Where the Fish Are

While Mom and Dad were still visiting, we got to do a little fly fishing and explore some of the local fishing holes. When we were in Orient, we could walk out the back door and down to the Kettle River. The rocks on the shores were quite large and made navigating the banks a bit perilous...they were huge ankle-breaking boulders actually. I caught one nice fish, but had to hike up river for a bit to get to the best hole. After getting fed up with the boulders on the banks of the Kettle in Orient, we decided to try our luck at some of the small lakes around Republic. After perusing our handy maps, we discovered a small fly fishing only lake tucked into the forest a ways off any heavily traveled road. We figured since not many people fly fish around here, strangely enough, this would be the spot for us. And boy, was it a gem! As it turned out, we were the only people there that day...a gorgeous, temperate and sunny day at that. As soon as we dipped our lines in the water, we were getting bites. David was the first to hook one....a nice-sized cutthroat. Dad and I were both getting numerous bites and we caught a few smaller trout, mostly rainbows. We never even moved from the first, gravel bank we came to. I wonder what else we would have seen had we decided to hike around the lake a bit. We did see a couple of beautiful loons, a bald eagle fending off an osprey, and we heard an elk bugling in the forest just beyond the south side of the lake. I managed to catch a good-sized rainbow before all the biting stopped. The comedic relief came when Dad decided to attempt to wade a little further off shore and instead, sank into knee deep mud where he fell almost completely over into the water and lost his sandal on his way out....when we went back to try to find it, it had vanished into the mud without a trace. Lucky for dad, he made it out alive, minus his sandal, of course. :) All in all, it was a great day of fishing and family time. The dogs tagged along and loved it. Can't wait to go back and try out all the bamboo rods my grandfather has given us!...fly fishing at its finest, I hear. Guess we'll find out.

Me and my big rainbow

Mom getting her stuff ready

Me, fishing off the gravel shore

David's pretty cutthroat

Dad trying to get out of the mud :)

Sorting out our gear

Kenai at the lake