I have seen the devil himself and have walked away but not without a bruised psyche. He was sulking in about 2 feet of water 13 miles from the lake. He had taken position next to the fastest water throwing a row of standing waves. I wasn’t looking for him, just moving downstream throwing 25 foot casts into the waves and allowing the four inch black marabou tube I call “The Unforgiven” into the side currents. He took me by surprise and the battle was lost before it began. He wasn’t red, no, kind of an industrial grey and silver with an all seeing eye. The devil ruled the underworld in the swirling currents and saw all. I had tangled with the lesser demons all day winning a few and taking a few on the chin but The Devil was waiting. He grabbed the Unforgivin, surfaced to size me up and found me an unworthy opponent. With a flip of his giant tail he headed towards the lake. He took my leader, he took my fly line, and he took my backing and never slowed through time and space. The noise my reel made was like a screaming soul and it was hard to follow. Finally I found myself at the point of no return. Impassable rapids on both sides of my island of sanity restricted my path. I cranked the drag and tried to steer the devil. Nobody controls the devil…Nobody. Finally the Devil left me with my thoughts. He gave me back my fly and returned me to the river.
You can see the "Unforgiven" lying next to the lesser demons.
