As I left Cherry Creek, I wasn't sure what I was going to do next. It was only 5:30 or so. I had a couple hours of fishing time left! My thought was to go to the South Fork of the Tuolumne and see if my luck would change.
On my way out of the area, I had to pass over the Main Fork of the Tuolumne again. The bridge is downstream of where I was earlier in the morning. I stopped the car and looked out. Below the Kirkwood power station, the water was thundering out. It was deep and fast. The signs warning you not to enter the water were plentiful. I decided to try it anyway. This was a perfect chance to try out my new second hand grip on my fly rod. The plan was to attach a heavy sinking tip, a heavy wooly bugger and spey cast (again, no back casting room) into the current.
The rod worked like a charm, I was able to fling that heavy setup wherever I wanted. I was surprised. Thanks to the nice even current, there was no need to mend, and you could just swing the fly across, hoping for a bite. Once again, no fish were interested. It didn't really look like a fishy spot. The water was just really swift. It was more of a casting experience than anything.
I worked myself closer to the bridge and was about 10 feet away. I was river left and after the fly is dangling below, I would spey cast back slightly upstream. This worked fine. I decided to do some snake rolls. No problem, everything worked. Then, I pushed my luck.
I was messing around and somehow whipped my line into the bridge structure about 10 feet away and 20 feet up. Luckily the sink tip was wrapped around and not my fly line itself. I knew the fly was lost. But I was really concerned about breaking my fly line.
I had to pull extremely hard to break it off. I was really surprised how much force it took. Lucky for me, the connection on the sink tip failed before my fly line did. I lost the sink tip, but saved the line. Whew.
Just when I thought everything was okay. I didn't know that the top half of my rod had come loose. I brought it around and it fell into the river! Not only have I lost 10 or so flies today, but I was about to lose my fly rod.
The current is really fast here. Lucky for me, the fly rod fell apart upstream of my position and I had about 3 seconds to grab it before it passed me and was lost forever. I scrambled down from the rock I was on and grabbed it. Almost dunking myself in the process. In retrospect, it was really foolish. I saved a rod, but almost fell into water that was well over 10 feet deep and moving at a sprinters pace.
I was lucky! Needless to say, I packed it up and head for the car. But my day wasn't over yet!
On my way out of the area, I had to pass over the Main Fork of the Tuolumne again. The bridge is downstream of where I was earlier in the morning. I stopped the car and looked out. Below the Kirkwood power station, the water was thundering out. It was deep and fast. The signs warning you not to enter the water were plentiful. I decided to try it anyway. This was a perfect chance to try out my new second hand grip on my fly rod. The plan was to attach a heavy sinking tip, a heavy wooly bugger and spey cast (again, no back casting room) into the current.
The rod worked like a charm, I was able to fling that heavy setup wherever I wanted. I was surprised. Thanks to the nice even current, there was no need to mend, and you could just swing the fly across, hoping for a bite. Once again, no fish were interested. It didn't really look like a fishy spot. The water was just really swift. It was more of a casting experience than anything.
I worked myself closer to the bridge and was about 10 feet away. I was river left and after the fly is dangling below, I would spey cast back slightly upstream. This worked fine. I decided to do some snake rolls. No problem, everything worked. Then, I pushed my luck.
I was messing around and somehow whipped my line into the bridge structure about 10 feet away and 20 feet up. Luckily the sink tip was wrapped around and not my fly line itself. I knew the fly was lost. But I was really concerned about breaking my fly line.
I had to pull extremely hard to break it off. I was really surprised how much force it took. Lucky for me, the connection on the sink tip failed before my fly line did. I lost the sink tip, but saved the line. Whew.
Just when I thought everything was okay. I didn't know that the top half of my rod had come loose. I brought it around and it fell into the river! Not only have I lost 10 or so flies today, but I was about to lose my fly rod.
The current is really fast here. Lucky for me, the fly rod fell apart upstream of my position and I had about 3 seconds to grab it before it passed me and was lost forever. I scrambled down from the rock I was on and grabbed it. Almost dunking myself in the process. In retrospect, it was really foolish. I saved a rod, but almost fell into water that was well over 10 feet deep and moving at a sprinters pace.
I was lucky! Needless to say, I packed it up and head for the car. But my day wasn't over yet!
2 comments:
Very dangerous place to wade by yourself. Flow was 700cfs and water temperature was 48deg yesterday out of Kirkwood PH. Not a good idea with a little one at home.
Hi Flycanoe!
I wasn't actually wading, but just standing on a rock beside the river.
Yeah, definitely not a place to stand in the river.
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