Finally…We Returned to the River

After a solid month of 100F or better, not to mention countless hours of overtime at work, we carved out some time to fish our local river.

We were up at 0400 to get the morning chores done before we departed and were on the road by 0500. Zip ran to the car and hopped in all by himself so I guess we weren’t the only ones who needed to get to the river.

We arrived at 0645 and it was 68F which was a nice break from the heat. Lately it has been at least 85F at that time of morning. First thing Zip did was race to the water and go for a swim. I caught a fish on my first cast and began to worry…usually that means that’s the ONLY fish I catch when it’s that fast. My worries were unfounded, we ended up catching 43 between the two of us.

I opted to use one of my baitcast setups since I was throwing hardbaits. I chose a lure we purchased from a maker on Etsy that goes by “veleshandcraftedlure.” He is out of Serbia and makes very good lures and neither one of us can get enough of them. In fact, it’s bordering on an obsession.

We had the entire river to ourselves up until we had almost returned to the car when we ran across some kayakers. The river was at 5.7 feet according to the gage so it was really low. They seemed to be dragging their kayaks more than paddling. I have no idea how the stream gages are calibrated, it just says that 6.5 feet is borderline floatable.

One item that was new for me was a strap vest. It’s from a company in Japan named “Little Presents” and I decided to try one. The problem with the Yeti Panga is that I have to take it off to get a lure box or something I need. The vest allows me to put various items up front for quick access. I really liked that feature. It also has a zippered pouch on the back where I kept certain things I didn’t use all the time. I will need to spend more time with it before I make a determination on it. Yes I have a fly fishing vest, no I don’t want to reconfigure it if I decide to fly fish or spin fish or use baitcasting gear. What’s the point of working 60-80 hours a week if I can’t indulge myself perioically?

Needless to say, we had a great outing. All of us needed a break from the day-to-day monotony. I don’t know what it is but I hate being cooped up…I have to roam, to see what is around the next bend or over the next mountain. Unfortunately, commitments keep me tied down more than I like…but it is what it is. Hopefully this quick “recharge” will help overcome some of the depression that arises from too much time away from nature. And with that, I will leave you with some pictures of our outing. Thanks for reading.