The take was startling and caught me by surprise. I had barely gotten the tip, leader and fly and a little bit of my Skagit head out and was still in the top of the run. I had hooked fish this close before but I usually hook most of my fish in the heart of the run with casts in the 60-70 ft range.The fish grabbed solidly and left no doubt as to his intentions and where he was going with my little black fly. Line peeled of the old English Daiwa 812 reel like you read about. The steady and uninterrupted whir of the reel was indicative of a large male that is somewhat annoyed by the whole ordeal.  I was in deep trouble and I had no where to run. There was no room to chase down stream and he had gone south and west around a rock leaving me scratching my head north and east of his position.Trying to get this fish and me on the same side of the rock he just went around was not gonna be easy. The backing knot was a distant memory, having shot through the guides and out the rod tip some time ago.I laid the 7136 Sage greenie to the side and started to test the integrity of my whole set up. The rod is a great rod but it's lifting and fighting power in heavy current with bigger fish becomes limiting. and rather challenging. I lift the rod from the side to a more vertical position while still keeping a low tip angle.The rod flat lines and bends into the cork as the big male burrows into a rock pile far down stream..I look down and see I still have plenty of kite string left but it is melting fast. I get the big fish stopped in a small eddy and he uses the time to rest.I take time to review the situation as well, thinking about the last time I had checked or re-tied my knots. They were all gonna be tested today on this fish.The backing knot to running line was most suspect as I know that one was old.I desperately try to hold the fish as he ambles around in the eddy at will, thinking about moving again. I will have to break him off as there is not a chance of landing him if he moves again..........