Steelhead Camp
After catching the bug, Butch and I couldn't take it and headed back down to the Clearwater one Friday afternoon to try our hand at bank fishing. I thought I had the Ace in the Hole by purchasing a couple "$10 driftboats".... ie) planer boards. We loaded up and Butch hauled the camper down to the launch we put in with Ray. After making camp (leveling the trailer and unhooking) we got a fire going and kinda settled in. Of course I couldn't take it and had to try throwing the planer in the water, only to find out that the bottom had dropped out of the flow and there wasn't enough current to pull it out far enough! Disappointed, I joined Butch around camp...determined to try the following day.
The next day we got up and tried throwing bobbers and just plain plugs from the shore. That yielded not even a bump, but we got our first aerial show by the thousands of geese and ducks that flew over twice a day. That was almost more fun than the fishing, SQUADRONS of birds would lift off at about 0900 every day and come circle our camp to gain elevation, then head back downriver and up to the fields. The geese would do the same, but there were some flocks that would simply land on the hillside. I have to say, I've never seen huge flocks of geese walking across a grassy mountain like a major herd of turkeys.
Well, back to the fishing. Nothing really happening, so we decided to go upstream to some faster water and see if we couldn't get the planers to work. Within MINUTES of being at the new hole, this little white car (a Neon I think) pulls up and is flipping us off!! It drove closer to the parked truck and again, the finger!! WTF!!?? Butch and I instantly turned back up the hill to have "some words" with this yahoo. I'll tell ya, my blood was boiling the closer I got to the car. I was talking myself down, until Butch stopped and said, "Wait a minute Thomas. Is that Ray's car?" That's when this little sawed-off bastard gets out of the car grinning like an idiot and flipping us off. That's when all the blood rushed from my head to my feet. SONUVA Ray!! You almost got your butt whooped!
Now with the audience I was able to wrestle this planer out into the current and it seemed to be working. But Butch had broken off a plug and didn't want to lose more, so rather than just stand around there, we called it and headed to BoJacks to warm up and get some dinner.
Fortunately, we infected Ray and he made a decision to get done with work early on Sunday and come join us with the boat! Again, we were back up at the fast moving hole and I had FINALLy got the planer to where I wanted it, JUST in time to go back to camp and meet Ray. (I know, it sucks when you have to STOP fishing from the bank and meet a guy with a jetboat.)
We got all loaded up and headed upstream. After fishing for a bit I got caught up on a log and while I tried to haul this thing in to get unhooked, everyone else got their lines in. That's when the log moved! Seriously, this was a steelhead!! It got close to the surface and FINALLY decided to do a bit of running. It wasn't the biggest fish, maybe seven pounds, but a steelhead is a steelhead. I'd have kept it if I could, but as it was it was wild so we had to let it go. We did ALL that without any photos (so we could be good and get it back in the water quickly.) THAT raised hopes and we fished until we had juuuuust enough light to get back down to camp. We stopped short and floated in; "cocktail hole" as Ray called it. We did that short run three more times before getting the boat back on the trailer.
NOW took some finesse. SOMEHOW, we were able to convince Ray to leave the boat with US promising to bring MOST of it back the following day.
And wouldn't you know, he agreed!
Now, we only fished the hole in front of camp (because we didn't want to try some of the more tricky driving up river.) So we'd motor up stream, then backtroll. Then motor up stream, then backtroll. We did this the ENTIRE day with not so much as a nibble. Finally, with about 30 minutes left of fishing, we made it right adjacent to camp where Butch's pole started going berserk! Fish on! Sure enough, as soon as he set the hook...the plug got free. DARNIT!
We hurriedly backtrolled the same area again. Now, I had rigged up one of Ray's poles (since I have the two-pole permit) and that soon got a SOLID hit. I was running the kicker at the time and simply let that go and picked up the pole. It felt like I was pulling against a barn! This was a BIG fish. It started stripping line downriver and things were going good until POW! The line broke at the knot.
*sigh*
Oh well, we're done.
Now the fun task of trying to load this behemoth onto the trailer. I let Butch control the boat (since he knows Ray better...and probably has more insurance) and I got the trailer in the water. It took us quite a while to get that thing loaded because a.) I put the trailer too far in the water and b.) the current kept swinging the ass-end around and getting it hung up on the fenders. FINALLY, I just had Butch throw me the waders (when we got it close) and I just waded in and centered the boat. JEEZ, we were glad to finally be done with that. Thirty minutes to put a boat on a trailer. I know! We need more practice! Ray? Ray?
We returned the boat to it's rightful owner and made our way back to camp.
We ended up with one fish boated after three days of fishing, but we had a ball. Quite a way to spend New Year's Eve eh?
All in all, we left with some good memories and after four nights camping at the end of December 2012, we were ready for warm beds and comfy slippers.
Oh, and I came home with a dandy head cold. It's made the past week pretty fun, what, with no option of missing deadlines at work. I love being a hacking, coughing, sniffling mess and at work...staring at a computer. But, every day is getting better!
Unfortunately, last weekend was our first trap shooting weekend. I felt like crap, but our squad was signed up to "work" out there, so I showed up and did what I could. No shooting though, THAT was not an appealing thought. So, this weekend, I have to shoot back....heck, who knows, I should be able to hit SOMETHING with 100 rounds.
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| "camp" |
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| Looking downriver |
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| View northward |
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| View downriver again |
Well, back to the fishing. Nothing really happening, so we decided to go upstream to some faster water and see if we couldn't get the planers to work. Within MINUTES of being at the new hole, this little white car (a Neon I think) pulls up and is flipping us off!! It drove closer to the parked truck and again, the finger!! WTF!!?? Butch and I instantly turned back up the hill to have "some words" with this yahoo. I'll tell ya, my blood was boiling the closer I got to the car. I was talking myself down, until Butch stopped and said, "Wait a minute Thomas. Is that Ray's car?" That's when this little sawed-off bastard gets out of the car grinning like an idiot and flipping us off. That's when all the blood rushed from my head to my feet. SONUVA Ray!! You almost got your butt whooped!
Now with the audience I was able to wrestle this planer out into the current and it seemed to be working. But Butch had broken off a plug and didn't want to lose more, so rather than just stand around there, we called it and headed to BoJacks to warm up and get some dinner.
Fortunately, we infected Ray and he made a decision to get done with work early on Sunday and come join us with the boat! Again, we were back up at the fast moving hole and I had FINALLy got the planer to where I wanted it, JUST in time to go back to camp and meet Ray. (I know, it sucks when you have to STOP fishing from the bank and meet a guy with a jetboat.)
We got all loaded up and headed upstream. After fishing for a bit I got caught up on a log and while I tried to haul this thing in to get unhooked, everyone else got their lines in. That's when the log moved! Seriously, this was a steelhead!! It got close to the surface and FINALLY decided to do a bit of running. It wasn't the biggest fish, maybe seven pounds, but a steelhead is a steelhead. I'd have kept it if I could, but as it was it was wild so we had to let it go. We did ALL that without any photos (so we could be good and get it back in the water quickly.) THAT raised hopes and we fished until we had juuuuust enough light to get back down to camp. We stopped short and floated in; "cocktail hole" as Ray called it. We did that short run three more times before getting the boat back on the trailer.
NOW took some finesse. SOMEHOW, we were able to convince Ray to leave the boat with US promising to bring MOST of it back the following day.
And wouldn't you know, he agreed!
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| Butch's truck ready to go the next morning |
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| It was shaping up to be a nice day! |
We hurriedly backtrolled the same area again. Now, I had rigged up one of Ray's poles (since I have the two-pole permit) and that soon got a SOLID hit. I was running the kicker at the time and simply let that go and picked up the pole. It felt like I was pulling against a barn! This was a BIG fish. It started stripping line downriver and things were going good until POW! The line broke at the knot.
*sigh*
Oh well, we're done.
Now the fun task of trying to load this behemoth onto the trailer. I let Butch control the boat (since he knows Ray better...and probably has more insurance) and I got the trailer in the water. It took us quite a while to get that thing loaded because a.) I put the trailer too far in the water and b.) the current kept swinging the ass-end around and getting it hung up on the fenders. FINALLY, I just had Butch throw me the waders (when we got it close) and I just waded in and centered the boat. JEEZ, we were glad to finally be done with that. Thirty minutes to put a boat on a trailer. I know! We need more practice! Ray? Ray?
We returned the boat to it's rightful owner and made our way back to camp.
We ended up with one fish boated after three days of fishing, but we had a ball. Quite a way to spend New Year's Eve eh?
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| Morning view |
Oh, and I came home with a dandy head cold. It's made the past week pretty fun, what, with no option of missing deadlines at work. I love being a hacking, coughing, sniffling mess and at work...staring at a computer. But, every day is getting better!
Unfortunately, last weekend was our first trap shooting weekend. I felt like crap, but our squad was signed up to "work" out there, so I showed up and did what I could. No shooting though, THAT was not an appealing thought. So, this weekend, I have to shoot back....heck, who knows, I should be able to hit SOMETHING with 100 rounds.
posted by geotracker12 at 10:29 AM
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