This is the story of ordinary-Clayton, his by-the-book buddy Jeff and the amazing fish. They went fishing in an ordinary 10 1/2' plastic boat on Shannon Lake.

Every day Clayton had dreamed of catching extraordinary fish. As an avid fly fisherman, he hoped this was the trip that would do it. He decided to take an extraordinary fly tied by Eric Schrader. It was a 'Flash-in-the-Pan'. He chose to use an 8' Pfleuger rod with Cortland sinking line. Wearing his large, floppy cowboy hat and championship buckle, he headed out with Jeff Lauze to Narrow Hills Provincial Park.

The first evening they fished and camped at McDougal Creek. The fish were biting. Elkhair Caddis were the ticket. Jeff was getting most of the bites that evening and was sure to tell Clay any time he had one on the line.

The next day over breakfast they decided to go to Shannon Lake for brown trout. Neither had ever caught brown trout before.

At Shannon, Clay launched his boat and rowed it to the far shore. He tied on the Flash-in-the-Pan, cast it a long way out and soon had a bite. He was ecstatic.

Feeling the strength of the fish, he shouted, "What an amazing fish! I'll fry it in butter with salt and pepper." Landing it, he said, "This one's a trophy. I'll take it home and mount it."

It was an 18" brown trout. Jeff kept repeating, "It's a brown trout, a brown trout!" Clay wanted to keep it, but Jeff said, "You must let it go. That's the rule." Before the release, a picture was taken. The release was successful after working the fish slowly back and forth until its gills were working strongly.

They resumed fishing and, just five minutes later, Clay had hooked another fish. There was a brief struggle, but then the tip of his leader broke. He pulled in the line, clipped off the frayed end and began again with another Flash-in-the-Pan.

Some time later, he hooked another fish. It gave him quite a fight. To his amazement, he finally landed another brown trout. This one was bigger and longer than the last. It was 24 1/2" and more beautiful than the first catch.

"Oh, I have to keep this one," Clay said

"No," said Jeff. "You have to put it back." Clay did, but it sure hurt to let that beauty go.

They continued to fish. And again, Clay felt a tug on his line. He had hooked the biggest, baddest mother of all fish he had ever caught or seen. The fight that fish put up was one of the most incredible fly fishing experiences he had ever had. It took forever to land this monster fish and what a fish it was! It was 30 1/3" and had to weigh at least 10 or 12 pounds, or perhaps more. Clay was happy to release this one back to the environment, where it belonged, after a picture of course.

Clayton had had an extraordinary day. Jeff had also enjoyed an extraordinary trip. They went home with lots of 'amazing fish tales' to tell their friends and families.