Dave Roberts throws a sideways, half-gainer-in-the-pike-position aerial mend. (A 9.5 from the judges)

You can typically count your really good friends on the fingers of one hand (even a hand that's been in an industrial accident would likely do).

So when you get a chance to fish with one of the fingers, you take it - even if it means floating the river among a virtual armada of rafts, tubes and inflatable kayaks.

I'm just as bad as anyone at letting outside situations muddy my fishing time, but disappointment on the water is really about expectation and not reality.

You expect it to be as good as it was. You expect it to be wind free. And you expect to be alone doing it.

But having fun is as much a function of acceptance as a perfect cast; if you can embrace what's happening on the water, it'll be a party, even if you don't land a fish.

Row, row, row Nancy's boat...
This trip was different right out of the gate; the LT Nancy decided it was time to learn to row the drift boat and capitalize on the whitewater guide class she took years ago.

Yes, my drooling, envious readers, you read it right; the wife decided to row so I could fish. (Somebody get me a lottery ticket.)

The fishing wasn't wide open, but we caught our share of smaller trout by resorting to the "nymphing with a dry fly sensibility" dry and dropper rig.

A few trout ate the dry - enough to put it in the "working fly" category as opposed to "indicator" - and the only real disappointment was the lack of surprise steelhead. But then, it would hardly be a surprise if you could count on it.

Embrace the floating party. Or go insane.
While the fishing was so-so, the constant, bobbing parade of humanity was at least amusing, if not outright entertaining. The stream of rafts, tubes and kayaks was pretty much non-stop - many of my pictures had uninvited floating guests in the background, so I finally gave up on the pictures.

They were a friendly bunch - if a largely clueless one - and while I'm sure they didn't do much for the dry fly bite, I think every single boat asked the same "are you catching any fish" question. And at least they were interested in the fishing, which means they weren't wholly separated from the reality of what rivers are really for... See you on the keg boat, Tom Chandler.

"Dude, where's my raft?" One of many, many rafts that bobbed by...