Gravity was mean to me today. More times than I can remember the ground came flying up to hit me. The bike ride out should have been faultless, I haven't had an accident on this ride in years. But today there were sneaky sheets of ice hiding all over. The first time I fell I wasn't even moving, I came to a stop to let a car pass before crossing the road and I just kind of toppled over as though a sniper took my down. Not even two minutes later a well camouflaged sheet of ice took advantage of me as I merged onto the trail and I ended up on my side again. The next one was very disappointing because by that point I should have known better, but by the time I realize the ice was there at all I was already on it and I had two options, fall down trying to stop or fall down trying to make it all the way across. I wasn't going too fast and I had a good minute and a half to prepare myself but it still didn't hurt any less. That ice was slick enough that I just kept sliding even after the dismount too.
I should have taken the hint and turned around but dammit I was going to fish! The rest of the ride went smoothly, But I fell on my butt just walking down to the first spot I wanted to fish and there wasn't even ice. I spent the next two hours fishing through three pools with my two-hander. I didn't get any takes but I wasn't expecting to, this was just practice. By some miracle I didn't slide into deep water and get carried away by the current.
After getting suitably tired of fruitless casting into cold dead water I packed away the 11'6" rod and built the 6'6'". I didn't fish much of the first of the two streams I visited because there was a lot of anchor ice, but I did catch a really good brook trout right below the bridge. I was worried if I had it out of the water much it would freeze, and while I contemplated how I should photograph him he made his escape. I was a bit disappointed as it was one of the bigger brook trout I've caught there.
The second stream was almost ice free, accept the one rock I stepped on that sent me right arm first into the cold water. I got up and walked it off for five minutes and kept fishing, partly because I wanted my glove that had been in my right pocket to dry out before I got on my bike again. Before that fall my time on the stream had still been a bit off. I lost a bunch of flies and some of the nicest brook trout I'd ever seen in this watershed. One dark little fish was my consolation prize.
Here I sit, with a sore elbow and a badly bruised hip, wondering why I even bother fishing in the winter. Why do I put up with the icy stream banks and trails? The frozen guides? The cold hands?
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| (January 2016) |
Well, duh.
That last photo of the native male brookie is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThat was a particularly memorable fish.
DeleteWe know why you do what you do. The bruises and pain are sometimes just part of the adventure. Great photos and Brookie.
ReplyDeleteTie, fish, write and photo on...
Thanks.
DeleteThank goodness for youth!
ReplyDeleteUh huh. And ibuprofen.
DeleteFirst of all, this was a good story. And that photo of the punchline--just awesome--mouth agape, bright orange fins, dark body--what a bejeweled fish!
ReplyDeleteBut also you have inadvertently answered a question: how to get to small waters? By bicycle of course! Now I'm convinced to do that. Ironically I used to *live* on my bike. I commuted every day that way--we only had one car. In the winter I rode an MTB with studs and all other times a racing bike. And last summer, I thought about doing just what you do. But time got in the way and I kept fishing easy to get to waters.
Back in my school days (your age) I rode only the racing bike--in the snow too. My housemate chewed me out one day for that. He was all of 27. Told me I was a fool, that I would have no control--would go down in an instant and could get run over (yes, I knew all about that and had fallen many times like that). That I should just go with him to the market. So I did that. Sometimes.
But now that I know your secret, I'll be figuring out a way to carry a rod on my bike conveniently. I don't have the short 4 piece rods, of course, haha.
Well... a bike makes getting to some water more convenient. But I could have fished all 3 of these rivers just easily parking and walking. More easily, actually.
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