Featured Photo: Autumn Glow
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Coming Up...
In fact, this weekend or early next week should see me having enough time to make a Smokies trip, probably to look some more for lake run fish. When I find the fish, you'll be the first to find out so check back often for those reports...
Also, I'm hoping to do a review of an excellent article on the water problems out West. That one will take a bit longer probably although I might get it done this weekend. In between all these other things, I still have to at least pretend to study occasionally and also get in some fishing locally as well...
Finally, I want to apologize for any spelling problems in my recent and current posts. The spell-check feature is on the blink for Blogger and I've been too lazy to resort to other methods. I don't really have the time to do a thorough job proof reading so my apologies to everyone that hates reading something full of spelling and grammatical errors...
The Last Few Days
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Something New
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Exploring Gone Wrong, Very Very Wrong
My recent urge to explore finally got me into trouble. I've had my eye on a remote tributary stream somewhere in East Tennessee that is hard to get to and finally got around to looking for it. When I say "looking for it," that is because there is no trail to the stream making the job much harder (at least, not by the most direct route). There's a very good reason for that however. There are two options for a trail, up and over a towering mountain (that's what it seemed like anyway) or along a steep sidehill where falling means ending up in a lake. Yeah, that's the hint of the day by the way but trust me, you don't want to go to this stream even if you figure out where it is.
I wandered the backroads to where I was planning to start hiking and parked the car. Another stream had already been visited and I was still in my wading attire. That was mistake #1, and #2 followed closely behind as I didn't switch to hiking shoes. Then again, I had yet to learn what I was getting myself into. As most of you are undoubtedly aware of, steep hills and felt wading boots don't mix well, especially when those hills are covered in leaves and pine needles.
My cheerful hike was soon in progress and I was making good time for about 100 feet when I made mistake #3. It stands to reason that it would be easier to just follow the contours instead of hustling up and over the ridge right? Wrong...and boy did I pay for it. Things started out pretty well as I found myself walking gingerly along a game trail that angled down towards the water's edge but then it just faded out. Of course, I knew better than to trust a "trail" like that, but hey, hope springs eternal.
Things began deteriorating a bit more rapidly from this point on. The sidehill got worse and worse and I was reduced to falling on my butt every 5-10 steps or so, sometimes much more. This continued for about a half a mile as I more and more cautiously worked my way around the mountain looming above me, always towards the promised land of fish that have never seen a fly. "It can't get any worse," I kept telling myself. It should be obvious by now that this was mistake #4 and things did indeed get worse.
About this time I realized that the extreme exertion it was taking to make any headway at all had resulted in an extreme case of thirst. I just knew that death from a lack of water (which I should have brought with me) was now stalking me if I didn't fall off the side of the mountain into the lake and drown first. This was mistake #5 and almost #6. Yet another game trail had presented itself and I was creeping along a mere 10-15 feet above the water which was quite deep at this point. Falling in would have resulted in swimming and probably for a long ways. Wearing waders and my vest meant this would be a huge problem. The goal then was clearly to NOT fall in. Did I mention mistake #5? The game trail literally shrank down to about 1 inch wide for a few feet before regaining the 4-5 inches that allowed slow progress. I was pretty sure I could make it because the other side was so close. Just one step on dangerous sidehill and then my other foot would be across and gaining traction on solid ground. I made the lunge and my foot flew out from under me.
As I tossed my fly rod up the hill away from danger, I glanced down and was reminded that there was NOTHING below me to stop me from falling into the water ...just a nice drop into oblivion. I flung my hand towards my last remaining hope and found myself hanging over the precipice by one arm and wondering how in the world I got myself into this predicament. The tree I was hanging onto was only about 2 inches in diameter, and I was hoping that it wouldn't pull out of the hill. With my other hand, I reached up and pushed my fly rod farther up the hill to avoid having it fall in the lake. Next, I put my rock climbing skills to good use, slowly and painfully pulling myself back up to my starting point. And I kept going... I was done inching along over the lake with every step taken in danger of falling in. Onward, ever onward I climbed until I found the remains of an old trail part way up the hill and foolishly pressed on towards my goal. This was mistake #6. I was exhausted and every step seemed to take the last bit of energy I had left. Nevertheless I pressed on until I found myself staring down towards my goal far below me. When I saw that the deep water continued on back even further and to reach the actual stream, I would have to climb down (and of course back up) an extremely steep hill, I decided that enough is enough. Disillusioned, I turned away and faced the mountain that was now between me and my car.
Incredibly I began to climb up, higher and higher until I felt completely exhausted. My thirst had reached an all new high and I felt the beginnings of heat exhaustain setting in. I started to feel naseauted and realized that I had to take a rest. Sitting down never felt so good and then I just reclined against the side of the mountain, glad to have a moment of peace in this torturous journey. After about 20 minutes, I felt able to keep moving and began inching on up the side of the mountain. Never in my life has reaching the top of a mountain felt so good. While I wasn't back to my car, I knew the worst part of the ordeal was over. If you're going downhill, at least you can just enter a half-crouch and slide down when the going gets too steep. When I stumbled back onto the road where I had left my car, I used my little remaining energy to unlock my car and latch onto a Nalgene that was full of life-giving water. Several minutes and a liter of water later, things were looking up and already I was plotting how to return. That will most likely be mistake #7 but on the other hand, I could find a hidden jewel of a trout stream.
This trek into the untamed wilds of Tennessee was the worst part of the day but it literally added insult AND injury TO injury. While fishing the previous stream that I had actually made it to, I stepped on a large flat rock that looked solid. It was covered with leaves and was basically level leading me into the dangerously incorrect assumption that it was fine to walk on. What I didn't notice was the spring on the upper end of the rock which had soaked the whole rock under the leaves and several steps into crossing, the whole mass of leaves decided to slide at once and I took The Fall. The resulting crash probably registered as an earthquake on one of the USGS seismographs and left me sore all over.
Rock where I took "The Fall"
Closeup of the slide zone from The Fall. Where you now see bare rock used to be completely covered in a blanket of leaves before I took the tumble...
And then the journey of agony happened, first around the mountain and almost into the lake and then back over the mountain...
When I woke up today, I felt like I had been hit by a freight train which is probably what it feels like to be a professional football player. This was one thing I never expected from the quiet sport... Yet, I still plan on going back...hopefully it will be worth my time!!!
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Lake-run Rainbows
The end result proved worth the wait. I found just a few large fish in the stream of choice but they were actively feeding making my job easier. Only one (of the big guys anyway) was gracious enough to let me land it but one of the ones I hooked was almost as memorable. I was drifting a copper john with a midge dropper through a run where I had spotted an actively feeding fish when my line stopped dead and shot upstream. My feeble attempts at putting on the breaks did absolutely nothing as the fish muscled its way on upstream before shortly throwing the tiny midge. The fish I did land was gorgeous but was missing a chunk of tail from some past brush with danger...
Hopefully there will be a lot more fish in this creek in the near future. There's only one way to find out though so I'll make the sacrifice and check back soon so everyone can know that someone is out there having fun...
Friday, February 01, 2008
Whirling Disease Conquered?
"They were plump, colorful fish, they looked good," said Barry Nehring, an aquatic researcher for the DOW in Montrose who has been working on whirling disease since 1994. "This is indicative that we've had successful reproduction."
This is great news since I love fishing the Gunnison. The last time I was there, I caught lots of browns up to 18 or 19 inches which is fun and all, but the lone rainbow I caught was a reminder of the river's heyday when lots of big rainbows were the norm. Hopefully the good news will continue as they do more research...
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Continual Lack of Fishing
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Hiking
Now, that isn't the norm but it does produce some of the most spectacular results short of doing an overnight type trip. Those of you that stay within a couple of miles of the trailhead are missing out on some excellent opportunities. I understand that some people may be limited for various reasons but the rest of you who are just lazy, I want to say thanks for leaving the best fishing for me...
Standard pack for a daytrip
Getting Behind
Also in what I hope is the near future, I'll be starting on my late winter and spring backpacking and camping trips. I'm looking to check out some new water this year and the best way to do this is on a weekend trip since most of the streams are at minimum a two hour drive.
Perhaps this Sunday I'll check out a stream for some lake-run fish. That sounds like a lot of fun...I think I'll do it!!!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Glad to NOT be in Yellowstone
The Upper Yellowstone, Snake, Shoshone, Clarks Fork, Little Snake, and Laramie Watersheds are expected to see normal to above normal snowmelt stream volumes this spring and summer.After the low flows and warm water temperatures last summer, this is some of the best news in awhile...