Cinco de Mayo without Fish Dinner

Well, for all you working folks and the weekend to enjoy -- hopefully, there's a place to go and have an evening of fun -- doesn't seem to be anything out here in this neck of the woods.  I've had a few beers and a few glasses of wine anyway so, won't be venturing out this evening myself.  Should be a colorful sunset as there seem to be a number of clouds behind the mountains to the west and will hope for the return of the herd of Mule deer soon.

Today I decided to run an errand down Hwy 160 toward Del Norte to possibly get some Elk steaks or burgers at a little ranch a few miles west of the city.  I picked up a couple packs of Elk medallions, a three pack of 1/3 Elk burger patties and a Buffalo steak as well.  Also, looked at the stacks of Elk antlers and some of the huge bull Elk antlers.  There was one huge, scraggly Elk in a coral there at the ranch and a couple other small ones in a separate coral.  Then, after that I headed to check out the closest access to the Rio Grande River near there -- just off CR 17.  I parked near the bridge and hiked the half mile along the south river bank and tried the very few openings in the thick bushes and small trees -- really poor access for such a swiftly moving stream and I got snagged a couple times on the branches hanging close to the waters surface and decided it was a big waste of time.  Only a good point for putting in a raft, canoe or kayak for float fishing the river.

All things considered, the best way to fish this river is by floating on it -- but, it is swift moving and requires one person to steer while other(s) fish.  I saw one such group in a raft as I fished the hole where I caught the Rainbow and my first Brown trout -- there were two guys fishing from the bow and stern while one person steered with oars and one small child sitting in the middle (along for the ride, I guess).

After the disappointment of seeing the latest poor access at CR 17, I headed back to the spot near the Masonic Park up Hwy 149 and hoped for something better than that one fingerling Brown trout I caught there the other day.  As I fished there, I couldn't help but, think that the water seemed to be higher and contained more sediment.  After about a half hour without any strikes I decided to head back to the spot where I first caught some fish.  As mentioned earlier, as I fished there a blue and white inflatable raft came by on the far side of the stream and whizzed right by with its four occupants -- one with two oars controlling the raft.

As I fished this same spot again, I again noticed that the angled boulders seem to be covered more by water and seemingly a lot muddier (I confirmed this after looking at the pictures taken the other day).  After another dozen or so casts, I decided to head farther upstream to where a really big Redwood stood at the water's edge to see what might be accessible there at the bank of the river but, found nothing much so, I continued on to the next big pine tree and a little beyond.  Guess I had walked more than a mile upstream from where I had parked and at this point I noticed more skeletal remains than previously seen and a little farther on, I saw a few carcasses at both sides of the dirt road.  At this point, I began to have doubts about climbing down to the edge of the river to fish near the heavy brush -- in fact, I decided I should be getting back and call it a day perhaps.

As I walked back to the Jeep along the deserted road, I began to study the cliffs on the other side of the highway thinking any mountain lion or pack of coyotes or wolves would have a great vantage spot to watch for possible prey going down to the water's edge -- could have been me they were watching.

When I got nearly back to the Jeep, I also noticed behind a large boulder at the edge of the road bending into the parking lot, another almost complete deer skeleton on the ground.  Something has been eating well up here along the Rio Grande -- and they haven't been eating fish.

I made a quick run up the highway to see what the farthest access provided and then headed back to the RV to put away the Elk and Buffalo meat.  After that, I washed the RV and Jeep, took a shower and shaved before having a couple of those hot dogs I cooked last night with the fish -- no fish for dinner tonight though.  Laundry night -- Cinco de Mayo.