I missed the part of the story when the flask of
Macallan saved your fingers and toes from certain
amputation. :-)
-Brent
--- Brenden Portolese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> After re-reading Kents report, I wonder what we were
> thinking still
> planning to head out to RF on Saturday.
> Poker Friday night had me driving home around
> midnight in the snow. I
> packed up the car, and settled in for a meager 3.5
> hours of sleep. Waking
> up at 4am, I peered outside. 1inch of snow on the
> ground, and still
> falling.. Undaunted I pulled on my clothes and for
> good measure
> supplemented the flask of Macallan with the bottle.
> "In case we get stuck
> somewhere" I told myself.
>
> I picked up the boys in Bellevue, and we departed
> about 5am. We hit snow
> again in Northbend, and wouldn't see pavement until
> the drive home that
> night. We arrived at RF with the car thermometer
> reading 15 degrees. As
> far as we could tell 6-8" of new snow had fallen,
> and drifted to 12" in
> places. It was our first time there and we were
> working off of notes from
> friends, so we were eager to survey the water for
> ourselves. One of my
> compadres had never fly-fished before, so I made him
> promise not to set any
> opinions or expectations for this cold, snowy,
> nymph-and-streamer, trip.
>
> With the newbie in tow we broke trail to the river
> side, and rolled into
> one of the many clearings in the reeds. I
> immediately started to point out
> what to look for. pointing to rocks mid-channel,
> and explaining trouts
> habits, and where they like to sit, especially when
> its cold. As Im
> pointing far away, saying, "We will be targeting the
> deeper pools, because
> there wont be many fish in the shallows since its so
> cold." not more than 3
> seconds after finishing that statement, something at
> my feet caught my
> attention. 12 inches off the bank, I was looking
> down at the black back of
> a Rainbow that must of have been 18-20 inches long
> (Probably bigger, but Im
> trying to keep myself honest). It caught me so off
> guard, it made me jump
> a little. We froze immediately (no pun intended)
> and just watched. I
> started to slowly back off and as I tried to get my
> fly (started with a
> black wooley) in position. I did the obvious thing,
> Yep, dropped that big
> fly right on his head, and he bolted for the middle.
> As I talked him
> through some basics of casting we noticed large fish
> finning all over the
> river. In the shallows, in the deeper sections, it
> was an amazing
> sight. I would scare 4 big trout off the bank this
> day in total by
> lumbering noisily through the snow to the waters
> edge. (I never learned my
> lesson)
>
> We started by tossing streamers, mainly to keep
> warm. A few hours passed
> with no bumps or action. We switched up to nymphs
> and scuds, but no luck
> as well. I decided to go big and ugly again, and
> started throwing marabou
> and bunny leeches. Finally after at about 11am the
> first hit. "Whoa.." It
> was a single powerful yank and I swung the rod tip
> downstream. It was
> on. A very nice, very dark 18 or so inch Rainbow
> graced me with a few
> leaps and head shakes. It was the only fish landed
> that day, with a
> couple of nice hits in the afternoon, all on
> leeches. (Brown and Black)
>
> After getting back to the car, I started to really
> notice how cold it was.
> With the heater running full-blast, we were maybe 3
> miles past Ephrata
> before my ears and fingers started to hurt, meaning
> they were just then
> starting to thaw out. it was a monumentally cold
> day.
>
> Saw 6 or so other anglers, only saw one other fish
> caught. I Didnt get a
> chance to chat with them though.
> Ill be back this winter, it was a good day
> all-in-all. Certainly a new
> experience for me.
>
> BP
>
>
> 58ff26.jpg
>
>
>
> At 09:15 AM 1/5/2005, you wrote:
> >>Ive finally rally'd the troops to spend a day this
> saturday. We are
> >>still debating the destination (suggestions?).
> Ill post a report when we
> >>are back. So far Rocky Ford seems to be the
> destination of choice.
> >
> >As we geared up under the clear blue dawn standing
> in the snow at the
> >south parking lot at Rocky Ford, Les and I both
> glumly contemplated how
> >foolish we were to even be there. The time and temp
> sign in front of a
> >bank in Ephrata indicated 19� at 7am. The flag was
> standing straight out
> >from its pole, pointing due south like a cloth
> weathervane in the gale
> >force wind blowing straight out of the Arctic.
> >
> >Once on the water and walking stiffly in all our
> layers, the wind chill
> >was well below zero, numbing our fingertips and
> noses, freezing our
> >guides, whipping our lines in random directions and
> landing every other
> >cast in the reeds or weeds.
> >
> >In short, yesterday at the Ford was tough fishing
> at best and made the
> >proverbial witch's tit seem warm and inviting by
> comparison.
> >
> >The good news is that we had the place to ourselves
> until two other fools
> >showed up about 3pm. I christened my new 1973 Orvis
> Limestone Special
> >bamboo rod by landing fish of 24 and 19 inches and
> SDRing another of 18-20
> >inches after a several-minute struggle. All my fish
> came in the morning
> >with only a few brief hook-ups after 11am.
> >
> >But the best news is that we were off the water and
> heading for home while
> >it was still light.
> >
> >K
>
> ATTACHMENT part 2 image/jpeg name=58ff26.jpg;
x-mac-type=4A504547; x-mac-creator=4A565752
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
