January 23, 2018 – A Welcomed Reprieve from Life – Nap Time on Valley Creek

Valley big but beautiful by any measure

I have not fished since January 11^th, and that is too long!  I have had good reasons, however.  For one my wife (who had ACL surgery this summer too!) had surgery on her wrist last week, so she can’t drive, type, work, open jars, or travel coffee mugs, or doors, you know, short-term disability with a loving husband and son as the caretakers.  The surgery went well, we believe, and the recovery and pain have thus far been nothing like this summer’s ACL recovery.  We all hope this continues.  On top of that, Tami’s mom is pretty sick, so there is a lot going on there too.  Then, before the long MLK weekend, I started having tremendous tooth pain which required an emergency root canal and crown procedure last Tuesday, after nearly 5 days of pain and over the counter pain management.  Good times!  Last one, I promise, but I also had to pick the boy up at the school nurse and take him to the emergency room last week to go through a little concussion protocol and to get his first set of stitches, as well.  It has just been a rough couple of weeks, but the scars will be minimal on most of the issues, we hope.

Visibility = 4 inches.

After Tami takes her Percocet for pain, nap time quickly follows, so I took advantage of a particularly long nap today to get out there and chunk a big Roberdeau streamer in chocolatey Valley Creek.  I spent about 90 minutes on the water, right in the park with cars whizzing by, and moved about 8 fish, landing 4 of them, including a beautiful 15 inch fish.  Some might say it was a charmed 90 minutes!  Always greedy, even after such a long period of not fishing, I chose to target big fish with a big fly this afternoon, and it worked out, so I will take that kind of charmed any day!

The Roberdeau is one of Sam's ties, meant to mimic a bass tube in many ways.

I had to teach tonight and be home for the boy at the bus stop before that, so it was a quick jaunt and a quicker tour of some high water hot spots on a short stretch of creek, but I enjoyed the break from all the responsibilities and the successful fishing was a bonus, the little wild piggy a bonus bonus..  I just hope that I didn’t plant a seed that makes me start to neglect my responsibilities at home and work.  I was doing so well up until today!

I moved at least 8 fish, and landed 4, including this pale, pretty one.

One last shot: a better look at the fish's girth