Cooper's Landing: Day 2-Jill goes fishing too

Even though I was having plenty of fun wandering around taking pictures of the fall colors that were intensifying hourly... 

and the river level was rising hourly as well...

and the sign said the waters were closed to fishing...

and the sun was barely up...

I went fishing too!

There's Alex unloading the boat.

I kind of gulped when I realized that I would have to wade into the river and climb into the boat.
It wasn't bad at all actually.
The waders did what they were designed to do.

Plus the sun rise was pretty as seen from the water.

Sunshine was a MOST welcomed sight.
I wasn't especially keen on spending half a day out on the river in pouring rain like it was the day before.

Alex gave me and our other passenger George casting lessons; Bernie pointed out to me that fresh water fishing was done with the reel under the rod.
I was holding my rod with the reel on top, as I had always held it when fishing off  La Jolla as a kid.

Raise the entire rod up so it stay parallel to the water.
Then twist the rod counter clockwise so the flat side of the reel is also parallel to the water.
Flick the rod with a wrist and bit of elbow (not whole shoulder!) so the weighted hook end flies toward the back end of the boat.
The boat floats (or is rowed) ahead and you keep the tip of the rod pointing down at the pink bobber in the water which flows rapidly towards the front of the boat.
One has to pay attention: if the bobber goes below the water a fish has "hit" it and one must quickly pull up (not sideways) to set the hook in the fish's mouth.
Following the bobber with one's eyes while keeping the rod tip horizonal to the water with the tip pointing at the bobber takes concentration.

Ummm...not concentrating...
Also feeling just a tad embarassed to have someone rowing me along.
I kept feeling like I should take a turn and let Alex rest even though as a strong 25 year old who routinely rows four people zig zag across the river; he really didn't need my help to do his job.
 

It was pretty chilly.
I needed my mittens!
Oh, and this is me with my new boat name:
Liz.
For some reason Alex kept calling me Liz; he apologized but said I looked like a Liz to him.
I was fine with that!
In fact it made me laugh to have new name while I fished!

I had been rather surprised a few days back when Bernie took a picture of me on the beach and framed the shot so it cut off my feet.
He is an excellent photographer so I commented on it.
After shooting several boat pictures of me he asked if I wanted my feet in the picture this time.
Of course I did!

I got hung up on this mountain and took a picture as often as the light changed upon it.

The glacial blue water and yellow trees still has me in "wow" even now looking at this picture.

Home Sweet Home:  Drifter's Lodge.
My bedroom window is the one beneath the green roof just beneath the "dish".

See my pink bobber in the lower right hand corner?
I am clearly not paying attention to it: the view is demanding I be photographer instead of fisherwoman.
It was shortly after this that I was the first one in the boat to catch a fish!
I was just kinda staring at the bobber when I saw it go down.
I gave my rod a tug and began reeling in.
I told Alex I thought I had snagged on something as the line resistance was more than I would expect from a river fish.
He told me he could see a fish on my line...
I think I argued for a moment more then saw the fish myself.
He quickly netted it, show me and released it before I could even take a picture!
I was like "huh?? what just happened???"
A nice Dolly Varden....

Bernie hooked up moments later.

This time I had my camera ready!

Such a beautiful creature!

Alex gave it a quick smooch and released it back into the water.
It was still really early in the day.
Had we know that would be about it catch wise I think I would have kept this one.

Bernie was standing at the bow of the boat casting nicely.
George (the other guy on the boat) was getting the hang of it with lots of coaching from Alec.
Alex...said I was doing just great!
(I was SO proud when he said that about my casting!)

 

Sometimes the water was turbulent.

The boat moved down stream rapidly.

Alex would tell us stuff like that here was usually a rock called Preacher's Rock but it was underwater due to the heavy rains.

After about two hours of fishing I was ready to kick back and just enjoy the ride.
Alex asked about my boots: were they regular hiking shoes or ???
I explained that they were a newly released wading boot design that I was crazy about.
They were as light as slippers and so comfortable.
(I was so proud that a professional fishing guide was impressed by my boots!)

The two guys fished (casted repeatedly) the entire four hours we were out.
George eventuall caught a small Dolly Varden; I think Bernie might have caught something else too.
The high waters were definitely messing with the fishing. 

I was having no problem "catching" what I was after...the amazing scenery!

 

 

 

Alex was just as great as Bernie had said he was.  I was a little nervous about being with a fishing guide.
I mean what if he got all uppity with me because I goofed up while I was casting or something?
As it turned out I was ready to adopt Alex or clone him or beg him to move to where we live because he was such a great young man.
Bernie had said I would like him and he was so right.

 

As Alex rowed along and kept an eye out on Bernie and George he also kept an eye out for things for me to photograph.
He spotted the eagle's nest for me.

A couple of trees down was the eagle too!

 

It seemed impossible that regular things like kids being taken to school was happening while we fished.

Guess who wants a willy boat now?
Or a pontoon boat or ???
More next post on what we did with the rest of the day...