A "Fishing" Trip

The sun was shining, the wind was calm and there was NO ONE at work last Friday. After talking with a fella at length about fishing, I couldn't take it anymore and left around noon. I had seen a very large fish jump in Blue Creek Bay a couple days prior, decided it was a pike, and concluded that would be a good place to try.

I raced home and got my gear together and headed out to said spot. The little dispersed fishing access was flooded more than I thought it was, so I kinda had to perch on the bank, which jammed my toes into the front of my boots. Incredibly comfortable. There was also a log about 10 feet or so from shore that I had to cast over, then JUMP the lure over it on the retrieve. After getting rigged up with a steel leader and a rather large spoon I started hucking. Everything was going really well for about...oh...five casts, when I got hung up on that damn log.

Hmmm...I'll just wade out there and get it unstuck! I emptied my pockets, then noticed the water was a LOT deeper than I expected...dropping off sharply right before the log. To do this correctly would require stripping down a little more than I wanted = nekkid. There was no way to move positions on the bank to shake the hook because of the high water and brush, so I just stood there and wiggled the rod back and forth furiously to try to free it (yeah, despite NEVER having that work...we all continue to try.)

Well, all that did was to wiggle the top half of my rod loose and down the line, up against my lure, on that damn log, ten feet from shore, in five-feet of icy water.

Fan-f***ing-tastic!!

Alright, stripping was now becoming a very likely possibility. The idea of swimming in snowmelt must have triggered my neurons into working just a BIT harder when I finally figured I could rig a handline with a heavy jig to toss over the rod tip and at least recover that. After a few tosses I became tangled in all the brush around me and out of frustration, pulled on that 30lb test monofiliment (it was all I had) until it broke...launching my expensive steelhead jig into the icy depths...never to be seen again.

By this time the folks out on boats were probably wondering what in the hell I was doing. Up to the truck digging around in the tacklebox, down at the shore stringing line in the brush like Christmas lights, back to the truck, back to the shore unstringing line from the brush...pacing, sweating, cussing. I imagined hearing, "What's he doing with a handline? Why doesn't he use his rod? He's been here for an hour and all he's done is mess with his gear. It's not fishing unless it's in the water buddy!" I started to sweat...and get REALLY frustrated with my obvious inability to figure out a simple problem.

So I finally got the 800 yards of line untangled from the brush, got another expensive steelhead jig, and finally managed to lasso the rod tip. Who knew, just moving the position of my pole so the rod tip was PERPENDICULAR to me would work better! Kind of an indication on how frustrated and pissed off I was. I darn near cried out, "I just want to FISH!" I finally got the pieces together and still couldn't do anything about the lure. Long story short, I broke the line and put on some bait. Hucked that out there, sat around for about 30 minutes before a.) the clouds moved in, b.) I was bored, and c.) really tired of all the boats milling around. Overall, I got a good 35 minutes of actual "fishing" out of two hours.

*sigh*

So I went home and did some yard work so I could feel like accomplishing SOMETHING that afternoon.

Spring has Finally Sprung

Saturday May 7th found me on highway 95 headed south. I had the bed of the truck full of camping and fishing supplies and a vague idea of where I was headed. Rod had indicated a place called Spring Valley out of Troy (Idaho) that would be a great place to spend a weekend just fishing and relaxing...so I was headed there.

The trip seemed to fly by and pretty quick I was on roads I've never seen and getting excited to see this reservoir that was supposed to be phenomenal fishing. Well, once there, it was very apparent that I would never be able to survive. First of all it was CROWDED. People in house-sized RVs, some tents, folks on the docks, and the reservoir itself was just a small pond (think White Sands for those of you familiar with Powell.) Plus, I was in need of more trees around a potential camp so I could rig up tarps against the anticipated rain. No good.

I poked my way out to the main road and had to make a quick decision. Left would take me to St. Maries and the St. Joe...but I knew you couldn't get too far up the Joe before the road was closed. Recall last year's trip up there...not bad but not great either. The plus was that it would be closer to home i.e.) less driving. Turning right would take me south toward Kendrick and eventually the Clearwater and the Selway. Didn't take me long to decide and before I knew it I was headed south.

I came up out of a valley and had three messages waiting on my phone and two of those were from work!! WTF? So I called the guy at work and asked if it was so critical that I came in immediately...he said no, he just wanted to give me a heads up for the following week. Hmm, waste of time much? People get pretty excited about things around my office. The other was from Sarah telling me how much she wanted to be with me, camping in the rain, and generally just milling around the wet woods. She apologized for not being able to make it, but it was totally understandable. SOMEONE has to take care of the wedding stuff!! ;)

Well, I hit Kendrick and then took another road that I wasn't familiar with...the Cavandish road that leads up and over hill and dale...eventually dropping you at the fish hatchery in Orofino. It's a slow, curvy, but scenic road that takes out going through Moscow, down the Lewiston grade, and that whole mess. I liked it, plus the traffic was light. After a couple hours I made it to Two Shadows and wandered around for a bit. For some reason it just wasn't working for me that time, I needed less traffic and more privacy for a relaxing weekend...which only leaves the Selway!

So I went up to the Falls and the end of the road scoping out campsites along the way. Fortunately, the camp that Rachel, Krista and I had on our first night of the Crags trip was open, so I dropped into that fairly quick! It's a nice little place tucked into the trees with a BIG beach, it's own toilet and a picnic table. And the sun was starting to shine...perfect!


Saturday afternoon

Not too shabby!


My view downriver...look familiar?


View upriver

After getting camp set up, I hauled out my fishing gear and decided to throw some lures into the nice eddy near the camp. (I had forgotten my flyfishing gear.) That's when I noticed my reel handle was broken off! One of my big, unsecured boxes full of camping stuff must've got it on one of the many curves of the road down there. I dug out some "extreme tape" (which is like super-electricians-tape) and repaired it as best I could. It didn't do too bad, but every time I'd get a strike, I seemed to always pull the handle back off. Reeling in a fish without a handle on your reel is interesting...but it still worked. I hauled in some cutthroat and a single whitefish that I kept for dinner.

I seemed to be the only person on the river except for some bear hunters that cruised by once in awhile. It was a nice relaxing evening and the weather just kept getting nicer!

Until Sunday morning, when around 0700 it began to rain HARD. I got up and mosied around for awhile and decided if I was going to fish, I'd need a new reel...so I was off, headed for Dale's Cashway. New reel in hand I decided to stop by Smith Creek road and look for some morels...with no luck. Pounding rain. I stopped in Kooskia and called my Mom to wish her a happy Mother's day. Pounding rain. Made it back to camp and tried to fish in....the...POUNDING....RAIN. I had called Sarah from Dale's to let her know I was going to stay another night...counting on the rain to stop and the fishing to pick up again. I was confident it couldn't last all day!

Well, it didn't quit. The fishing stunk (I managed to pull in a single 5-inch cutthroat.) That got boring, so I pulled out the camera and got nice and muddy taking photos. While I was stomping around I managed to find the only morel of the trip...almost stepped on it before I noticed it. It blended in with the grass it was growing in perfectly!


My only morel

Heart leaf

Not sure what this flower is...


Neat against the black background though...


Horsetail along Slide Creek


More horsetails


New growth


I always call this stuff skunk cabbage...even though it's not right. But it fits! (This is the young stage obviously.)

Well, that's about all that happened. The rain never stopped and I never really dried out. I DID discover some holes in the fly of my tent though! Made some nice wet spots on the inside...time to do some repair work I guess.


Kinda sums up my attitude. Cold, wet, and lonely...plus you can see the rain!


Cold, wet view upriver

I was up early Monday morning to the rain continuing to fall. I packed quickly and was on the road. Now, Highway 12 on a Monday morning isn't fun as it's full of commuters...by the time ONE person would get off my butt, another one was there to take his/her place. Consequently, I turned back up the Cavedish highway and took the backroads home. It took awhile to make it through Boville and the like, but I made it to St. Maries and then took the backroads the rest of the way home. It was great...good scenery and NO TRAFFIC!

I'm not sure if it's fortunate or not, but by the time I got home, the sun came out and I was able to dry all my gear prior to putting it away. It was nice to have company and some sunshine. Overall, it was a worthwhile weekend...always good to get out of town for awhile...even if it does rain the whole time.

The next week I went on a short hike and found some morels! Too bad when Sarah and I went back up there this past Sunday, there were very few to be found! (Someone must have been in there...it was barren.)


Not a lot for a couple hours of looking...

I'm happy to report that the weather is improving around here...as are everyone's attitudes. Amazing what a little vitamin D can do for a person! However, we've gone from snow and rain to 70-degree days! Winter to summer...hard to transition, but I'm NOT complaining!

Month of Fishing

The fishing bug seems to have taken hold of me this year. After learning how to rig powerbait, and then catching fish on said rig, I can't seem to get enough of it. Not sure if it's the relatively nice weather we've had the past two weekends, the way the time flies by, or the company, but it sure has been a nice distraction from my winter blues.

Two weekends ago, on the one nice day, I made my way to Rod's house at o'dark thirty and took Dusty out turkey hunting. We could hear them, but could never catch up. We saw a couple elk and some deer was all...and two other hunters. That would explain why the birds shut up so quickly. Then we (Rod, Dusty, and I) decided to fish Fernan. Pretty quick Sean showed up...followed by Rod's wife dropping off Dusty's best friend. We even caught a couple fish!


Pleasant, but a little chilly.


Sean and Rod


Then the weather moved back in. This was April 29th.


Ahh, five straight months of this is what CDA has to offer this year.



April 30th up the 499 road



New snow! Around the corner there the road is blocked by two feet of snow on the roadbed. Awesome. Access into the District is a maximum of 4 miles.

This past weekend caught us out fishing Fernan again on Friday. Again, we caught a couple fish and had a relatively pleasant day. The only thing was that we attracted all sorts of people who just wanted to talk. One fella stayed for three hours talking about EVERYTHING in the world. Then some younger girls needed directions. Another older fella was out there fishing with his grandchildren...so we helped show him how to rig up powerbait, gave him powerbait, and just kinda chatted. Busy day, but 9 hours sure did fly by!



Rod at Fernan when the weather started to turn

So while Sarah was running Bloomsday on Sunday, we decided to cut out at try Kelso Lake. We got there early enough the dock was ours and the fish were jumping AND biting! Once the sun came out, the dock got really crowded...and again, we had a lot of visitors just wanting to talk. I managed to get a nice sunburn on the lower half of my face.


Just a little bird


Of course, we got a photo of one of the SMALLEST fish we caught! Go figure.

Overall it was a nice weekend...but it leaves a guy pretty wore out! But, I guess being worn out from fishing and being outside all weekend is a good thing. I think all our company the past couple times out is urging both of us to drag a boat out. Between the two of us we have three boats, and there we were on the shore. We'll see what happens in the next couple weeks.

Oh, and a fella came in to work this morning and said he picked half a grocery bag of morels over the weekend. Seems like the guy on the dock was right, when you start seeing trilliums, it's time to look for mushrooms!