Paying the piper...

I like to think of any bad fishing experience as "paying the piper." In return for the great days of huge fish and good times and hearty dinners, we pay the price of snagged lures, broken rods, and occasional skunking. Well, you oughta tag along with me on my next piscine adventure, because I put a pretty hefty deposit into the Bank of Fishing Karma today. I wanted to use my Ute license since they expire on New Years Day. I went down to Basin creek where the only tracks before me down the little access road were those of a Coyote. I doubled up on everything under my waders and even threw a couple hand warmers in my big pocket, nothing was going to chase me off the water today. The first thing I noticed driving down that way was the brown color of the water. The second thing I noticed was the abundance of slushy ice chunks floating down across the entire river. Ok, I'll use a lot of weight, try to cast between the chunks of ice, and use big flamboyant flies like eggs and cased caddis (despite the fact that there were midges hatching like crazy.) My spirits were not damp and I set forth across the river to my favorite spot. Ledge? What ledge? I missed that one, and then recovering in about 4 feet of water, stumbled clumsily into another boulder which sent me ass over teakettle right into the water. Granted no one stays in water that cold for long, but it was long enough to get a healthy amount into my waders and soak both hands and every article of clothing up to my neck. That was cold! Since the sun was shining, I decided what the hell I'll take a few casts until I get too cold. Every cast put my flies on a piece of slushy ice with other pieces of slushy ice pushing on my line every which way sending my indicator into frenzied movements across the water. False alarm after false alarm had me setting the hook on ghosts while my guides steadily froze up. I dropped my reel in the water while un icing my guides once and then that too began to freeze up. My leader had ice balls on it, my guides had ice balls on them and I had a pair of iceballs in my waders. Time to go.

On the bright side, I was greeted when I arrived by two large Bald Eagles making some fascinating sounds. I saw a Heron flying low over the water with his neck extended.. I've NEVER seen a Heron flying without its neck in the standard "Heron Flying" position, with the tray table folded and secured. The Heron was making neat noises too. I saw Killdeer who also made neat noises. Last but not least Kingfishers zoomed by and ducks quacked around. It was a beautiful time to be out by the river. It was, on the other hand, a terrible time to be IN the river. As 2012 draws to a close I look back on a year of learning and trial and error. I've caught the biggest freshwater fish of my life this year, and I've had a hell of a great time doing it. I hope I'll get out one more day to round it out to an even 150 days on the water, but if not, no regrets... it was a fantastic year. Here's to a fantastic 2013!!!