| "My lords, ladies and gentlemen. All rise for her majesty the Queen." The Queen enters. She is resplendent in tartan skirt (with sporran), lightweight Hardy shirt and fishing vest, appropriately topped off by a Harrod's deerstalker hat adorned with various salmon flies by the late Megan Boyd. "We are gathered here today on this most auspicious occasion to listen to a rather ripping adventure by a fellow fly-fisherman, Patrick Donoghue. Mr. Donoghue has a souvenir in the shape of a unique hat and we are here to share in the tale of its acquisition. So, without further ado…Mr. Donoghue." |
 "Ummm, yes, I would love to tell you the story. Ummm, I was in Newfoundland with my friends Vern, Roy and Muddler. We had decided to take a trip to a spot called "Between da Ponds." The, ahh, Between da Ponds is a very short stretch of river between two major ponds and the fish congregate at the short distance in this little run. And, ahh, one can fish one pond on the forward cast and t'other pond on the back-cast. I was casting to a fish on the front pond out there and I missed. He rose and I struck quite quickly and, ahh, I kind of delayed on the back-cast and it must have dropped in the other pond. On the forward cast a fish took it. I felt this thing hit me in the back of the head and, ummm, I was knocked out for a short while. When I came to there was this trout…as you can see…the back end here…it's still alive, I believe it's still alive. Anyway, I thought I would keep it forever considering it has gone right through my head." |