On the whole it was the kind of day when one is thankful that there is no one along with except for the dog. The dog is contractually obligated to think highly of you. As far as he was concerned, the day went exactly as planned and could not have gone better.
Secondly, he can't bring up the aspects of the story that I will leave out.
As background, I don't go fishing on opening morning, there are too many people. The benefit of my work schedule is I have the choice to go out when other people are at work. If I am with another human being it is because I know and like that human being.
Once I decided to head out I chose a section of river that I was fairly confident I would be alone. It requires a hike to get there from the closest public access and with the river fairly high, the area can be difficult to navigate. The place I had in mind, however, also has two broad deep backwaters that I had hoped would surrender some walleye.
After working Friday night, we headed out Saturday morning. I am old enough to know better than to do this kind of thing when sleep deprived but it turns out I am still too young to care.
In the first twenty minutes or so of hiking it became obvious that I would not be able to get to my first choice of backwaters without trespassing. The hike to the second, I knew, would be a lot more work. We'd come this far and I wasn't about to turn back.
While the river was not as high as my last scouting trip, I had not tried to get to that second back water on the last scouting trip. I had expected that the river level would be back on its way down but it was rising. To my credit, I only fell in twice and the second one didn't really count since I feel in as deep as my knee but was already wet up to my waist.
Still we picked a path and even cast a few times into the flooded oak savannah. The channels were four feet deep and running as quickly as most local creeks. The views were wonderful and the sound relaxing, but I still had to get to the fish.
To make a long story short, we arrived. I did throw out a few casts with a variety of lures. They were sinking lures. By some absence of logic, I had left the floaters at home. Going through my bag I did find some dehydrated liver we use for dog treats. Reconstituting them with some river water and I had a passable bait. Well, it would have been passable if I would have caught anything.
 |
| There ought to be fish in there. |
The time passed and life was good. I saw geese, wood ducks, blue-winged teal, and ring-necked ducks. Musket and I watched deer pick their way through the watery goodness. The first turkey buzzard of the spring soared above looking for a meal. The first frogs of the spring could be heard. Too soon it was time to head back.
I thought we would be able to follow the backwater back far enough so that we could get around it and back to the car and maybe we could have. The presence of a bridge was a tempting enticement. The bridge was not made for when the water was so high, however, so again we got fairly soaked. My brave and loyal canine companion had to be dragged through the water.
 |
| Goodbye stink |
A good time was had but no fish and everybody needed a good bath to wash off ticks and the stink. I think I'll stay home on Sunday or maybe even go to church and save the next excursion for Monday or Tuesday. There are some great trout streams nearby that the DNR maintains easements for easy access. I think our chances of catching more fish and fewer ticks, while still avoiding too many homo sapiens are good.
No comments:
Post a Comment