Last Weekend...

I took off last Saturday at 5 pm and headed to the big "W". Joining me were Jon Johnson, tent, sleeping bag, 7 & 8 wt + a cooler with a sixer of Sam Adams and viddles that didn't require preparing.
I found smallies on the way down to a nice campsite on a stretch of sand that everybody else decided was too close to the boat landing (1/2 mile). Camp was set and there remained just enough light to make me feel guilty for not being out slinging line. So I did. I found a sand shelf that ran on the backside of "my" island. It ran for 100 yards and flowed from 6 inches deep to the shelf where it promptly dropped off to a whopping 12 inches deep. Nevertheless, 2 smallies and a white bass chose this break as their hunting grounds for the night and couldn't allow the BHD to swim by unmolested.
Herring, summer sausage, string cheese, crackers and a handful of mini chocolate chip cookies was all it took to get me zipped into my tent for 30 minutes of reading before I dozed off on top of the sleeping bag in a temperature range that has been described by others as "perfect sleeping weather". At 1:20 am I slid out of the tent, pissed in the sand and decided that the inside of my sleeping bag deserved further exploration. The temp had dropped to cool. 4:20 am my cell phone rang and JP announced that he was leaving town and would be at the boat launch in 1 hour.
Brewing coffee and dismantling camp followed by a very very shallow water run the 1/2 mile to the boat launch took me a little longer than I suspected it would. JP was waiting on the dock, gear and fresh coffee (for both of us) in hand.
After all was said and done, we landed some decent fish (decent, not big) and learned that 40,000 cfs on a river that usually runs 5,000, changes the locations of your secret spots. I concluded that the SMB's on the "W" like BHD's as much as they do anywhere else. And finally, when you are a 36 year old father of two and you get a night on the river by yourself you could give a shit about things that go bump in the night...because the only things that go bump in the night that have any consequence for you now are at home sleeping in their small beds and Mom's in charge.

I'm going to sell this shot to a religious printing company and bet they make it the cover shot for there next tract, but not before superimposing the words "Jesus is coming" in bold red font over the clouds.

Home...briefly.


JP with a standard issue SMB