A gray morning stayed gray. We rigged up and it wasn't long before we were into our first double. (The fact that it was our last double is only noted because I felt guilty writing "first double" in the last sentence.) The magic bucket was void of the crashing small mouth that we have come to expect but it still offered up some fish. After we gave it a solid pounding, we decided to wade up to another run and that is where two unusual things occured.
Strange thing #1:
The water was running at 3000 cfs at last check which is as low as I can remember fishing it. I'm glad were in RS's canoe and not my boat. I would have certainly donated some prop material. As we waded upstream to spot 2, I noticed what looked like a stump yard way upstream. I've fished this river a fair amount and had never noticed wood of any kind in that section. I was a little baffled and mentioned it to RS. He joined me staring quizzically into the distance. I snapped a couple shots with my camera and when I got home I zoomed in...cairns...I whole pile of them. In case you aren't the son of a mother who builds cairns, (to clarify, my Mother really does build cairns) a cairn is a pile of rocks originally designed to denote a spot of significance. They might be a trail marker or a property line but in recent years they've become the adult equivalent of a sand castle... a kind of temporary eco-safe folk art. In this case I'm not sure but I'm guessing an OCD Cairn Builder camped here for a few nights...
Strange thing #2:
RS and I were fishing one of the steeper gradient sections in this part of the Big W. The water was rushing along past our knees and at the distance of 50 or 60 yards it was loud enough that we couldn't talk over the water. One of my swings through was interrupted by what sounded like a 12 gauge shotgun at fairly close range. I first did a little duck/crouch reaction and then turned to see 2 geese at least 200 yards up bank hard and head out. And so, it was a 12 gauge. I turned to Rob to check and see if he saw me get startled and/or get a bead on his reaction to the close in explosions. He gave me a look like I would expect...a kind of a "what the hell?" look. It was only a beat of time before he tucked his head into his shoulders and again turned his back to the origin of the gunfire...I almost had to think "I wonder what he is doing now..." when the steel shot started raining down on me too. If you've ever taken a small round stone and thrown it as high as you can over a lake...it comes down fast and makes very little splash. It just makes a sound that I will attempt to spell as Pffft...it's more of a short hiss than anything else. Anyway, that happened a hundred times in a second. Luckily, nobody was hit. I started laughing because I found the whole experience to be so ridiculous. I figured the hunter was on the other side of a small island and couldn't see us. I stopped laughing later in the day when I saw him emerge from a makeshift blind in an area that would have afforded him a decent view of us fishing. I was considering wading up and bending his fowling piece around his neck...But, I decided I'd rather fish.
Actually there was a strange thing # 3. I caught a Sauger on the swing. Never done that before. I can't even remember if I've ever caught a Sauger...
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| Swinging for SMB's |
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| Sauger! |
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| RS...making it happen. |
And so, Sunday service concluded. As with any service, you get from it what you take from it.
My Reflections:
To the Cairn Builder, a cairn is supposed to clarify not confuse.
You Fail.
FYI 78 cairns is an affliction...seek help.
To the Hunters...just a heads up: The next guy who rains shot down on me will need to visit some form of medical specialist soon thereafter.
Sauger...we should do that again.
And finally To RS...Thanks.
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