I have another story about a younger angler that I meet last week, but this one has bittersweet ending
"G" and I were fishing the same hole side by side; he with roe, me with jigs. He was relatively new to fishing and had never caught a C-V coho.
We chatted off and on. I asked if he was on any fishing websites. He said that he was a lurker, but not a poster, on FWR. I commented on how well his float was weighted. "Fishing with Rod" he said with a grin
"I'm having a big day today" he said. "How so?", I asked. "I'm going to ask my future father in law for my girlfriend's hand in marriage."
After I congratulated him, he proceeded to catch 3 coho from under my nose. The inconsiderated little bugger! A wild, a hatch jack and a hatch adult. He kept the two hatches; the jack for him and he wanted to give the bigger fish to his future father in law.
After the bite died, he left, carrying his two fish on a stick. I followed not long after.
I came across him on his hands and knees with his arms wet up to the shoulder. "I lost my fish; the stick broke!" Sure enough, the fish had disappeared under a log jam in a deep corner pool. "I'm heart broken", he said. I lent him my net to fish around in the depths but the fish were gone. What a total bummer.
So, "G", I hope the father in law said yes; more importantly, I hope the girlfriend says yes,
and if you keep fishing like you were, you will catch many more coho.
Cheers.