Air temperature in the canyon was about 80°, the water temperature was 58°, and the sky was full of sunshine. To the best of my knowledge everyone was hooking- releasing fish (C&R) and having a most enjoyable afternoon. During this meeting of the Walla² Fly Fishers, no minutes were taken, no motions were made and since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the rest of our story in the order of events...Alex with the first hang up of the day.
Dan with his out-of-town guest from Baltimore, determining a good fly pattern to use.
I strongly suggested to the group that when fishing the So. Fork you wear jeans, cool & wet for the summertime...In the many years that I have been fishing and horseback riding the So. Fork I have come upon maybe a half dozen or so, buzz-tailed critters on the trails or in the grass here. This day was one of those times. They are heat seekers (for food) so wet jeans and wading boots can help to take a fisherman's legs out of their - defensive or seeking/see ya /got ya- scenario.
The guy pictured above was about 16-18" long -- I didn't get too close for measurement -- with a buzz attachment of about 1' -- it cross my path between Dan's (above) and Lauri's (below) fishing spots. At the end of the ring-tail on the right (hidden by leaf) was its buzz attachments. This snake did not rattle or strike, it just ran away to hide and not to be stepped on.Lauri appeared to be in her own fly fishing world.
Lovely world, don't you think?
Below is Herb working with the finesse of his 2wt. bamboo/fiberglass rod.
After catching up with Alex and several other guys just above the third ford, I let everyone know what to expect by fishing further upriver, and that I was going to head back to the ranch and play with my baby...
horse that is. "Summer" is almost 1 month old this weekend.Dale McKain -- as copied/edited from a McKuster Ranch Life blog posting.
Scott Peters - President
Skip Pritchard - Co-President
Dale McKain - Secretary
