One of my favorite holes on the East Walker. Almost always full of hungry trout.
See that post below, the one about me having surgery? I lied. I am not having surgery. I’ve decided against it and if you’re really interested in why, or just bored out of your skull, go to Being Retired to read all about it. Otherwise, long story short is the cure looked to worse than the disease and I’m actively trying to avoid surgery now. I’m doing more aggressive physical therapy, losing weight and trying to strengthen my back. It’s working a little. I still have pain, but it is reduced slightly.
So, I decided to get my ass up and go fishing. I freely admit I’ve been sort of a pu…this is a family blog so lets say wuss. I had surrendered to my pain and pretty much stopped doing physical stuff. Now that I realize I might have to live with some pain to avoid horrible spinal fusion surgery, I’ve decided to just suck it up. The fact my surgeon told me my back is stable and I probably can’t hurt it further helped too. I’ve sold my big heavy pontoon and replaced it with the Scadden Outlaw Escape at just 22 pounds rather than 60. I’ve also purchased a marsh seat to carry with me, but more on that later.
The Jeep with all the gear strewn about.
So, I was off fairly early and excited to go fishing again. I got about half way to the river and…my timing belt began to fray. Really? I limped back to Wellington and went to Masse Performance. Shane found a belt he had in stock that was little long, but workable and put it on. I was back on the road within half an hour. I stopped by on the way home and he put the real one on for my Jeep that he had delivered while I was gone. Great shop! If you’re near Smith Valley and need automotive help, Masse is the place to go. No, its really the only place to go, but they are great.
The Avery seat stuck in the bottom and ready to provide relief and keep me fishing.
First fish of the day, a nice wild brown.
So, I arrived later than I’d hoped at the Elbow and got rigged up. One of my new pieces of gear is the Avery Marsh Seat, the saddle I refer to in the title. I got it at Cabelas and with my loyalty points it was only about $25, regularly $39 I think. I plan to carry it on my back to provide a place to sit (sitting relieves the pain in my back). It’s made for duck hunting, but it’s light and folds flat. It worked pretty well, only needing a new strap that’s longer so I can wear the strap across my chest instead of just over one shoulder where it tended to want to slip off. I had to find a spot the rocks would give way to let it sink into the bottom, but once it was in it stayed. Cool!
A nice wild rainbow.
So, I didn’t fish for long, maybe three hours, but I slayed them. I fished one of my favorite holes and could have caught them with a bare hook it seemed. I fished a dry, nymphs, a hopper, a streamer and a big stone fly nymph. I caught fish on them all. A few smaller browns were amongst the rainbows that were averaging ten to twelve inches with the biggest going about thirteen. Most were hold over planters though some looked to be wild and they were all fat and hard fighting.
One of the bigger fish of the day.
All in all it was a good day. Not too cold but great fishing. I’m busy next week with physical therapy and then I’m going out of town, but if the weather holds, I’d like to try a longer day to perfect the new pain-saving seat. Looks like the new float tube/pontoon is not going to get a work out this year, but come February when Hinkson Slough opens I’m going to get out there and put it though it’s paces. In the meantime, I’m going to go through my gear, replace some things, maybe buy a new four piece rod to replace the broken one, and maybe even see about a Tenkara set up.
Filed under: General, On the Water | Tagged: Avery Marsh Seat, back pain, brown trout, East Walker River, Jeep, rainbow trout | 5 Comments »
