An Unnecessary Adventure

[WestCentralFisher]

The recently passed John Gierach had a quote I really liked in one of his books. I'll probably butcher it, but it's basically this: whenever you have a problem, the solution is to go fishing, and the worse the problem the longer the trip should be. Life hasn't been easy of late. In the span of less than two weeks, both of my remaining grandparents passed. In neither case was it unexpected or tragic, but it's an awful lot for a very short period of time.

The chaos having just ended, I really, really needed to go fishing, and it needed to be something slightly more adventurous than the little 2 acre pond a mile down the road. 

Right now I'm sitting beside what you could accurately describe as one of the more "remote" lakes in the state of Missouri. Now, anyone out west would laugh at that; all I really mean is you can't drive to it, and the couple mile hike to reach it isn't particularly easy. For that reason, while I know I'm not the only one who fishes it, I've never actually seen anyone else here. 

Naturally, there is no way in heck I'm telling you where it is. 

It's really pretty, but the fishing isn't special. There are a bunch of little tiny bass-again, basically no fishing pressure-and an assortment of panfish, which admittedly do run a fair bit larger than average. Objectively, it's not worth the hike from a pure fishing perspective; I can think of no fewer than 15 better places to fish you can drive right to within 20-25 miles. But the hike in is the main point.

It's also a little tricky to fish. It's very shallow along the banks, so I packed in my waders. A rare sight on stillwater in Missouri, and this lake is the only time I've used them that way east of Denver. But unless you're a really excellent fly caster, or carry a kayak in with you, there is no other way to get an olive woolly bugger to where the fish are holding in November.

And it is November. It's been a warm fall, but I wouldn't describe the fish as actively feeding. More, if you put something that looks like food in front of their face, they'll probably still hold up their end of the deal. I caught two little bass and a few panfish today; every time, the fight would start off sluggish, and then heat up when they registered what was happening. A staple of warm-water fishing in chilly water. 

I'm taking a short break to down a couple cliff bars and drink some water. I've not yet decided if I'll keep fishing or hike on down the trail a little further and see what's there. I'm leaning towards the latter. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to catch anything more impressive than I have already, and at a certain point I wonder what point I'm trying to prove by catching a couple more 10 inch bass. And before too awful long I'll want to get out of here to beat the worst or the rain forecast for this afternoon.

Nonetheless, this little lake always fulfills it's role. My legs are tired, my brain is happy, and there's just something special about catching what are probably the last few bass of the year before I transition to chasing trout pretty much exclusively for the next few months. I guess my point is, find an inconvenient, hard to get to fishing spot of you haven't. Sometimes they're exactly what you need. 

[ness]

Another excellent, well-written report! You’ve got a real talent for telling a story, like John. Thanks and keep it up please!!

[Phil Lilley]

Thanks for sharing.  Simple pleasures are sometimes the best treasures, and most times overlooked as just another fishing trip.  Nature has a way to heal.... thank you Lord for your gift to us.

[Quillback]

18 hours ago, ness said:

Another excellent, well-written report! You’ve got a real talent for telling a story, like John. Thanks and keep it up please!!

I agree, very good read!  One of the things I liked about living in Washington, and something I miss now, is having lots of hike in only places to fish.  Amidst stunning scenery to boot.