May 31, 2020 – Return to Fern Gully – SEPA Blueline

Fern Gully?

Eric and I returned to our little slice of stay-at-home order heaven today for the fifth time.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  Cool, low humidity, dappled sun filtering through the rich green landscape, and cooperative fish all contributed to the experience.  I did not forget to look around today and simply appreciate this little spot.  We were hoping for rain on Friday, but all we received were very localize thunderstorms instead.  There is no gage on this creek, but there are a couple in the area, so I was watching the short spikes diminish to nothing throughout the day on Saturday.  Thankfully, because this creek is a freestoner with another freestone tributary nearby the area we fish, we benefited from a stain in the water even though the flow was normal to low.  Our previous experience here this month was challenging in high sun and low water, the fish spooky.  I rigged my nymphing rod today, and was able to fish with it all day, but I did bring along my 3-weight small stream dry fly rod just in case.  There were three instances in total where I wished I had the dry/dropper to throw at them, but that feeling evaporated the minute both Eric and I were able to catch risers stalking up and gently tossing small nymphs at them.  

A pretty, good one.

Besides those memorable instances, the other defining moments of this trip were when we caught fish in fishy spots that we have tried at least four other times with no luck.  As I suspected, as the season progresses, the fish have spread out from their winter and early spring holes.  With caddis, midges, sulfurs, stones, and a ridiculous number of crane flies to choose from, fish can afford to take up summer residences in little hideaways.  Instead of saying, There is a fish here, and then scratching my head after neither of us catch anything, today we caught fish in these heavy cover spots and deeper, darker riffle sections that have looked too good not to produce.  We landed no giants today, not that we have seen more than one that looked to be pushing 14 or 15 inches, be we landed a handful in the 11-inch range, which is fine small stream fish.  We took a good long water temp reading today, and it was 60 degrees F around 9 AM, so the fish were in prime fighting condition.  This reading was also encouraging because it indicates that even after the hot days last week the creek remains in a healthy range for now, and we may get a couple more visits in before we rest it for the summer.

Many smalls, light and dark.

We met at my house in the predawn hours and caravanned over, casting our first lines before 6 AM.  In keeping with the theme that fish have spread out, we saw a splashy rise in Eric’s childhood swimming hole on our first approach to the creek.  We did not get this one, but as I mentioned above, we did target and land other risers later in the morning.  Fishing was not on fire to start, and it never got crazy like one previous visit, but we had a steady pick all morning, and we caught fish at our favorite spots coming and going.  In our current ranking order, this trip falls around third place even though it was second in terms of numbers.  We caught more larger fish on the morning we still rank second—such prima donnas. 

A few better ones too.

Eric had a vendetta with one that got away last visit, so we fished thoroughly but quickly through the best holes on this stretch of the creek.  We are starting to learn this creek and were confident that we could stick a few more on the walk back downstream if we stayed out of the water and planned a stealthier way into the honey holes on the second visit.  While neither of us landed the fish that have been separately haunting us a bit, we did catch fish at the prime bend pools as expected, including a couple in the 11 to 12 inch range, and our arrogance about catching fish on the return was not without merit either.  In fact, we caught numbers on the return visit to a couple spots, albeit smaller fish in many cases. 

The average was 7 to 9 inches, but they can pull in this water temperature!  A couple of the larger fish played much bigger.  I still believe I had a double hooked in a very deep hole because there was no way a 10-inch fish could pull the way this one was pulling.  I could totally be wrong, too, since it took a long time to even reveal one of the fish, the one I landed, in this stained, deep hole—he (or they) just kept digging for bottom and the undercut bank.  We jumped a couple that came off the line when they got below us, but only two looked or felt bigger, and I only saw one 11 or 12 incher laugh at me as he leapt and shook Eric’s caddis larva out of his mouth.  Besides the larva, and a walts in the same size 16 range, I also caught many fish on a size 16 pheasant tail with a bit of flash and color worked into it—all very basic patterns and smaller was better today even though those large cranes were around.

One of Eric's better ones.

We landed in close proximity and quick succession a pair of risers, which was a blast.  This is something I do all the time now, but I don’t think Eric had thought to try in the past or if he did never had confidence in the effectiveness.  The old euro-rig is not a one trick pony!  We were both fishing SA Mastery Competition Nymph line on our 10-foot rods, and even in lower water on a small creek, we caught a mess of fish in several situations.  I did not even grease the line for this one, just laid out a cast and set the hook when the sighter darted upstream just a hair—a lot of fun for both of us!  We did not enter the tributary today, as the flows were low enough on the main branch, but we did end the day sneaking into a spot downstream of where we park, a place where we have ended a trip a few times and with success.  We did not land the 12 incher who lives here, but I did have that assumed double here, and both Eric and I landed fish in adjacent pocket water and small plunges, places we had not landed trout in the past, so that theme of spread out fish continued to the end.  

The green caddis larva worked well.

The beauty of starting our fishing day so early is that we were content with a complete, productive day by noon.  Even at that time, it was still cool and getting breezy.  The woods are thick now, so the brightness of the road was a shock after spending time in this tiny Eden for a few hours.  Eric was calling one previously unproductive spot that produced today, Fern Gulley (he does have two young daughters)  and it felt like a rainforest with the post-rain dampness and cool air back there—and the literal ferns everywhere, of course.  As we got out of our waders and readied for home, we snapped a couple pictures of a large sulfur that had hitched a ride on Eric’s new waders.  Hmm… an evening visit in the cards?  If only I were a dry fly man.  At any rate, the early shift was a lot of fun for a couple dirty nymphers.  

New phone, new camera, a lot of pics this trip!

May 28, 2020 – Why Is It That After a Great Morning, I Can Only Think About the One that Broke Me Off? - Northampton County Limestoner

A small stream beauty, but not the one today.

I fished the early shift again this morning, but because a meeting in the afternoon was postponed until Friday, I stayed out a while longer.  I caught numbers early, too, like maybe a dozen, but the three of four fish I tangled with around 11 AM, as I was making a second visit to two hot spots, they were the most memorable.  It sucks that after a great 5 or 6 hours of fishing, with fish to 15+ inches and at least 15 fish landed, I am still replaying the one that got away!  This is a small creek, so the fish was not massive, let’s not get silly, but it looked to be about 17 or 18 inches.  The fish that opens this post and the one in the measure net below, as well, was over 15, and that was a great small stream fish.  He was only a consolation prize this morning, though!  The fish I lost broke 6X tippet on a run I should have just let happen, but hindsight is, well….  I was fishing a new reel this morning and new SA Competition Nymphing line on my 10-foot 3 wt, and I thought both performed really well.  I just need to learn the drag on the new reel, I think.  The drag was set well for the 9 to 13 inchers I was landing up to that point, but I did not like how much drag this fish took on his first run, especially since the water was low and mucky today, and he had the dropper not the anchor.  As I added tension to the drag, I was picturing him dredging Eric’s walts over shallow stream bottom littered with muck-covered sticks and stones.  I did not envision him violently shaking his head on a short line and taking Eric’s green caddis larva with him.  Okay, enough of that for now and on with the good parts.

Tale of the tape....

I left the house about 4:30 AM this morning, and it drizzled on the way up, but it did not look like it had rained much, and I only got showered on briefly a couple times.  This creek spiked big time on the gages last week, and the banks showed signs of the brief, flash flooding, but the flows obviously came all at once because the creek was low today.  I was helped by clouds, hampered by swamp-ass due to 100% humidity, but I was feeling good and fishing well.  Like I mentioned above, I got into fish early and often.  The best before 9 AM was probably 13 inches, but even that is good on a creek this size, so I was content.  I was hopeful about finding a little piggy or two because I have landed at least one or two over 14 inches most of the times I have fished this creek this late winter into spring.  The mild winter was kind to these usually smaller fish.  I saw some larger olives but no caddis today, and I spotted two sulfurs very early, likely left over from the previous night’s activities.  I quickly changed to small-ish bugs, a size 16 CDC jig on the anchor and the pinky pt on the dropper.  Both produced until they didn’t.  I switched to small walts and caddis larva later to fish deeper riffles when I no longer saw active fish or bug life.  I did target and catch one random riser with those same bugs later in the morning, though!

BWO conditions, and the small CDC jig worked until it didn't.

Even using small bugs, I don’t think I could make more than two casts in a row without having to pick gunk off my flies.  Not only were the rocks covered, but there were also random strands of grass floating in the water.  Sometimes a(nother) good rain or two and the increased shade of the canopy will alleviate this problem, but that has not happened yet.  I persevered because nymphing was working.  I did take a break and tie on a dry for a minute when I saw three fish bulging, but they were in a rather shallow tailout and even moving as quietly and as low-profile as I could, I put them down.  I ran out of patience waiting on them to get comfortable again, but I did want to see if I could cast this competition line some distance if I had to, and it was not terrible.  Were it not 80 degrees and drizzling, I may have taken a seat and waited, but I was not there in that mindset today.  I took the time to rig the two larva and headed for riffles and a deep plunge instead, and I continued to catch fish, so it was probably the right call for me on this particular day.

Low water, but cloudy, small bugs.

While I was fishing what I thought was my last hole, I received a calendar cancellation and an invite for tomorrow instead.  Tami and the boy had work at home, so I decided to take a walk and check out some water I had not visited in a long time.  I actually ran into another fly guy fishing below one hole I wanted to visit, and he was working upstream towards it, so after a little conversation, I let him have at it.  On the way back up, I saw him again, and he said that he got into a few of them.  Me, well, I saw a lot of shallow, clear water, so I basically took a morning constitutional while I looked for risers for about 30 minutes.  When I ran into posted signs, I turned back upstream.

A few 12 and up.

I had the time, so I fished a favorite hole again, and I lost the pig I wrote about earlier.  Sometimes there is a sucker that holds this line in the run, but it is a big brown trout sort of lie, so sometimes there is a big brown in it instead.  I have caught or messed with a couple of both here over the years.  Today, there was no doubt there was a trout holding there.  Because I was ready to toss my rod into the crick after I felt the line pop, I needed some redemption before I drove home pissed off, so I returned to another favorite plunge where I had already landed a few fish but nothing large.  I expect a decent one from this spot, so I was praying that the smaller fish I landed earlier in the morning were not the only active fish in this run today.  I landed a pretty and strong 13-incher and felt a lot better, but the fish I chose to end the morning on was even better.  I will still replay my mistakes on the piggy I lost, but this ornery 15 or 16-inch buck sure made things a lot better (at least until I go to sleep tonight).

A 13 near the end of the trip too.

So, it was a good, almost great, morning that continues a strong run of good fishing this month.  We need rain, but I don’t think what is here now is the answer.  It will hopefully help a little.  Eric and I are planning to return to our spot this Sunday, so I have the chance of posting eight trips this month, and I am still on pace to surpass 80 for the year.  With all the changes to work and home life, that will have to do.  Even when there are trying moments that make me want to haul off and throw my rod into the woods, the overall effect of fishing is still therapeutic and much cheaper than counseling or legal marijuana!

Creek, pinky, and wildflower pictures!

May 24, 2020 – Had a Feeling but Definitely Lost Faith for a Minute – Northampton County Limestoner

Thick, yo!

After landing one decent and a couple small wild browns early, like 6:30 AM today, and then very little for the next 45 minutes, even in a couple honey holes, I was thinking thank goodness for stocked rainbows, especially from 8 to 10 AM, when I was able to catch a good run of 5 or 6 fish in a row.  The creek I was fishing this morning gets pounded, which is part of the reason I was here so early (well, that and quarantine insomnia), but the early bite is not a bad one as we get into early summer/late spring patterns.  It is light enough to fish at 5:30 AM, so the nymphing can be solid even before 6.  I have a love/hate affair with this particular creek.  It is home to my white whale, for one (link).  It is a puzzle, and some talented fisherman I know concur with me, so I am confident that I am not alone in this complicated relationship.  It is a class A wild brown trout creek, but it also gets a heavy stocking of rainbows, sometimes the odd club brook trout too.  I have thought a lot about why the wild fish can be so dickish, but I will not bore you with a full treatise.  What keeps me coming back is this challenge and the possibility of landing a few fish each year like the one pictured in this blog several times.  I fish this stream close to ten times a year, and I don’t forget the good days or the beat downs.  I expect a good day when I land a couple early like today because it means I am doing something right, or the wild fish are feeling cooperative, but that luck can quickly turn too.  

Lower flows but stained.  Pink bomb delivers.  Consolation rainbows.

Thankfully, the water and bug life are good quality, so fish holdover multiple years, some of them getting quite large in the process.  Case in point, I had not been to this creek since January 31 of this year, and I only caught two fish that day, not all that odd in winter, but one of them was a good rainbow, pushing 17 inches and wide.  No wild browns at all that day, however, not a one.  On days like that, I am thankful for the bows, and I was starting to come to terms with that this morning, but I stuck with it and fished hard even when my confidence began to wane.  I fished the mono rig again this morning, and I fished a couple of Eric’s flies before I hung them up, including the pink bomb, which produced a handful of bows, but the big old wild brown took a newer confidence bug, the size 16 pheasant tail with the fuzzy collar and pink bead, aka pinky. 

A couple 8 or 9 inch wild browns for comparison....

I could not believe my luck when I arrived to an empty lot a little before 6 AM, so I made a beeline for the stretch of water where I came close to landing a massive wild brown a couple years ago.  I also hooked and lost another pig a couple years before that in a prime deep run just upstream (perhaps the same fish), so the browns in this section are drawing on a good gene pool.  Case in point, in the same pocket water where I landed a good fish today, I have landed at least two fish close to 20 inches over the last 5 years.  Today, I caught a good 11-inch brown that escaped a photo and then two 9 inchers before I ran into the rainbows.  It was cloudy and cool to start, but even though the creek had a stain from recent rains, the flows were not up at all.  The creek was actually a bit lower than I like, but the stain and the clouds helped with covering my approach.  Granted, I quit before 11 AM when I started seeing a couple more fishermen waking up, but I did not see many caddis before then, certainly not enough to provoke any risers.  I mentioned that I had not slept well, wide awake at 3 AM, so I was a little rough to start: a bad knot, an unusable photo or two of my first couple of fish, a few snags on industrial type things that tend to be less courteous than normal rocks and sticks.  All it took was getting my bugs eaten a few times to wake me up, however, and I got with the program eventually.  When it mattered, I was solid, at least.

Girthy

After working through some holes with only the one decent brown, the little guys, and several consolation bows to show for it, I fished some pocket water for the last hour on the water.  The water is shallower here, but it is bouncy enough to hold fish, big fish when the conditions are right.  I landed one nice rainbow in a deeper pocket, but this big brown was probably in 18 inches of water and in the seam nearest to me as well.  I basically hooked the fish at the end of my rod, while I was fishing close to me before stepping further in to target what I thought was an even better looking seam on the other side of the riffles.  I am glad I did not decide to step in here before fishing it, a good habit I practice almost automatically these days.  You can probably appreciate the girth from the shot that opens this post.  He was not as long as he could have been for such a big fish, just over 18 inches, I bet, but he was so thick that I had a hard time deciding how to photograph.  I had a deep net, so he stayed submerged while I figured it out for a minute.  A couple shots in the net, two lifts above the net with a burst of shots, and I had to call it good.  I am happy with a few of the shots, and they each highlight something different (plus there was not much other content today!) so I share a few of them here. 

The long view (that tail still wanting to go).

I just snuck out in the morning, leaving a note for Tami at the coffee pot, since I had not planned on fishing today (unless Eric was free to hit our little spot) so I decided to quit a few minutes later and spend some time with the family this afternoon.  I could spy three dudes, perhaps two and a guide above me, and another dude downstream, so I did not have high hopes of finding real estate if I did drive to another spot or two.  A nap sounded good as well.  Add one more episode to the ongoing story of me and this creek.  Today was one of the uplifting chapters, and there will be more of them, as surely as there will be more tragic ones in the future!

He's got good genes, this guy.

May 21, 2020 – A 15 Hour Tour of NEPA Bookended by a Couple Piggies – Brodhead Creek

Bookend #1

Because I fished enough for three days today, and I had both Eric and Ward along for part of the day, I will try to break this one into three movements.  Movement one began when I met young Eric at the end of my driveway at 4:15 AM, and we caravanned to the Brodhead.  Ward was leaving home around 5:45 AM and was to meet up when he arrived around 7:15-ish.  In late spring, especially if like me you tend to focus on caddis and not the mayfly du jour, the fish can be quite active early in the morning.  I wanted to fish in the gorge today because the flows were uncharacteristically low for this time of the year.  The intersection of prime bug time and low flows so that moving around the mighty Brodhead was manageable?  I could barely sleep….  However, when I figured out that Ward would be coming a bit later, I suggested an easier meeting spot, a spot he and I fished last month that is criminally loaded with spring stockers.  Well, due to some phone problems that I won’t get into in detail, we had a miscommunication, and he ended up going to a meeting spot I had suggested near the gorge.  No biggie, as he caught me on the phone around 7:20 AM, and we all took a break at the “stocky lot” around 7:30 AM.  

Same fish.  No face, but Eric took my picture today!

Eric and I fished near this pressured access from 6 to 7:30 AM before Ward, or anyone else for that matter, arrived on the scene.  It was a party later, quite literally for a while when we tailgated with a couple other fly guys, but before others started disturbing the riffles and runs, Eric and I put together a decent 90 minutes.  The culmination was me landing a big old brown trout that took a small sexy walts in about two feet of water.  It looked really good too.  I can’t be 100 percent sure it’s wild, likely not, but it was a really strong, pretty fish.  If not wild, it may have been around for 10 years!  We caught probably 15 other stocked browns and bows between us before we hiked up to meet Ward.  Throughout the day, Eric and I were throwing many of Eric’s recent ties, from big old tungsten stoneflies, to his version of the pink bead attractor I have been using, to caddis larva and walt’s worms.  I caught many fish on his creations but, go figure, the two pigs I landed were on pricey store-bought tactical flies, two of my confidence patterns, a sob Czech larva and a little hot spot CDC jig—olives and caddis covered.…    

Not many stocked browns.

Honestly, there was no wrong pattern today—we saw two varieties of caddis, size 20 olives, a few monster stoneflies (maybe yellow sallies) a couple other varieties of mayfly, including the errant sulfur or three.  As my excited insomnia foreshadowed, it proved a good day to be on the Brodhead in other words.  I brought three combos, and I fished two of them.  I spent two-thirds of the day throwing a mono rig—even when I had to switch to a thingamabobber midday, which was not a great choice, especially when I could see my vehicle in the lot.  Using 20-pound, 15-pound, 12-pound Maxima to taper down to my sighter and tippet, however, I made it work.  I learned my lesson for the third shift and used my nymphing rod with a more traditional tightline leader, which is more nimble when switching between tightlining relatively close and popping on a bobber to reach further out on a big creek like the Brodhead.

Mostly blue skies and bows for round 2.

Eric walked down to fish one last favorite hole in this pressured stretch, while I hiked up to catch up with Ward.  While Ward suited and rigged up, I refilled my water and had some calories to keep me going.  I did not have a proper meal until 8 PM, but I did take pains to keep drinking and eating some nuts, Cliff bars, banana, an apple, etcetera throughout the long day.  I even packed an iced latte for the ride home!  It was like doing my one-day tour of State College, just with a much welcomed 90 fewer minutes driving on each end.  So that Ward could get into some fish, we stuck near the parking lot for the middle part of the day, and we all caught some stocked rainbows.  When Eric and I ventured a little farther upstream, we inevitably ran into more fisherman who accessed the creek from other places.  It was a nice day and flows were advantageous, so I was not surprised.  Still, I am still not used to Saturday crowds on a weekday, and I don’t want to know what these easily accessible spots do look like on an actual Saturday.  Damn you Covid 19, damn you to hell.  

Mitches catch fishes.

Besides turning up more dudes and more pressure, our excursions away from the main stocking point did not amount to much, a few more bows, plus a massive white sucker for Eric.  We ended up spending a lot of time, perhaps too much time for my liking, maybe all of our liking, fishing a massive pod of risers.  Around 12:30 or 1 PM, I took a walk back to find Ward, and I saw a dozen or more fish taking emerging caddis in a big deep riffle—there was a horde of small dark caddis, perhaps grannoms, that got the most attention.  The olives were pretty thick too, but they were a size 20, I bet.  Even though I had just crossed the mighty Brodhead, I crossed back and started picking up stocked rainbows that were suspended up taking bugs, at first nymphing them up but eventually hanging a couple bugs under a bobber.  Eric joined us a bit later, so we all fished this pod of fish for a good bit, and we landed many.  Eric caught on his stonefly and caddis larva, and nearly all of mine came on his green caddis larva, but any bug the right size at the right depth would get eaten because I also landed a couple on a walts when I eventually lost the caddis larva unwisely lipping a particularly reluctant and rambunctious one.

Bow while the sun was low.

Ward caught one before we got on the scene and a few others after Eric and I got there, but he had a slower start, so it was he who first invoked the old, “I am good, let’s get out of here” once he had some success.  It was Eric, however, who made the first move to the parking lot, luring me with the promise of a cold(ish) beer, and Ward followed shortly thereafter.  We sat in the afternoon sun and shot the breeze for a while, eventually adding two other dudes to our social distancing party.  As the party broke up, I decided to fish some more on my own.  I had a hankering for not only trees and shade but also wild fish.  I ended up fishing for two more hours, but I only intended to target one favorite spot that is relatively easy to access but not often easy to fish in even average flows—it is an early summer and late fall spot for me, mostly, because lower flows greatly assist the success rate and—if you omit the prospect of waking the homeless residents of a tent city or two—the safety quotient. 

Trees and shade at last!

 As I mentioned above, I switched combos for this third shift, fishing my usual 10-foot three weight rigged with a more conventional euro leader.  I was excited when I saw the flows—the creek picks up the volume of two significant tributaries between here and where we fished earlier in the day, so I needed to see it to believe it—and there were still some active caddis to help the cause potentially.  I made a concerted effort here to fish some of the bugs that Eric gave me this week.  Besides fishing his green caddis larva, I also fished his golden stone.  I caught at least 4 smaller wild browns on his caddis.  I also landed a solid holdover brown and rainbow on what I call Eric’s pink bomb, his version of the pink bead pheasant tail I have been throwing with success, only his has an outsized bead.  I really love small flies that get as deep as big flies, and this fits the bill—he even puts some wraps of wire under the dubbing!   Sam would be proud because it fishes in heavier current as well as his own bottom roller caddis.  

Not wild, but a start on the pink bomb.

The flows were not high enough to give the stonefly a workout, but the two larva produced for a good hour.  Before leaving, I decided to fish some much shallower pocket water and riffles.  Over the years I have landed a few good fish on the Brodhead in these little spots that many if not most fishermen overlook.  A good, maybe twelve-inch wild brown showed himself taking an emerger in one small pocket in about a foot of water, so I switch out the pink bomb for something lighter and buggier.  I hooked and lost this fish or a neighbor on the little CDC jig I had tied on to imitate the emergers, but I did not miss the next fish who ate.  In shallow water, this pig thought he had nowhere to go but up in the air at first.  He got his big body out of the water three times in short succession.  

Small wild browns on Eric's caddis larva.

I almost pooped my pants, when he figured out that he could also make a run for it.  I was out in the middle of the creek, in current, so he had the upper hand.  He ranged around one side of the creek and then the other, and I had to chase him downstream a good thirty feet while trying not to fall and while dragging a prematurely detached landing net, but it all worked out.  What better way to end a marathon than with a strong kick, you know?  I was in no position to move around too much or wade to shore dragging the fish in the net, plus it was a longer fight, so I did not measure and instead did my best to get a quick release.  I would not venture 20, but it was well over 18 based on my experience, and it was a fish that lives in big water most of the year, so he was broad, heavy, and strong.  I wish he had eaten one of Eric’s bugs, but I fell back on a confidence fly and for good reason, obviously.  It was probably 5:30 PM by now so, while the temptation to keep fishing was there, I was also realistically thinking that the odds of it getting better than this were slim.  In addition to this fish, I had landed 7 or 8 fish during the third shift, so the numbers were there too.  Anything else would be silly or selfish or something. 

Worth clocking in for a third shift!

I had to do more wading and bushwhacking through knotweed and floodwater-deposited timber to find a path out, and on the walk out I found yet another net on the Brodhead.  This is the third landing net that I have scavenged from this watershed.  Two of them are actually in rotation too!  I posted about all of them on the fly fish forum, and someone found one through this blog, in fact, but unlike the other nets this one looks to be a bit more special to someone, maybe even handmade or artisan made.  If no one claims it, I may have to replace the basket and work this one into the mix.  Watch your nets because the Brodhead likes to steal and hide them from you, apparently.   I made it back to the ‘Ru in one piece with my new net and, after drinking a can of caffeine and drinking what little water I had left, I ended my 15 hour tour of NEPA with a quiet ride home and the realization that, despite not taking a lot of pictures, this was going to be one long blog post….

Another shot of bookend #2