River Day 04/25/2011

Ted and I made it down to the river this week, and what a night it was. I'm pretty sure this is one for the history books.

When we got to the river the skies were clear and the temperature was right around 85 degrees. We piled up some kindling for a fire and I started the charcoal to roast a chicken in the cooker that I left there last summer. When everything got going, I started fishing. The fish are finally biting and I caught over 30 before I quit counting. They were hitting helgramites and artificial lures.

After a while, the skies turned dark and a strong wind came up. Just as I finished rolling up my Jeep windows, what I can only describe as a micro burst came up; the wind was driving straight down river and at the camp at what had to be at least 60 mph. I was caught behind the house and flattened myself against the building to avoid being hit by limbs, sand, and other debris. As the first gust settled down I found Ted in the outbuilding. He said that if he had not been in the building, he's sure it would have blown over.

We took shelter in the building during the second wind burst (probably not our brightest idea) and watched limbs falling from the trees around the camp. We didn't know it at the time but three trees were uprooted and downed just below the camp. When we started to look around for more damage we found that a large tree limb fell from the tree above Ron's camper (about 40 feet up) and landed in a space about 5 feet wide between the camper and my Jeep - without hitting either one! Ted and I drug the limb out and around the back of the camper. There were large tree limbs broken from at least a half dozen trees, lying either on the ground or in the water.

Finally, after the storm settled down, the skies cleared again and I got back to fishing. The chicken and cooker survived the storm. We were joined by Trish, Kari and her boyfriend, and a couple of their friends. As you can tell from the picture the chicken came out fine.

GOOD TO SEE YOU GUYS ENJOYING ANOTHER MONDAY EVENING ON THE RIVER! MAYBE MARK NEEDS SOME FISHING TIPS FROM THE REST OF YOU. WORK ON THAT FIRE,NEEDS GAS!

River Day 04/18/2011

Every week it seems to get a little greener on the river, and this week was no exception. All of the trees seem to have a least a few leaves now, not just the ones along the banks. We had warm weather this Monday (low 70's) along with a little wind and an overcast sky. As you can tell from the photos, the river was up again, probably from the heavy rains on Saturday and the bad weather further south.

Despite the high water level, 3 of the 4 "attendees" this week did some fishing (Jay, Tim and I); Ted did a good bit of clean up in the yard. Of the 3 fishermen, only 2 were catching anything, and I wasn't one of them! Oh well, it's early in the season, and at least they're starting to bite now.

We waited a little later than usual to get the fire going this week because of the wind, but once it got going it was a good one (best on the river maybe?). Amazing what a little fryer oil can do with wet wood and flood debris.

I don't think we solved any of the world's problems this week, just enjoyed a quiet, peaceful evening with friends.

GUYS, IMISS THE MONDAY NIGHTS ON THE RIVER!! LET ME KNOW WHEN EVERYTHING IS CLEANED UP, & ILL TRY TO MAKE BACK DOWN. SAVE ME SOME HELGIES!!

River Day 04/11/2011

Another great spring-time night at the river this week! Jay, Ted and I made it down to enjoy the warm weather and company.

Despite some pretty strong winds early on, the temperature was in the upper 70's. Jay broke out the shorts for the occasion. It's really just nice not having to bundle up like an Eskimo. The water level was pretty high this week from heavy rains over the weekend, but we were still able to fish some (Jay and I anyway). The water line was about half way up the yard at the camp, but it was receding while we were there. There's always good stuff to feed to the fire when that happens. The photo of Jay shows him holding one of the two fish that was caught; one by him, one by me, both suckers (the fish, not us). Oh well, they still count.

We haven't had dinner at the river for a while, so I decided to bring down some dogs. Since the grill hasn't made it down yet for the summer, we cooked them the old fashioned way - over the fire on the pitchfork! Hot dogs just don't get any better than that.

We might not have had the biggest fire on the river this week...but it was the best one to cook on.

Looks like a helgramite race, doesn't it?

River Day 04/04/2011

This is my second post in less than a month that is exactly one week late - the bright side is that it's just in time for this week's River Day! Sorry for the delayed post.

Ted, Jay, Tim and I made it down this week to enjoy the river. Despite the overcast, and later rain, we had nice, mild temperatures. Jackets weren't even needed this week (not that that prevented us from having the best fire on the river).

Jay, Tim and I fished for most of the evening, but Jay was the only one of us that had any luck. He caught a nice sized small mouth bass fairly early on. I was the first to leave this week, so as far as I know that was the only catch.

All in all the evening was nice and quiet; just a relaxing evening at the river. It's nice seeing everything starting to turn green. I think everyone is looking forward to the warmer days.

Celebrating Monday on Tuesday!! 3/29/11

So Jay and I (Tim) were unable to make it down to the river on Monday..... so obviously the next best thing was to celebrate the tradition on Tuesday when the opportunity presented itself....(Well what would you do??) Ted was also able to come down with us, so he got two Mondays in a row! A rare treat indeed.... The weather was similar to Monday, maybe a little nicer, but for this time of year in late March these snow flurries and colder temperatures have GOT to go!! Jay and I fished the entire time mainly staying at the usual spot, but also walked down the river a little way to try some different locations...... nope, we didn't catch a thing....didn't even get a bite. Oh well, it was just great to be out there trying. We could see where Ted had really cleaned up the area from the recent floods, so you can see by the picture he was getting some well deserved rest! We did have a visitor this evening, Mitch one of the Park Service Rangers stopped be to see what we were up to. Had some nice conversation with him, discussed fishing, fires and some of his challenges as a Park Ranger in the area. (you know, the usual Park Ranger jibber jabber). But anyway, it was a nice visit and the first time I had met Mitch. I've heard the other guys talk about him often but have never met him. And yes by the way.... Mitch did inform us that we DID have the best fire on the river! All in all it was a great night, very relaxing.......