I keep a tube handy for my friend Rich. After rowing the drift boat for a few hours and around the time I land my fifth steehead for the morning while he hasnt had a bump, he gets what most steelheaders refer to as " The Red A$$" its a deadly condition that can lead to others such as "The Sidewinder Syndrome" skilled anglers the world over are masters of this rather peculiar outdoor step. Essentially, it consists of sauntering sideways. While looking straight ahead as if wearing blinders, you attempt to give the impression that you are oblivious to what is taking place on either side of you. The situation in which it is used is this: Your partner has laid claim to a nice piece of fishing water twenty yards or so downstream from you. Suddenly he gets a strike and flicks his line into the uppermost branches of an alder. You know the fish was a big one by the way your best friend suddenly crouches down and scurries about like a hyperactive crab as he tries to untangle his line and stay out of sight of the fish at the same time. There is a great temptation on such occasions to be overwhelmed by your partners desperate manuevers and to laugh yourself sensless. A master angler, however, will maintain an expression that is not only sober but that conveys the impression he is totally unaware of anything but his own casting. While maintaining this expression , he then preforms the Sidewinder, which carries him sideways along the bank to that portion of water where the monster steelhead has signaled its presence. Upon arriving at this position, the master angler must make a pretense of being in a trance of sufficient depth that it cannot be penetrated by the vile curses screamed at him by his former friend. The former friend will at this point give up all caution and throw himself into all-out combat with the alder in order to free the offending line. Catching and landing a fish under such trying circumstances is what is qualifies one as a master angler, sometimes referred to by fishing partners as a " no good BLEEP of a BLEEP" Good sportsmanship requires that one refrain from manical laughter after preforming a succesful Sidewinder and instead throw your tube of Preperation H on the bank motioning to your former friend he should use it.
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“If fishing is interfering with your job, get another job.”
Had a game warden ask me if I was using that stuff once when he was checking my hooks for pinched barbs. Said he'd run into some guy who was using it. Something about it containing shark oil or something like that. Go figure 
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