the hippy journal an old hippy dons hip boots to explore the tribs

[Norm M]

I have decided to spend as much time as possible before radiation/chemo kicks my posterior exploring the upper reaches of the tribs to my river . I plan on venturing into the tribs of the tribs when time, circumstances and access points allow .

I will be fishing above where the branches of the creek split and up stream . No fishing in the main stem but if a trib flows into the main stem it's fair game .

If the creek does not split into branches it will be a judgement call based on gut instinct where to start . Not real scientific but I have learned to trust my gut instinct over these decades .

From What I have learned so far hip boots are all I need . If I get into knee deep water without fishing it first , I blew that spot . If I get into water deeper than my hip boots I am standing where I should be fishing and have really screwed the pooch . 

I also don't expect to catch a lot of huge fish , at least that has not been the case so far . I have adjusted my gear to match the conditions . A 5 ft 6 inch 2 piece ultra lite spin with a 10/100 reel and 6 lb test will be the primary combo . 

Back up will be a 7 ft two piece lite action spin with a 20/200 reel and 8 lb test . I may be tempted to take one of my ancient 12 ft 1 piece cane poles down and string it up . The only problem with that is getting to the water without it getting broke . 

Depending on how creative I want to get tackle wise I will be going from what fits in a couple of shirt pockets to a small over the shoulder bag . 

I am not quite sure which direction this will go , or if it ever will ever have a coherent direction . It may well be a hodgepodge of observations , fishing tips on what did and did not work and flat out musings , odd thoughts or whatever strikes my fancy .

So put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on to the mother ship . The long, strange trip continues .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDTLMYTl88Q

[WHARFRAT]

May the four winds blow you safely home my friend!  

[Norm M]

Short trip due to DR'S and such today . I scouted the stretch first from shore and saw the fish were moving down stream and back up stream in what seemed to be a defined territory .

I could see why they chose the up stream limits as there was a good sized drain that brings water in from a retention pond that is feed by an intermittent stream draining a sub division . 

The downstream limits were the same conditions below where they stopped as it was above the stopping point . About a foot or so deep, intermittent weed patches covered in algae on a bottom more sandy than rocky . 

I started at the down stream end throwing 1/16 oz beetle spins into the lanes twixt the weed patches . Once I reached the end of my casting limits I got back up on shore as I figured that wading into their territory while they were in an obvious search pattern would only spook them .

From up on shore I used a 1/6 oz jig with a one inch twister to bounce down stream thru the lanes twixt the weeds until the line fouled on a weed clump . I would reel in to pick the green and move to another spot where making such casts were possible . 

Once I got above the drain , I got back in the water and cast the jig downstream into the area around the drain . 

The drain area was the most productive , casting up from the down stream edge was next . The casting from shore was the least productive due to the limitations in casting and drifting among the many weed clumps . 

Some smallmouth bass, some rock bass , a couple sunnies and one creek chub . 

After spending some time thinking about the down stream limit the fish chose , I still have not come up with a reason that makes sense to me . Maybe they have learned that going further expends more energy than is returned for the effort . Maybe it had something to due with the changes from overcast and light rain to partly cloudy and back again . 

I am sure it made sense to the fish and that is what counts . I just had to adapt to what was instead of what I thought it should be .

[jdmidwest]

Enjoy it while you can, its been 9 weeks since my last fishing trip.  And I only did radiation.  I have been done with my 7 week treatment for 2 1/2 weeks now and just starting to build up steam again.  I dropped over 30 lbs starting at 163.  Food still only goes in with some kind of numbing medicine applied first.  Mouth burns are healing finally.

Starting the second week with the radiation, you will feel tired and not want to do much.  You will lose taste and burns in mouth will make even liquid hard to take by the 3rd week.  By the end of it, you will be sleeping more of the day than you will be awake.  The radiation will continue to drag you down for about 3 weeks after your last treatment before you start to feel better. 

I had the radiation to the tongue and right neck.  It really burned the mouth, to the point I could not talk much or swallow.  I kept the white lotion they give you on my skin regularly and did not get the burns on the outside.  It took the facial hair off and raised my hairline on the back of the neck.  I have a permanent tan now on that side.  It whacked my right shoulder pretty good, it bothers me.  I have a feeling it will affect casting and shooting rifles for some time in the future.

But is better than the alternative.  I saw so many that were in worse shape than me getting treatments.  I still feel I got off lucky with minimal damage.

[Norm M]

Long posterior day yesterday , passed out from exhaustion before I could post . I went back and revisited a few places on this particular creek that i had not been to for 3 years . 

I fished one stretch of a creek where the gradient is extremely low , the bottom is soft and emergent veggies all over . With the low flow on this creek the current flow was barely noticible . It looked more like a pond than a crick so that's how i fished it .

I used a beetle spin and let it drop next to every weed clump . If it hung up , I popped it free . Most of the smallmouth bass hit it on the pop free , a couple on the drop . No real size but decent numbers . 

I moved to another spot on the creek that used to be the rock bass spawning spot for a long stretch of this creek. Complete devastation by sand , could not see any evidence of rocks on the bottom . I caught nothing there on fast or slow presentations .

I moved up stream to a stretch that got straightened and looks more like a ditch . The last time I was there it was filling with sand . Well, I hope whoever made the decision to ditch it is happy , there is a beach under the skinny flow of water and not a fish to be seen . 

I am sure that ditching that stretch up stream of the former rock bass spawning area lead to that spots demise . What a waste of a resource . 

There is one spot downstream I did not get to because I needed to get home and sleep . I plan on getting to it sometime this week , hopefully the sand has not mucked it over yet .

[Norm M]

21 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

Enjoy it while you can, its been 9 weeks since my last fishing trip.  And I only did radiation.  I have been done with my 7 week treatment for 2 1/2 weeks now and just starting to build up steam again.  I dropped over 30 lbs starting at 163.  Food still only goes in with some kind of numbing medicine applied first.  Mouth burns are healing finally.

Starting the second week with the radiation, you will feel tired and not want to do much.  You will lose taste and burns in mouth will make even liquid hard to take by the 3rd week.  By the end of it, you will be sleeping more of the day than you will be awake.  The radiation will continue to drag you down for about 3 weeks after your last treatment before you start to feel better. 

I had the radiation to the tongue and right neck.  It really burned the mouth, to the point I could not talk much or swallow.  I kept the white lotion they give you on my skin regularly and did not get the burns on the outside.  It took the facial hair off and raised my hairline on the back of the neck.  I have a permanent tan now on that side.  It whacked my right shoulder pretty good, it bothers me.  I have a feeling it will affect casting and shooting rifles for some time in the future.

But is better than the alternative.  I saw so many that were in worse shape than me getting treatments.  I still feel I got off lucky with minimal damage.

 The oncologist who is doing the chemo and the radiology doc were both very upfront with what I was going to go thru . Chemo and radiation start the 17th so I guess it will be sometime in September before I recover .  I had a feeding tube put in my stomach . I am arranging for home health care to assist as it takes three hands to operate . My wife has RA real bad so she can't help but my insurance will cover most of that .  I do have a $5,000  of of pocket max then everything is covered 100% . As you know it won't take long to hit that limit .  As you said I will be miserable but I will be alive .

[Johnsfolly]

Norm

Glad that you are able to get time on the water before you go in for your therapy. We will be thinking of you here. Good Luck and stay strong!

[Norm M]

I went out today exploring a creek I have never been to except for fishing around the mouth . I went up to the north end of the county and followed it south . I did not get to the mouth as I was getting near home and there was fried chicken , taters and gravy and biscuits waiting . Guilty of exploration being over ruled by my stomach . 

I fished from the bridges and waded upstream and downstream from the bridges for a bit to kinda get a feel for it . 

As I got further downstream I ran into a couple spots it looks like I'll need the chest waders . At a couple of the bridges the land was posted with houses right there so I just fished from the bridge .

Just downstream and on the next southbound road from one of those spots I found a bridge where the land was not posted . I only waded downstrean just to be safe from confrontations . 

I primarily used a 1/16 oz jig with a 1 inch twister , a 1/8 oz jig with a 2 inch twister or a 1/16 oz beetle spin . At a couple pf the deeper spots I broke out a teeny deep rebel craw . 

Smallmouth bass the biggest about 14 inches on the rebel craw, rock bass, sunnies and creek chubs were also caught .

[Norm M]

Made a tour of multiple cricks today, just some quick in and outs at several spots on each . Pretty much the rain we got locally didn't do much , up a little and added some color to the water. 

Combination of buzzbaits[got two fish ] , beetlespins [ got better than a dozen ] , 1/16 oz jigs with 2 inch craws [ got better than a dozen ] , rebel wee craws both shallow and deep [ got 4 fish ] and a panther martin 1/16 oz spinner [ got 3 fish including the biggest of the day ] .

I was on the last crick using the Panther Martin spinner when I tied into a real good crick smallie , a tad over 17 inches . On a 51/2 ft ultra lite spin with a 100 reel and 6 lb test it was touch and go but lady luck was riding my shoulder . 

That was the last fish of the day as I figured it wasn't going to get any better than that . Sometimes Ma saves the best for last .

Edit to add smallmouth bass, rock bass , sunfish and creek chubs species caught .

[Norm M]

Yesterday , I just ran out of steam before I could post this report . 

I went back to two of the bridges that produced better than the others in the last report . Well it was a case of you should have been here yesterday . Except for two rockbass on a beetlespin , I might as well have been casting in my backyard . Nothing worked , I was getting hungry and sleepy , so I bagged it . 

Just one of those days, when you get humbled .