The 1-Day Roadie: Salvation for the Soul!
February 6, 2008
Sometimes, the real world gets just hectic enough that you just have to say F-it all and check out for a day. Go back to the basics like eating junk food, talking about spots and celebrity hotties… and, oh yea, maybe mix in a little fishing, too.
To that end, nothing beats a road trip. Of course, with jobs, family and all the other stuff that keeps us so busy these days, extended roadies are tough to come by. One-dayers, however, are easier to pull off. That’s exactly what trusty side-kick Reilly and I embarked on yesterday.
With most Coastal rivers blown out from the big storms and the majority of stuff close to home either muddy or snowed in, we opted for a little wild trout fishing in the “upper” Lower Sacramento River near Redding. After stocking up on high calorie, low nutritional value snacks, we dumped the Red Rocket in at the Posse Grounds and started hunting trout…
Well, let’s just say it was a beautiful day…warm and plenty of snow around. The surroundings were nice, but the trout bite in the 45-degree water was..um..less than red hot.
By noon, we had to make the call…grind it out the rest of the day and hope the bite picked up as the water warmed, or move elsewhere. The Sac’s rainbows are gorgeous, but I wasn’t feeling it. Plus, we steelhead addicts were starting to shake like strung-out junkies. All morning, we could feel the Trinity calling from just over the hill..and by the afternoon, it was like a tractor beam, insatiable and undeniable. So, we pulled the plug on the Sac portion of the program and put the ol’ girl back on the trailer and made tracks for the mountains.
We didn’t have a whole lot of time to work with, but figured a couple hours on the upper Trinity fishing for steeies might cure the shakes. First things first, of course — a stop was in order at the Plug and Jug in Lewsiton for more provisions (think sodium, sugar and cholesterol).
At the Lewsiton Bridge, there was a good foot and a half of snow on the ground when we pulled in. I’m sure we tripped a few of the locals out when they saw the boat — probably wondered who the idiots were who were going to try to run the upper river in a jetboat!
Obviously, we had no intentions of boating…and quickly hiked through the winter wonderland to the couple riffles below the bridge. Here’s Reilly trying his best to remain vertical. Felt soles and snow aren’t always the best combo…
The river was extremely gorgeous all dressed up in her winter colors…
And it was in this sweet little run that, on my first cast, had an adult steelie come up to the surface and follow my float for a few seconds.
A couple casts later in the same spot, Reilly goes bendo…Okay, so she was a skinny little downer, but she actually pulled some string and put up good scrap in the cold water. Plus, she was a steelhead which helped, just for a bit, to curb our jones.
Ahhhh….steelhead….good for the soul, wouldn’t you say?
And perhaps the even more spirit-healing moment…
See ya, baby and thanks so much for the dance…
Three hours of sleep, 421 miles, 2 Gatorades, 1 Rockstar, 1 Sobe, 2 Snickers, a Hostess apple pie, 2 Egg McMuffins, a bag of jerky, $150 in gas and 17 hours from door to door…
Worth every penny — and I didn’t even put a hook to a fish all day.
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