Totally Legal - I Used to be Blond

Well, at certain times of the year (like summer) when I was young (or an infant), I was a sandy blond.  Just finished cleaning an 18 inch Cutthroat after a noon to 2:00 p.m. fishing session by the bridge.  Earlier this morning (since I was legal), I headed to the river and the other side of the bridge around 6:00 a.m. to fish for a couple hours.  I seemed to be mostly praying for the sun to rise over the mountain to the east of the bridge and bring some warmth to my chilly hands as I tried to catch that elusive big Cutthroat that had slipped away a couple times earlier this past week -- frustrating week it has been.

I had two long sleeved shirts on under my fishing vest and jeans to keep away the pesky mosquitoes and flies after fishing in my shorts the evening before and getting eaten alive -- wasn't legal then but, figured I wouldn't be fishing much past sunset tonight (that's 24 hours of fishing).  As I eagerly awaited the sun and its warmth, a nice 16 inch Lake trout took my lure and I gave thanks for it and the arrival of the sun soon after (to warm my chilly and now wet hands).  Mist was rising off the river and I heard cow bells ringing in the valley on the eastern side of the bridge but, I was thankful for having brought in one nice fish before the 7:00 a.m. shuttle bus crossed the bridge.

On my way back to the RV with the Lake trout, I heard a little kid yell to his friends that the "old man" had a nice fish on his stringer -- thought they might coming running but, that didn't happen.  After some oatmeal, toast and half a banana, I rested for awhile before heading out for the noon session.

Let me go back and tell you how that first walk to the river started in the early a.m.  I didn't take any binoculars with me as I usually do (to scan for game wardens, wildlife and such) so, when I got half way down the foot path on the hillside from the campground, I spotted something in the distance near a pond where I had seen a nice white-tail buck with a huge rack cross a dirt/gravel road on my return from the river the previous evening.  At first, I thought I saw some movement and the object looked to be the approximate shape and size of a Grizzly Bear so, I stopped my decent to the roadway it seemed to occupy (wished I had those binoculars).  I cautiously backed away and took the next foot path at a slower pace to see if I could detect any movement thinking it could be stalking that white-tail deer (maybe drinking at the pond).  Turned out to be a huge uprooted stump.  Wheewie!

I took the same route around noon time and hoped for better luck on the other side of the bridge -- took two Coors (Commeraive Cans) as well to enjoy in the warmer temps of midday.  Finished one of the Coors on the side of the bridge where I caught the Lake trout and fished for maybe 30 or 40 minutes before deciding to head to the east side of the bridge (upstream) toward the creek feeding the river from the south.  As I crossed over the bluff or cliff near the stream, I surveyed this section I had tried before with only some hits and chases by fish of some type.  My attention was drawn to a pool just upstream from a large boulder and I thought (hoped) this might have some fish in it -- maybe repositioned from the large pool downstream by the bridge.  I felt that a couple from Colorado and their two young daughters had pretty much muddied up that best pool I told them about -- they caught and released but, a couple of the fish were dead and floating around the pool after they had left (a couple evenings prior).

So, when I climbed down the steep bank to the rocky shoreline and popped my second can of Coors, the scene looked really promising to me and after just a couple casts into the pool there were two small trout popping the lure and chasing it -- the third cast into the pool attracted the 18 inch Cutthroat and he hit the lure hard and rolled a number of times at the surface of the pool and then ran upstream and back down as I tried to play him out enough to get him to the shore.  Oh! Thank You Very Much for this beautiful fish.  After getting him on the stringer, I went farther upstream to try the area of the river up to the creek and got several chases and hits -- landed two fingerlings and released them.  Content to head back after finishing the second can of Coors.

This time when I made my way through the campground, a family of four came out of their camper to check my catch and asked where and on what I had caught the beautiful fish.  A park ranger even drove by at the same time and wanted a look at the fish (had my license in my pocket so, what the heck).  He wanted to know when dinner would be ready but, I told him I might be fishing again this evening -- before grilling the three fish already on my platter.

Let's see, it's not even 4:00 p.m. yet and maybe a couple more Coors will produce the same results -- if not, it's been a great day anyway.  If only some company would arrive.