Outstanding Jimmy,
With Tony' story, and the one on "New Ponds", and all the other stories
here of late, I am envious. If nothing more, this group tends to brighten an
otherwise dreary day, even one in which the sun is shinning but our spirits
are low. I thank you my friend, and all the others, for bringing a ray of
light into my life. It always helps to know that somewhere there is peace in
the earth.
Jimi
I'm back from one helluva good fly fishing trip to Cimarron, NM/Philmont
Scout Ranch. Got home around 8 p.m. CDT.Sunday. There were 12 of us
camping in the backcountry at Philmont Scout Ranch and from Wed.
afternoon till late Sat. afternoon, we caught and released over 700
rainbows and about 25 browns. I caught the largest, a rainbow of 14", a
giant on the Rayado River, which is at most 12 feet wide and deepest
pool around 4 feet. The average size fish was 9". We had a small Mule
Deer herd, (about 12), come grazing right up to where we were camped,
while we sat and watched. They seemed completely oblivious of us. One
young doe came so close to me that I could reach out and touch her. Same
way with a big bunch of, ( 20+), Mirriam Turkeys. Saw bear and cougar
tracks on the sandy path about 100 yards from the campsite, but never
saw the animals. Pronghorn antelope were plentiful on either side of
the road going in to the backcountry. And, there were 5 Coyotes who hung
around camp waiting for a handout.
It rained every afternoon around 3 p.m., which is standard for the east
slope of the Sangre de Christo Mountains this time of year. We were well
prepared, so getting wet wasn't a problem. Everyone but me busted their
butts, falling several times a day. I almost fell several times, but my
trusty FolStaff that I bought from Byard, saved my butt. I could only
fish a couple of hours at a time because of my feet problems, but, that
was enough. I caught a big bunch of rainbows and also the largest fish,
so I was more than satisfied. Late Sat. afternoon, a large
thunderhead/anvil type appeared and had some rotation. A small funnel
began to form and hail the size of nickels fell for about 20 minutes.
The funnel began to dissapate just as we were heading to the shelter of
a rock overhang on the river bank.
Our meals were absolutely fantastic. Dinner Wed. nite was Chicken
Fajitas cooked over the campfire, with "dirty" rice and green chilies
from my pepper garden mixed in, along with some of my Hot Pickles for
everyone. Thursday nite was Buffalo T-Bones with baked potato, salad
and my green chilies on the side. Friday nite, was a New Mexican dinner
of Hominy mixed with my green chilies, along with bacon wrapped beef
filets and salad. Saturday nite was 1" thick pork chops, marinated in
my special "Dynamite" seasoning and Picka Peppa, with salad, baked
potato, corn on the cob and of course - plenty more of my green chilies
on the side, and my hot pickles. Breakfast each morning was Southwest
Kish, a conglomerate of pork sausage, chipped potatoes, eggs, my green
chilies, (chipped), onion, chipped and topped off with my Dynamite
seasoning. All this was poured into a large Woc made from a 22" disc
like a farmer uses to break up dirt in fields, placed on the open fire
and stirred constantly while it all cooked into a sort of Mother and
Father of scrambled eggs. Ummm Goood!
My film is being processed. I'll have the 14" rainbow on jpg tomorrow
night, for those who'd care to see it. Was kind of hard taking the
picture by myself. I was standing on a large wooden "log" walkway that
was about 6 feet above the Rayado, reaching from bank to bank, casting
downstream into a run that was about 40 feet long. Funny thing. My
fly, (one of Rick Zieger's Tennis Ball Fuzz Caddis), had just floated by
a fairly large rock in mid-stream and the line slack had just gone and
fly was dragging back and forth, when the big gal hit. I had to hold
her head out of the water with fly rod and take photo - no zoom lense,
for this was an $8.95 waterproof camera, and then I pulled her up onto
the log beside me and photographed her again lying on her side. Hope
the film does justice to the size and coloring of her.
And, how was your weekend?
JIMMY D
P.S. I'd tied up a bunch more of Rick's tennis ball caddis and of the
700 rainbows, over half were caught on Rick's fly.
--
Jimmy D. Moore - Author,Outdoor Writer,TOWA, TF&G,VP-GRTU
Owner/Webmaster - Worldwide Flyfishing Info.
http://www.BIGTROUTMAN.homestead.com/MainPage.html
www.sportingtales.com This is the website of Sporting Tales
magazine - No "how-to OR "where-to"! Just the "Why-to",
with outstanding campfire type stories about hunting and fishing.
