPERB TEACHER AND MENTOR. MANY OF TODAY'S WONDERFUL FLY TIERS GOT THEIR START IN ONE OF ANDY'S CLASSES. HIS IDAHO FLY FISHING SEMINAR WAS CONSIDERED THE BEST IN THE COUNTRY AND WAS CONDUCTED BY HIM FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS.

IT WAS ANDY'S WISH TO HAVE HIS ASHES DISTRIBUTED ON THREE OF HIS FAVORITE RIVERS, THE GREEN, THE HENRY'S FORK AND THE BIGHORN.

ON WEDNESDAY APRIL 26 ALL OF US FROM OUR GROUP ALONG WITH MANY OF HIS GUIDE FRIENDS ON THE RIVER, GOT TOGETHER AT A SPOT CALLED "THE HOMESTEAD" ON SECTION "A". THE PURPOSE WAS TO SPREAD SOME OF ANDY'S ASHES, CELEBRATE HIS LIFE WITH A LITTLE OF HIS FAVORITE SCOTCH, AND SAY GOODBYE TO A DEAR FRIEND. WE ACCOMPLISHED IT ALL! BELOW ARE A FEW PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT.

A LITTLE MACCALLAN FOR ALL	A TOAST TO ANDY	ED EMORY
DAVE TRAVIS	SPREADING ANDY'S ASHES	ALL WHO PAID TRIBUTE

 THE INTERNATIONAL FLY FISHING

CRIBBAGE CHAMPIONS

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