Best laid plans

[Al Agnew]

I had been anticipating today all week.  Had other stuff to do until today, but the forecast sounded perfect, the pick day of the week.  About every two or three weeks I really need a fishing day by myself, and today was going to be the day.  Mary had said she'd shuttle me for one of my two favorite floats on Big River...finally a day in the canoe instead of the jetboat.  I love fishing from the jetboat, but there is just something special about a canoe float on a piece of water where I was pretty much certain I'd be the only person on it.  

Well, last night I didn't sleep well at all.  I was tired when the alarm went off at 5 AM.  The plan was to do my usual early morning (6 to 7) basketball, then leave from the gym for the river, just 15 minutes away.  I'd loaded up the truck last night, so I was almost ready to go.  I left the house with Mary wishing me a great day.

So being tired was the first not good thing.  Then, probably because I was tired from lack of sleep, I played basketball horrifically.  That bummed me out a bit.  Then, I had to stop at the nearby Walmart to pick up lunch, and they didn't have what I really wanted for lunch.  Oh well, no big deal.  Then, driving out of the parking lot, I heard the latest weather forecast on the radio.  Suddenly they were saying a chance of heavy thunderstorms in the afternoon.  The night before, it had been calling for practically zero chance of rain.  I hadn't packed raingear.  Too late to worry about it.  I was a little worried about river conditions, since the gauges had said the river had risen nearly a foot from the rains a couple nights ago.  Would it be muddy?  I crossed it on the way to the put-in, and it was clear.  Great!

Somehow, the friend whose place I was using for the put-in had thought I was putting in where I was taking out.  The cable was across his lane to the river.  But I could drive around it.  No problem.  I stuck a thermometer in the water as I was loading the canoe.  53 degrees.  Excellent.  I've caught some big fish on this stretch at that water temperature.  The river was, indeed, up about a foot or a little less, plenty of current,  This is a long float, but the current would push me along well,  I pushed off, anticipating a wonderfull day of being away from the cell phone (reception was doubtful everywhere along this stretch) and experiencing an awakening river with the early spring.  

The first fish was a 17 inch largemouth.  Second was a very ft 15 inch spotted bass.  Third was a 15 inch smallmouth.  Fishing was slow, but I expected it to get better as the sun warmed the water further and I figured out exactly where most of the fish were lying in this transition time, and what they wanted most.  

Then I caught three nice fish in a row on my homemade Subwalk.  Bingo!  Now I had them figured out, hopefully.  It was 10 AM, and I'd already covered nearly four miles of this 13 mile float.

And then my cell phone dinged.  Text message.  From Mary.  "Call me if you can."  I was shocked I had reception at all.  I called.

Mary had been having trouble with her knee, and now she had really hurt it.  She couldn't walk at all.  Had to drag herself to the bathroom.  She was supposed to come and pick me up around 5 PM.  No way she could drive, nor get in and out of the car to switch to the truck to come pick me up.  That was suddenly the least of my worries.  I needed to get home to help her.  I told her to sit tight, I was going to paddle back upstream to the truck.

Now that strong current that I was so happy about before became a real liability.  I had fortunately brought along the much faster glass solo canoe, and a double-bladed paddle, in case I needed to paddle hard to reach the take-out.  But wow, was it hard paddling upstream in that current, especially since I was in a real hurry.  I covered the 4 miles back up in about 45 minutes, not stopping to rest or take a drink of water.  I was beat when I got back to the truck.  Drove home, Mary is in the recliner, knee iced, but I needed to find the crutches we had somewhere.  I found them, and settled in to taking care of her.  She called the orthopedist she'd just seen yesterday, and he told her to do what she was doing, ice it, stay off it, use crutches if she had to move.  He thought it should get better with rest.  I hope so...I am still afraid she tore a ligament.

To cap it all off...later, I went back out to unload the truck.  Probably because I was so tired, I apparently wasn't thinking straight.  Unloaded all the stuff out of the truck, forgot to unload the canoe!  And then tried to pull the truck into the garage.  My glass canoe is now in a LOT worse shape than it was before.  Unbelievable. 

[Mitch f]

44 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

I had been anticipating today all week.  Had other stuff to do until today, but the forecast sounded perfect, the pick day of the week.  About every two or three weeks I really need a fishing day by myself, and today was going to be the day.  Mary had said she'd shuttle me for one of my two favorite floats on Big River...finally a day in the canoe instead of the jetboat.  I love fishing from the jetboat, but there is just something special about a canoe float on a piece of water where I was pretty much certain I'd be the only person on it.  

Well, last night I didn't sleep well at all.  I was tired when the alarm went off at 5 AM.  The plan was to do my usual early morning (6 to 7) basketball, then leave from the gym for the river, just 15 minutes away.  I'd loaded up the truck last night, so I was almost ready to go.  I left the house with Mary wishing me a great day.

So being tired was the first not good thing.  Then, probably because I was tired from lack of sleep, I played basketball horrifically.  That bummed me out a bit.  Then, I had to stop at the nearby Walmart to pick up lunch, and they didn't have what I really wanted for lunch.  Oh well, no big deal.  Then, driving out of the parking lot, I heard the latest weather forecast on the radio.  Suddenly they were saying a chance of heavy thunderstorms in the afternoon.  The night before, it had been calling for practically zero chance of rain.  I hadn't packed raingear.  Too late to worry about it.  I was a little worried about river conditions, since the gauges had said the river had risen nearly a foot from the rains a couple nights ago.  Would it be muddy?  I crossed it on the way to the put-in, and it was clear.  Great!

Somehow, the friend whose place I was using for the put-in had thought I was putting in where I was taking out.  The cable was across his lane to the river.  But I could drive around it.  No problem.  I stuck a thermometer in the water as I was loading the canoe.  53 degrees.  Excellent.  I've caught some big fish on this stretch at that water temperature.  The river was, indeed, up about a foot or a little less, plenty of current,  This is a long float, but the current would push me along well,  I pushed off, anticipating a wonderfull day of being away from the cell phone (reception was doubtful everywhere along this stretch) and experiencing an awakening river with the early spring.  

The first fish was a 17 inch largemouth.  Second was a very ft 15 inch spotted bass.  Third was a 15 inch smallmouth.  Fishing was slow, but I expected it to get better as the sun warmed the water further and I figured out exactly where most of the fish were lying in this transition time, and what they wanted most.  

Then I caught three nice fish in a row on my homemade Subwalk.  Bingo!  Now I had them figured out, hopefully.  It was 10 AM, and I'd already covered nearly four miles of this 13 mile float.

And then my cell phone dinged.  Text message.  From Mary.  "Call me if you can."  I was shocked I had reception at all.  I called.

Mary had been having trouble with her knee, and now she had really hurt it.  She couldn't walk at all.  Had to drag herself to the bathroom.  She was supposed to come and pick me up around 5 PM.  No way she could drive, nor get in and out of the car to switch to the truck to come pick me up.  That was suddenly the least of my worries.  I needed to get home to help her.  I told her to sit tight, I was going to paddle back upstream to the truck.

Now that strong current that I was so happy about before became a real liability.  I had fortunately brought along the much faster glass solo canoe, and a double-bladed paddle, in case I needed to paddle hard to reach the take-out.  But wow, was it hard paddling upstream in that current, especially since I was in a real hurry.  I covered the 4 miles back up in about 45 minutes, not stopping to rest or take a drink of water.  I was beat when I got back to the truck.  Drove home, Mary is in the recliner, knee iced, but I needed to find the crutches we had somewhere.  I found them, and settled in to taking care of her.  She called the orthopedist she'd just seen yesterday, and he told her to do what she was doing, ice it, stay off it, use crutches if she had to move.  He thought it should get better with rest.  I hope so...I am still afraid she tore a ligament.

To cap it all off...later, I went back out to unload the truck.  Probably because I was so tired, I apparently wasn't thinking straight.  Unloaded all the stuff out of the truck, forgot to unload the canoe!  And then tried to pull the truck into the garage.  My glass canoe is now in a LOT worse shape than it was before.  Unbelievable. 

Ouch, oh well you needed a bigger garage door anyway!

[mzrealfish]

Hope your wife is feeling better soon.  I deal with being injured quite well but when my wife is hurting it kills me to see her like that.

You are a champion for making it back up river.  I'd probably still be paddling.

 

Damaging the canoe stinks but we all know they can be fixed.  Mine, "The Royal Debacle" has been mortally wounded twice from canoeing the Big Piney flooded and still begs for more.  As you can see I am no repair expert but can get the job done. I have 2 much nicer canoes but this is still my favorite. 

 

My buddy and I are floating Alley Spring to Van Buren next Thursday through Sunday.  Taking my 17 ft canoe so my dog Rory can join me.  Still need to cut some gear but we take everything that fits.

 

 

[MOPanfisher]

Dang Al some days just suck.  Take care of your wife.