Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 10:08:40 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Recent Topics

[March 27, 2024, 12:49:04 PM]

[March 27, 2024, 07:37:59 AM]

[March 26, 2024, 09:10:45 PM]

[March 25, 2024, 05:15:36 PM]

by Spot
[March 25, 2024, 02:39:54 PM]

by PNW
[March 24, 2024, 07:14:07 PM]

[March 23, 2024, 10:59:04 PM]

[March 21, 2024, 06:23:10 AM]

[March 17, 2024, 06:42:23 PM]

[March 17, 2024, 08:44:53 AM]

[March 15, 2024, 06:45:09 PM]

[March 10, 2024, 05:55:18 PM]

[March 10, 2024, 11:20:08 AM]

[February 29, 2024, 07:05:43 AM]

[February 26, 2024, 01:31:23 PM]

Picture Of The Month



SD2OR with a trophy fall walleye

Topic: Back on the River  (Read 2448 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
This time, with kayaks!

There's really not a lot to say about yesterday, but some guy I fish with twisted my arm, painfully I might add, when he said, "Oh, you'll make it sound even better when you write about it!"  So here I am, trying make a pig to look like a ballerina - and my arm still hurts.

We tried a new spot on the river yesterday, while there's still water deep enough up there to accommodate kayaks.  I liked the area right away.  There are no clattering irrigation pumps in the best fishing spots, the water is much more clear up there and I could see rocks on the river bottom instead of three or four feet of muck.

"There's a deep pool down that way, and a bigger, deeper pool up that-a-way!" I was told.  There were pools in both directions, if 6 feet of water under my kayak is really a pool.  I hardly count 6 feet of water as a "pool" when I'm wading, but the thought that "this is where the big smallmouth hang out" had me convinced one doesn't need a lot of water to catch a lot of fish.  After all, there's a whole lot of water lower down, where we normally fish, but we havn't found many fish in it this year.

This time of year, the area we fished has very little current, and "very little" is my favorite kind of current.  It allows me to flub a cast and still be able to cast to the right spot after I've recovered.  It wasn't all slow-moving, however, as I discovered when we paddled upstream and came to a spot where the river narrowed down to paddle-width as it flowed between two gravel bars.  In fact, the water was moving along quite hastily as I paddled hard to make it through, dodging sunken tree branches as I crept forward.  It seems to me that the slot was narrow enough and the current was strong enough to make it a real challenge to get through, and the sunken tree limbs weren't really necessary.

I tried to dodge around a limb to my right only to find there wasn't enough water on the left side for my paddle to do any good, so I put the paddle against the limb and pushed past it, hoping I didn't manage to get myself turned sideways.

There are times when it's a joy to get through a hairy situation unscathed.  Riding surprise surf.  Surviving a hard slam against a reef.  Not being tossed about by a baby whale.  Learning that the sea monster lurching up at you is just bull kelp.  That familiar electric shock tingle runs up your spine, and if you're a Genuine Mariner, you don't even pee your pants.  Not even a little.

There were fish up there but not the biting kind.  Little fish - bass I think - were chasing my fly but not eating it.  They were swimming over to say "Hi! Are we related?" but not much else.

I haven't done this in a long time, but I snagged a fly in the bow rigging.  Right up at the very tip of the bow.  I was in a spot where there wasn't any way to beach the kayak and free the fly, so I headed downstream to ask my companion for help - which he's always willing to give.

As I got close, he shouted, "I finally caught one but it was only 14 inches!"

I was thinking, "Sure you did, like I believe that" because, (a) I'd have heard about it before then because he simply cannot catch a fish without shouting loudly enough for the whole world to know about it.  But I didn't question him because (b) I still had a fly stuck in the bow rigging.  And truthfully, he's a better angler than me, so (c) chances are good that he did catch a nice fish and I never roll my eyes on a good fish tale simply because the actual fish might not have been the fish featured in the story.

Fly freed, I went on to catch two fish, each one about the same length as my index finger, and only the length of those two fish are in question because they really were fish.  I swear it!

Moving back downstream we came again to the narrows with the fast current.  My companion went through first and I heard a loud "CLUNK" followed by some cussing about how he'd scratched up the bottom of his kayak on that !@%&# stump.  I hadn't seen that stump on the way upriver, so I was glad he pointed it out to me.  I steered to the right of it and was just congratulating myself on my kayaking skills, having successfully made that maneuver in a tight spot with a fast-moving current, when I was rocked, BAM! followed by a scraping sound as my kayak was squeezed through a wishbone formed by a sunken limb that split into two branches pointing upwards.

I was through and past it before my spine stopped tingling and I definitely didn't have time to wet my britches, but it got my undivided attention back on where I was and what the river was doing.

In the lower pool, I saw a whole heard of big bass - the big ones really do hang out up there - swimming around my kayak.  I sat there watching them meander about, completely unperturbed, and none of them were biting.  In fact none of them paid the least attention to my fly, even when I bounced it on their noses.  They didn't swim away, they didn't bite the fly, they simply acted like it was just another day in the river.  Good!  A fish that acts like that is not my favorite kind of fish.  I'm glad I didn't catch any of them, and I say "Good riddance to you all!"

Drifting further, I halfway caught two more little bass.  "Halfway caught" them because I lifted them out of the water before they let go of the flashy tinsel they were holding onto rather than holding onto the hook.  I changed to a fly with less tinsel and a more exposed hook while Scott drifted another quarter mile downriver.  Two casts later, my leader and I parted company when the knot I tied to make the loop at the butt end came undone, and that was it for me.

I could have tied another leader - I have skills - but the sun was hot by then and the wind was starting to reach us so I bobbed there waiting for my companion.  I could have landed and waited for him, but it doesn't work that way.  If I'd paddled across to the ramp, he'd have stopped fishing even if he weren't ready to call it a day.  He's like that, and it's damned annoying.  We all know it's much more comfortable to get out of your kayak and get the blood flowing again than it is to keep sitting in it doing nothing.

It's a really pretty section of an generally pretty river and it's really hard to fish there.  The fish aren't very cooperative - some are even snooty about not cooperating - and there's a short raceway to traverse, complete with sunken trees and wishbones.

I got home to find two new, long, scrapes along the sides of my Trident - but nothing like the gouges I put into it on the reef a couple of weeks ago.

I was a great day, regardless of how productive it might have been - or not have been, I guess.  Calm water with a bit of excitement tossed in for balance, and calm air until 1 PM - which has been rare down here this year.  There aren't many things that compare to being on a small river on a nice day and even smug bass can't detract from it.

Ladies and gentlemen, you might have noticed I'm tossing a lot more fish tales in the forum this year than I normally would.  It may be several years before I'll be able to do this stuff again, and it could be that I'll never again get a chance to bob around in my kayak, on lovely waters, with a fly pole in my hand.  Each time I go, every sight and sound (and sometimes accidental taste) is locked vividly in my mind.

It should always be that way.  It's not the fish, it's the adventure.  I am forever grateful to Scott for introducing me to fly fishing from a kayak, and for his never-ending good humor and optimism, and even for his abundant Look At It This Way-isms.  If ever there were a better fishing companion than Scott, it would have to be me.

There!  I told you I'd do my best to find my replacement.  Any volunteers?  The line forms to my right.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2019, 05:04:49 PM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


hdpwipmonkey

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Location: Cornelius, OR
  • Date Registered: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 1481
Tinker, you are irreplaceable!
Ray
2020 Hobie Outback "Chum Chicken"
2018 Native Titan 10.5 "Battle Barge"
Wilderness Tarpon 100






www.facebook.com/HOWNOC


2016 Junk Jig Challenge
Category - IT’S NOT A DRINKING PROBLEM IF YOU’RE BEING CREATIVE
1st place - The Drunken Bastard


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Tinker, you are irreplaceable!

Poo!  There must be dozens like me.  Hundreds!  Thousands!  Maybe even millions - and that's just in this Universe.  Now if I could tap dance and play the fiddle, that would make me unique.  But alas...

Scott needs a fishing partner, folks.  Minimum requirements are (a) the ability to remember to being along your Mirage Drive, (b) the ability to not snag a fly (or anything else) in bow rigging, (c) must own fishing pliers, (c) common sense (never suggesting to return to shore by paddling across a barely submerged sandbar is a bonus), (d) the ability to spend the day not constantly pushing buttons on any fish finder, and (e) the ability to put their kayak back on their vehicle without help (not smearing the bow with dog poo before asking for help is a bonus).  Admiration for Chihuahuas is desireable.  Must be a snappy dresser.  The ideal candidate will own a vehicle with 4 wheel drive and sand tires because crossing some of these beaches is getting way too hard.
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
"Scott needs a fishing partner, folks.  Minimum requirements are (a) the ability to remember to being along your Mirage Drive"

I'm out!

Dave

Thank you, Dave.  I've crossed your name off the list, but we appreciate your interest.   ;D

DEPTRAI
« Last Edit: July 28, 2019, 12:53:32 AM by Tinker »
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


Noob Noob

  • Rockfish
  • ****
  • Location: Shoreline, WA
  • Date Registered: Jun 2019
  • Posts: 147
<snip>
Ladies and gentlemen, you might have noticed I'm tossing a lot more fish tales in the forum this year than I normally would.  It may be several years before I'll be able to do this stuff again, and it could be that I'll never again get a chance to bob around in my kayak, on lovely waters, with a fly pole in my hand.  Each time I go, every sight and sound (and sometimes accidental taste) is locked vividly in my mind.

It should always be that way.  It's not the fish, it's the adventure.  I am forever grateful to Scott for introducing me to fly fishing from a kayak, and for his never-ending good humor and optimism, and even for his abundant Look At It This Way-isms.  If ever there were a better fishing companion than Scott, it would have to be me.

There!  I told you I'd do my best to find my replacement.  Any volunteers?  The line forms to my right.

Sorry to hear that you may have to take a break for a few years. For what it's worth, I liked reading your stories.

Unfortunately I'm too far away (and too much of an amateur) to make Scott a good fishing buddy, not to mention I don't even own a mirage drive hehehe. I'm sure he'll find one eventually but I agree with hdpwipmonkey in that his fishing adventures won't be the same without you.  :)
"It's OK to eat fish because they don't have any feelings."  ~ Kurt Cobain


Rockbottom

  • Perch
  • ***
  • Date Registered: May 2018
  • Posts: 79
Geez....can't snag the bow rigging....snappy dresser...not forget the mirage drive....probably forgetting your drysuit is a no no too...I'm out.   Actually forgot the correct fly box one time...tough time catching SRC with a parachute adams!
Hopefully you will still be able to dispense some of your well earned opinions and advice.  As stated earlier, I really enjoy your posts.  Keep the fight!
All the best.
Mark


Tinker

  • Sturgeon
  • *******
  • Kevin
  • Location: 42.74°N 124.5°W
  • Date Registered: May 2013
  • Posts: 3304
Unfortunately I'm too far away (and too much of an amateur) to make Scott a good fishing buddy, not to mention I don't even own a mirage drive hehehe. I'm sure he'll find one eventually but I agree with hdpwipmonkey in that his fishing adventures won't be the same without you.  :)

That guy specializes in amateurs.  Why, just look how far I've progressed since I ran into him, all the way from "Oh God! Oh God!" to shooting through seal-lion infested reef cracks.  I have no doubt he'll have just as much fun if his fishing buddy is a pet rock, but distance and travel time is a factor.

NOOB NOOB


Geez....can't snag the bow rigging....snappy dresser...not forget the mirage drive....probably forgetting your drysuit is a no no too...I'm out.   Actually forgot the correct fly box one time...tough time catching SRC with a parachute adams!

Nice try.  I brought the wrong flies the other day - first time ever.  I didn't want to confess that me being noodleheaded might have been the reason the big, stuck-up bass ignored everything I did.  But I notice surf12foot hasn't said a word, so maybe bringing the wrong flies was the last straw..?

ROCKBOTTOM
I expected the worst, but it was worse than I expected...


surf12foot

  • Lingcod
  • *****
  • Location: North Bend Oregon
  • Date Registered: Nov 2011
  • Posts: 480
Wrong flies, no flies your not getting rid of me that easily :evil4:...…...
Scott


 

anything