Networked Blue River
It's amazing how many things have been lost and then found at Blue River, primarily to the wonderful network of fly fishers and river people we have in place.
Most recently, the net above was lost last week, and recovered this past week. The net belongs to Chris Adams and Chris, myself, and Boone Mehrman had been fishing the south wilderness on a Saturday. After lunch, Chris and Boone decided to hit the catch & release area and that's when Chris lost his net. He didn't discover his loss until this Saturday and made a post on the fly fishing forum.
Charlie, my fellow carpster by fly, fished the catch & release this past Wednesday and found the net. So... the two connected and the net is now on it's way back to Chris.
There are plenty of other examples of lost and found accounts like one that occurred last year. A gentleman had finished his day of fishing in the catch & release and propped his bamboo rod, yes bamboo, up against the fence and drove off and left it. Remarkably he was able to recover his rod.
About seven years ago, a fly fisher from Frisco, Texas contacted me with the story of how he had placed his camera phone on the bumper of his SUV and drove off from the river. He told me the phone wasn't that important to him, but he did have a rather large file of family pictures on the phone he cherished.
So, I drove down to the river in search of his phone, but struck out. Not knowing anything else to do, I placed a notice on Scotty's front door describing the phone. The next day Charlie with the wildlife department at Blue called me and said he had discovered the phone a couple of days prior. The two were put in touch and a happy story was the result.
Not all stories of lost and found gear come out the way we want them to. This past weekend a fly fisher forgot he placed his rod on top of his vehicle and drove off with it. His rod has still not been found. I did the exact same thing in November of 2010 and nope... never found the rod.
The most memorable story of lost and found is one about a dog. A family from Ardmore had come to Blue to camp and brought their cherished family dog. If I remember correctly, and I think I do, he was a beagle. For sure, I remember his name - Stoops. Yeah, a dog named after a football coach.
They had Stoops attached to a chain at the campsite, but, as dogs can and sometimes do, Stoops went Houdini on them. The family searched until dark, but couldn't locate their friend. The next day I received an email from the family and I drove over to the river looking for the dog. As I drove each road on the river I would stop and enlist the help of the regular bait and spinner fishers and the old salts of the river. Again, I would place a notice on Scotty's front door.
This story didn't turn out happy. It seems Stoops had headed west, which was indeed the direction of his home in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He had made it all the way to highway 377 north that leads to the northern wilderness of Blue River. However, that's as far as Stoops would get. A county worker found Stoops body on the highway and called Scotty. Then Scotty had to call the family. The family recovered Stoops and took him home.
Watching Nature At Work
Yesterday while fishing a favored pool in Area 1, the river was very good to me. The bows were coming to hand one after another, which is always enjoyable.
However, there was another treat in store for me that I enjoyed every bit as much. I got to watch the nature in trout at work.
The water in front of me was crystal clear with a pale green background. I watched a trout picking off mayflies from his staging area or his lie most proper. This guy would launch from his lie and travel a good four or five feet to his intended target.
Once he launched, he traveled in a diagonal plane from deep to the surface and quicker than you could blink your eye, and at about the same time you saw the dimple in the surface, he would pluck the insect and reverse course. His method was extremely fast and oh so efficient.
I could have watched this fellow for hours and now that I look back on yesterday I wished I had just spooled up and sit there watching.
Spotting Designations
When on the Juan do as the Juanians do - visit Aztec Anglers.
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