28 Oct 2018
The weekend was a bit chilly and wet, most of the time. Friday started off with me getting in on some chores. The attic is having issues and I spent a good portion of the day hunched over and getting part of this straightened out, I was glad for the rain. On a side note, if anyone reading this does a lot of attic work, RESPECT. For those of us that do this every 25 years or so, ouch.
So mission accomplished by 8:00pm, ready to start an exhaust fan Saturday. Well, I woke up in the morning and the attic work was out the window. Yep, I am getting soft, stuff just flat out hurt, again respect to those who do this for a living. I did do a bit of fly tying, but I reckon my arms were the only thing not in pain.
Sunday comes and finally in the afternoon, the daughter agrees to go to the river for a little while. I built me a new rod with a carbon fiber TN handle that I really like but have yet to catch a fish with, (I’ve only used once). We head up, put on an egg and throw out. The water is generating about 2300CFS and as the current is taking the line down the river, I feel everything. I don’t usually fish like this and to be honest, not really sure how, the rocks feel like hits.
The daughter hollers at me and I look up and her rod is slightly bent (don’t tell her I said that cause I told her the fish was too small to bend the rod). She pulls one in and commences to take it off the hook. We get a photo of the little feller and she is all smiles. She hangs up a bit later and I had to break her line. I hand her my fishing rod while I tie on the hook for her and before I could get the hook on the line, she is reeling in another one.
Now these aren’t wall hangers, but man she was having a ball. She said she doesn’t like trout fishing as much cause they are too sneaky. I can’t say I disagree on the sneaky part but she just landed two and was the first one on the new rod. We move to a couple of other locations with no luck and she tells me she is getting a bit cool. Of course I told her that is she were to be a bit more like me, she’d be real cool, she likes my humor or my attempt at it.
We packed up and headed to the truck. This was the first fishing trip with my girl in a while as her work schedule and mine have just not lined up very well. I had a ball and was tickled to death to get skunked by the young lady. Of course I told her she was welcome for letting her win, but truth be told, she whooped me pretty good and I couldn’t be happier about it.
I hope everyone had a chance to get out this weekend. I am hearing the bass are biting well, but that is general and I am not sure about specific lakes. Maybe this weekend we will get the boat out, however, I have to get the exhaust put up and will spend time in the attic, let’s see if I have to recover again. Have a great week and God bless.
Wow, I am late for an entry. Sorry about that, we went on a long anniversary vacation and I haven’t done much fishing. So you’re wondering what are you writing now? Good question, we went headed out west and visited a few places, I thought I’d give my input.
Let me first clarify that I am not a person that enjoys just going and looking. I kinda like doing instead of seeing, it’s odd I guess, but after this trip, I have may have changed a bit.
We started our trip at the Grand Tetons National Park. Let me just say that I was floored, that place is beautiful (a word I don’t typically use) but I am not sure how to describe it. We saw a couple of moose and quite a few antelope while there, but not a whole lot of wildlife. However, the mountains were phenomenal. Not really sure what else I can say about that place other than if you have never been out there, it is definitely worth your time to drive thru, take a hike, and enjoy the scenery.
We left Grand Tetons and headed straight into Yellowstone. Our first stop was Old Faithful Inn. I highly recommend going into the Inn to take a look around, the architecture was incredible (notice how I am changing my adjectives?). However, staying there is a bit pricey and you would need reservations probably. Anyway, we checked out the geysers, they were pretty cool, but my thoughts were; the Tetons are much more pleasing to the eyes.
We saw that snow had closed a few roads so we headed toward Canyon, good move as the next day the roads opened. We headed across to West Yellowstone and I was blown away. We had been seeing a lot wildlife in Yellowstone, bear, bison, elk, a few antelope, etc…. But the scenery was great, West Yellowstone has just entered my list of areas I would like to fish. Folks fly fishing in the river, Elk in the field and Bison blocking the roads and I think they were laughing to themselves holding up traffic.
From West we headed to Lamar Valley, wow, it just gets better every place we go. We were not fortunate enough to see wolves but we saw a multitude of bison and a few antelope. The scenery here may have one up’d the west side, not really sure, different but similar, just a great drive. Now this is a quick write up and I have left out Artist Point, Prismatic Area, the water falls, just too much to type to hold folks attention (if you’ve read this far know I am coming to a conclusion).
We went from Lamar to Mammoth Area, as we drive into “town” there is a herd of Elk lounging around. We get out and I get a pick on my phone, we observed the rules and did not get too close, but close enough for that pick of the huge elk laying down. We drive deeper into town and again another herd of Elk, wow. We check out some stuff there and wish that we would have been able to book a cabin in that place. If we ever go back, at least one night in a cabin in this area is a must. We heard one Elk bugle while we were in Yellowstone, but this place was loaded with them.
We left the area to find a room and decided to head to Livingston, get a room and at least hit West Glacier National Park. Going to the Sun Road was closed due to snow, but we were able to check out a few lakes. Lake McDonald, Lake Bowman, and Lake Kintla, as well as some creeks. I have never seen water this clear, the lakes were turquoise in some shallow areas and deep dark blue in the deeper. We only caught a glimpse of this due to the winds. At Lake Kintla, the wind was blowing probably between 40-50 mph. You may be thinking I am crazy, that may be true, however, the waves looked like you could ride them. I have it on the go pro but need to see if it is worth posting.
I would describe to you how amazing it was, but I simply do not have the words. The pics that I post will not show how incredible that area is. If you get a chance, I would recommend planning a trip to any or all of these parks. If you can only do one, Yellowstone would be my choice. That is not to take away from the others at all, as we did not even see half of Glacier. However, more areas and variety seemed to be there. After all that we took in during our visit out west, I am amazed at God’s work, even more so than before. My mind would never allow me to create something so amazing.
I’ll try to go fishing next weekend and maybe write some stuff up. I hope everyone has had a great October so far. I do however hope that today, the Alabama fans end up disappointed in the outcome of their game today, go Vols and God bless.
