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3. The boys were back in town, part 3 - a double paddling adventure

Well, I sure haven't done enough fishing this year, so it was with great joy that I hosted Joe and Todd for our 3rd annual this weekend. Friday night was spent, well, partying and fly tying! I showed Todd how to tie my grasshopper and cricket patterns - essentially, a modified Joe's Hopper (Joe certainly liked it) and then just an all-black version with gray wings for the cricket. Todd confessed he had never tied either hoppers or crickets! And the gentlemen brought their own, ample supply of connoisseur microbrews...which I don't drink, but there were other things...

Saturday we hauled the assault boats into Reid Lake, which was a good amount of exercise for all involved. Other than one boat leaving as we were hiking in, and a few folks camping on the shore, we had the whole lake to ourselves. Conditions were windier than I liked (both days!) and the perch were not biting (only caught 2, 8-9"), but when the sun started going down and the winds died off, the lake became like glass and trout were rising everywhere! Todd and Joe both got one each (Todd was spending much of his time coaching Joe so he couldn't totally pound it) and I got five, losing more hits than I hooked...fish were flying out of the water, saw one good 12-incher clear the water by two feet, and another knocked my fly two feet into the air! And I discovered they are now planting browns in there, so wait a few years and there should be some beautiful bruisers swimming around in there, since it is so full of minnows for them to fatten up on. Like the goldie that Joe caught! On the way to Reid Lake we also stopped for some sight-seeing on the Pine River, gonna try to hit that next time. No fishie pics from that trip, biggest was a 12" rainbow, and I got all the trout on my #10 hopper pattern, twitched on the surface. Oh, and the boys made sure that some of their microbrews came along in a cooler...and of course more partying was done later.

Sunday it was Clark's Marsh for bass and panfish. Sadly, the wind picked up and it was a pain in the ass, the surface too ruffled for good dry-fly/popper fishing. Much of the pond is quite shallow and very weed-filled, so sinking flies tend to catch you a bunch of salad...Nevertheless, I found a nice deep hole up around the bend in the northwest corner that I was told about years ago, and KBF'd a nice fat 16" largemouth that went aerial on me a few times. Todd was rigging Joe up with various flies and they managed to score a few bass and sunfish, so we all caught fish on both trips, no skunking involved! And what a beautiful place to do it, fall colors just kicking in and fall wildflowers in full bloom, and all to ourselves, just paddling along quietly...a lovely day, punctuated only by me falling out of my kayak in chest-deep water when I thought a hummock of sedges & etc. was more firmly anchored to the bottom than it actually was...lost a sunglasses case and soaked a cell phone, but no leech bites! And the water was actually a very nice temperature...

At the conclusion of it all, we went to my favorite local restaurant/brew pub (Wiltse's) and had a meal fit for kings: fried perch, ahi tuna, and ribs, plus a pile of sides and a mushroom kebabs appetizer. And I had a cup of soup on top of that, as well as their home-brewed root beer, while the boys tried a couple of their beers and Joe finished off with a "perfect" martini.

Good times with good friends, with a LOT of it spent on the water, and many good memories made. And then there's next year!

Jonathon

P.S. UPDATE: The cell phone still works!!

Jonathon,



Great pictures, thanks for sharing them. That little creek looks like it has pretty good depth for it's diminutive width.

I'm going up to my cabin this week for 4-5 days. We have five massive white pines on the property. I'll take a picture of a couple of the biggest and post them up. About five years ago I had to have one taken down because carpenter ants had eaten much of the center from the base up about 20' and there was a huge vertical crack in the trunk about 6' long. If it ever fell it would have either destroyed my cabin or my neighbors depending on how it fell.

The tree guy told me it was the tallest white pine he had ever climbed (they were unable to get in there with a cherry picker) He estimated it was 150' tall. It took five hours to climb, top, and take down in 6' lengths. They used a huge wood chipper for branches up to one foot in diameter and carted the big pieces away.

Yes, good times with good friends, Jonathon. Nothing better. Thanks for sharing.