The Saga of Ruth Lake–Days 2 and 3

Yesterday was our trial for all sorts of things….fly fishing without Teacher, the trolling motor, the outriggers Al created and our new seats that he handmade.  All went surprisingly well.  It was darned windy.  And cold.  No dipping, skinny or otherwise.  We drained the battery for the trolling motor pretty quick as we cruised through the waves.  Fortunately, we had the wind at our backs on the way home.  And Mr. Al’s outriggers sure helped with the paddling when we had to go cross current against the waves.  (I’m very impressed with Mr. Al and his inventiveness.) We’ve been in waves like that before, and it can be a little disconcerting in a canoe. Trolling wasn’t too good.  Al hooked a fish, but it came off.  We use barbless hooks because they are easier to remove and kinder to the fish.  They’re also harder to keep a fish on the line.  I’m not an angler so, for me, the barbless hook means its easier to remove from my clothing.

Here’s a turtle and some other pics:

 

And so we come to fly fishing.  Oh woe was me.  I kept losing flies and thought like a total failure. In the doldrums I was.  So, in the morning, Al fished…caught a cute little trout, and I tied flies and then practiced casting.

It was very windy.  That’s the only excuse I had.

In the evening, we decided to have another go and I learned that it wasn’t my fishing skills that were lacking.  It was my ability to tie a fly.  Yes, I failed at Fly Tying 101.  We found a beautiful little spot where two streams fed into the lake.

The fish were biting and we actually caught about ten fish in an hour.

I was proud.

 

I was happy.

 

I ignored the fact that Al called them minnows.  They were fish, goddammit.

 

Cute teeny weeny fish.

 

 

Waste disposal….We came back to our campsite and discovered that the campground porta-potty had been hauled away.  Where did it go?  And why?

 

I was rather disconcerted.  What to do about Number Two?

 

We called the powers-that-be on our emergency phone, but the office had closed, and Al and I started thinking creatively about our plight. However, Luck would have it, there was a permanent cinder block variety, complete with graffiti and flies….as far away from our campsite as possible.  So far away, I might add, that we found it by accident walking to our fishing spot that evening.

 

Number Two problem solved.

 

Number One?  I confess, there is no way I would walk that far three times each night for my over productive kidneys.  Instead, there was a nice little pile of toilet tissue by the side of the tent in the morning to be disposed of in the trash can that was more conveniently located by our site.

That was the plan, anyway.

 

Did I mention the wind?  It blew all night long as well.  I had to do some reconnaissance, but all tissues were recovered, in case you were worrying.

 

 

This morning, all is still.

 

 

There will be more wind, but it will be warmer today.

 

 

It was a tad cold last night.