Woohoo! Another 4 Bagger Day

The Daily Limit

It now seems like a day of perserverance as I headed out around 9:30 with the forecast calling for storms by noon -- my thinking to beat them to the reservoir up the mountain.  I stopped to get a pair of forceps to remove the small hooks from the small mouths of the trout and picked up a hand net too and one more backup Panther Martin as I hoped for a busy day at the Beaver Creek Reservoir.

I decided to start in reverse from yesterday's route and so, went to the dam and the little corner below the sign at the dam.  After two casts, I had my first 12 incher on the stringer (from exactly the same spot I had caught two fish the night before) and then shortly, I released two small ones, in hopes for bigger things.  Then, the weather turned colder (we reached our high around 10:45 in the morning) and the rain and sleet returned to test the hardiest of folks -- saw less than a half dozen vehicles during the day up there.  I thought to wait out the storm at the top of the dam and had scouted the next corner closest to the spillway -- which was 30 feet or more above the water level.

While I waited more than 40 minutes for the rain to stop and for the sun to return, two other vehicles pulled up when the rain had pretty much stopped -- so, I decided I had better get down to that spot before they had any ideas of getting there first.  I got down to nearly the water's edge and started casting in both directions just beyond the bouldered shoreline.  While I did this the assholes in the two vehicles threw there lines out over the top of me from the top of the bank and I first got tangled in one of their lines -- amuzingly when I got my lure untangled from his line he got snagged on the rocks near the water and had to come sliding down to retrieve his lure (the older guy of the two).  He ended up kicking lots of rocks and small boulders into the water during the process (messing up the fishing for sure).

Shortly after that, I tried casting to my left and got the other, younger guys line hooked on my lure.  He still was standing next to the parking area at the top of the bank.  I should have asked what the hell these guys were trying to do but, decided to just head for another spot and took their license numbers on my way out.  They had a big fat woman with them in the burgundy mini-van and a couple kids they kept yelling at to stay back from the banks -- saying they might fall into the water.  What assholes -- wish I had a baseball bat with me, I would have taken their heads off.

Another chance to warm up didn't hurt at this point either as the sun never did reappear (and still hasn"t) while I drove back to the picnic area and then beyond to use the restroom at the far end of the reservoir.  I took a peek at the boat ramp while at that end of the lake and for some reason it didn't look as steep as viewed from the picnic area -- a visual anomally it seems (it slopes toward the picnic area and therefore looks steeper from there).  I passed an old guy with a silver beard who had parked in a little pull-out and he had climbed down to a sandy bank to fish -- about halfway back to the picnic area.  When I returned to the picnic area there was one vehicle parked there and I decided to move on to the next little pull-out near some higher bluffs or cliffs overhanging the water with a little sandy cove on the nearside (nearest the picnic area).  I decided this should be my next spot to test the Panther Martin that had done me so well, thus far.  The sun seemed to be nearly shining through as I traversed the slope to reach the sandy shoreline -- with the winds still whipping steadily from the east end of the lake.

I had left the one Brown trout in the cooler but, did remember the stringer and my new net and forceps.  Had no results from my casts along the sandy shore so, I decided to start moving across the boulder field below the bluff or cliffs and casting the lure along the way in both directions -- sunshine seemed to be brighter now and a little warmth seemed to be building in me (probably from the climbing across the boulders).  Soon, I had another fish on and managed to land this one of about 12 inches and got him on the stringer, ready to move farther across the boulders as I peered at the towering and seemingly unstable cliffs to my right.  A little further on I got another fish on but, he rollled a couple times and got off.  Farther on, I could see my lure skip towards me just below the surface and a big brown came at it but, must have seen me over its shoulder and just nudged the lure then, disappeared.  Then, I hooked a really nice fish of some 16 to 18 inches and as I tried to work him towards me, he crossed over a large boulder with a few inches of water over it and then after a few more of those rolls, he too was gone.  Had my heart pumping for sure.

This short stretch of water produced more hits and more fun than I have had all these nearly two weeks down here -- and two more Browns to make my daily limit of four.  I cast a few more times after getting the third fish on the stringer but, knew I couldn't keep anything more -- just hoped to see that tropy fish maybe -- and perhaps put back one of the others.

What fun it was -- even with the chilled hands and cold toes.  Made it back to the RV by 3:15 with a stop at the licquor store for a bottle of wine.  Now enjoying some white wine and just finished cooking those three trout from yesterday on the grille (while doing a load of laundry -- my fishing clothes) -- ready to eat and think about tomorrow.  Been reading the regulations and I could keep another 10 brook trout too so, maybe that creek on the way to the reservoir could produce some of that species -- Hmmmm.