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Caught In a Dream

1K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  fish-on 
#1 ·
Not necessarily the stuff from which most dreams are made, but this one is where I have been wandering. Its a bit hazy, either from the fog and drizzle, or maybe from the mist on my dreamer's eyes.
The Dream always begins with endless paddling to nowhere, and then it seems to find its own route to a fresh glimpse of serene solitude.
 

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#2 ·
The cutthroat have been small for most of the dream, sometimes few and far between, and sometimes plentiful. Finally, just before I awoke from my last slumber which took me there, I managed to hook a couple of "larger" ones in the 13" range. I released 'em without taking their pics, since I didn't want to curse my newfound good luck.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the comments. I actually have a lot of much better pics of those places taken over the past few years, but those are from my last three excursions over the past 3 weeks. Those are mainly from the paddle in to a couple of different destinations. I think I had condensation or mist on my camera lens on a few of them.
I admit that I am reluctant to post any pics of some of my favorite cutthroat lies, since their unique features would make them too easy to find.

Paddle is a Werner Camano, which is a touring paddle. Made here in WA.

The last couple of rains we've had out here have been enough to get some searuns moving in.

Ron, that first shot is looking back over my stern after paddling in for a little over an hour, about 3 miles from my launch. Was glassy calm all morning, and the wind never did get too bad in the afternoon.

You know, there could be a cutthroat hanging out behind any one of those pilings! And the root wads protruding from the high muddy banks, and the submerged logs, fallen trees, and grass clumps....I just can't ever fish all of them on any one tide change and still hit some other good spots up and downstream, and I never know how many good cutthroat I pass by. Then there's the edges of the eel grass flats where the river channel winds through the estuary...

Tides come around for morning paddling again next week. I like to ride the last of the push of the incoming tide back in to the far end or upstream (depending on the locale) and fish when the winds are light. Right now we're coming off of a few days of early morning minus tides with mid-afternoon high tides and strong gusty NW winds in the afternoon. That makes for a gruel of a return trip and difficult casting. Poking your way back into a tidal creek from the estuary starting at the low tide can be fun and interesting, though. I try to paddle and fish on the light wind days.

There's all that "other" fishing calling me, as well as home maintenance and surfing to do when the conditions aren't good for paddling. And I need to tie some flies! The cutts tore up the last one of my favorite trolling patterns on the last trip, and I could always use a few more reversed spiders.
 
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