Rude mosquitoes & rude fishermen

I was motivated to write about the rude mosquitoes. And I was stupefied to write about the rude fishermen. It's difficult for me to know which is worse = hungry mosquitoes biting me at 2:00 AM, leaving large, itchy welts OR the rude fishermen who abuse the river, crowd your fishing spot, and break the law. Believe me, I know which is worse and which offends me more.

The tiny, buzzing insect bites may itch for a while, but with a little ointment the discomfort goes away. The interruption on my peaceful day by thoughtless fishermen doesn't go away for a long time.

The hungry mosquitoes are just doing their natural, biological habit of survival. The rude, inconsiderate fishermen who leave their worm container trash on the riverbank, who think that the cigarette butts, plastic cigar tips, and beer cans are going to disappear or float away to a magic trash can, who ignore the fishing regulations by killing way too many fish, that is inexcusable.

Yes, I choose to fish a section of the river that is very easy to get to. Yes, I could walk a little further and get away from the elbows of the fisherman who insists on crowding me. They are sometimes so close we could touch rod tips! And a couple days ago a worm fisherman hooked my blue fly line. Another tossed their red and white bobber right at me and I was afraid their treble hooks would snag me. That’s way too close so I had to tell them they almost hit me.

When the fisherman was slowly killing the 20”+ rainbow trout in his net, he asked me if the dog would eat the fish he was about to lay on the riverbank. I said “no”, but I should have said “the dog knows better than to kill the fish.” He stashed it in the bushes while he tried to catch a fish of his own. I was confused that he was able to talk another fisherman into giving him the 20”+ rainbow. Not sure why someone would hand over their fish unless they knew them. Watching him try to catch fish I knew there wouldn’t be too many killed by him, but for some reason that other fisherman continued to give him fish. He had parked his SUV in the “no parking” area near the boat ramp and we watched him put more fish in the cooler, but it was 6:00 PM and too late to call the warden. A guide with clients had already given him a talk-to about why you shouldn’t kill the fish and why you have to abide by the law. If I see him doing it again I will call since the warden encourages us to do so.

I’ll take swarms of mosquitoes biting me, doing what is natural, any day compared to the thoughtless, rude, stupid behavior of someone who thinks they can trash the river and kill the fish without consequence. Obviously they don’t think about the repercussions of destroying the river. Come on people, children are taught at an early age not to be a litter bug, that if we don’t take care of the environment it won’t be there to take care of us, that rules are there for a reason, and that being polite will get you a lot further than being rude.

I’m finished with my rant for now. We’re off to the river, hoping to find a spot where we have some elbow room. I can count on the mosquitoes being there.

Hanging pictures in the motorhome

Making it feel like home. I finally decided which picture frames I wanted where and which photos I wanted in the frames. And I haven't put any holes in the walls of the motorhome to hang things. I use the 3M removeable hooks that stick on the walls. And hope that when I do remove the 3M fasteners that they don't damage the walls. They're not supposed to. I removed the glass from 2 of the frames to make them weigh less, but put some extra photos in the back of the frame so I can easily change the photos when I want to.

We use the 3M hooks for keeping hand towels, keys and ball caps handy. For the picture frames we use the 3M products specifically made for frames - removeable picture hanging strips. They are a Velcro-like product and seem to hold the frames without slipping or falling off the wall. I plan to remove the photo frames when we travel because I don't think the fasteners can withstand the bumps and jarring of most highways.

I was reluctant to put things on the walls because there is so little wall space. We try not to have too many things out and in the way because in the small space of an RV you can quickly become overwhelmed with clutter. (I mean we would become overwhelmed with all the clutter.) There is so little clear wall space in RVs. Having wall space showing makes the rooms feel a little more spacious. However, I need to have some decoration and feeling like we live here. This is home.

Update on cross-country bicycle ride

If you haven't checked in on Todd and Jared's website lately, Todd is making good progress on his cross-country bicycle ride. Todd is riding from Oregon to Virginia in support of his nephew Jared who is battling Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Their website is interesting, humorous and you get a view of the ride from the comforts of your home. Todd's narrative is funny and his photos are great. Check it out if you have some time. You'll find the blog under Follow Me here http://www.jaredsmiles.org/  (Todd added the Follower feature to his Blogger blog and you can easily add yourself. I've thought about adding the Follower feature to ours, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I already have one Follower so I guess I should.)

Ahhh, the marvels of modern technology. Todd is also using Twitter. You can find him here http://twitter.com/Jaredsmiles if you use Twitter.

Todd, I hope you have clear skies, a smooth path, and a tail wind in your favor.

More on the underwater Olympus 1050 camera

I love having a camera that's small enough to carry in my pocket and that I'm not afraid of dunking in the river! Last year our friends Dan and Jerry Short of Idaho showed me their camera and the underwater video of fish they took. Steve also has a similar camera that he carries on the river and I just had to have one. I was afraid I (or someone) would drop the Sony or Nikon in the water and that would be the end of that! Many times I'd not be able to retrieve it out of the backpack on shore and we'd miss taking the photo. So, when my birthday got near, we made the purchase at Costco and said it was this year's bday gift to me.

Now if I could only get the fish to slow down and pose. They are so anxious to get away and back to the depths of the river.


The Olympus camera is a little slower than what we are used to with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200. It takes it a few seconds to start up and to recover between shots. However, the fact that it is able to take underwater still shots and underwater video out-weighs the slowness. We just have to realize that the fish are quicker than the camera and have the camera ready before we start to handle the fish. We could try putting it on burst mode and take multiple shots at once. We've missed a couple of still shots because the fish are quicker, but all in all we love the waterproof feature of the little camera. And it is little. It could be a slight problem handling it if you have larger hands. I've thought about getting a floating strap for it in case I drop it. The photo quality is good at 10.1 megapixels. I used it on July 4th after dark to take the fireworks exploding in air. I take it everytime we go out on the river and keep it handy in my shirt pocket.

A happy big brown trout

Rick's big, happy brown trout being released. This fish was 20" long and 12" around. One fat, healthy brown trout!

Lots to write, but

But, I just had to post this photo. Even though I have lots of other stuff on my mind to share, this is most important to me.

First fish on a 'dry'

With the warm weather comes not only mosquitoes, but mayflies and yellow sallies, aka dry flies. Dry flies mean fish looking up, feeding on the surface, fish chasing emergers, jumping on bugs floating on the surface.

A few days ago we were fishing and Rick called me up to where he was fishing, at the far bank. We were both nymph fishing with tiny size 20 PT flashbacks and we were getting some nice fish. However, Rick had seen some mayflies in the air and had seen a fish taking them off the surface. He knew I'd been waiting for just that. I quickly changed up flies, took off the ball and chain (thingamabobber & sinkers) and I haven't looked back. Instead, I'm looking for rising fish.

Back to the mosquitoes. A lot of the fishing reports from the local fly shops mention the fish and the flies to use. AND they also state that the mosquitoes are horrible! They are unbelievably pesty, to say the least.

Mother Deer & twins

I just had to post this photo in case you didn't see the slideshow in the previous post. Rick did a great job with the camera. Always does.

Road Trip for Brookies

We made a road trip in search of brook trout in a small stream about an hour away from camp. Eric, Stefanie, 13 year old Addison, and Rick & I loaded into Eric's truck for the day trip. We headed off on the dirt road to Selway Creek and soon after arriving we hit the stream. Using small elk hair caddis or a larger 'stimi' pattern, we all hooked our share of small brook trout. Addison got the hang of casting the light-weight 3-weight rods and hooked many fish on her own. The small fish are quick to jump on the hook hoping for a tasty fly. They were 3" to about 9" and no, we didn't keep any for the fry pan. We had a yummy lunch of sandwiches and chips (why does food always taste better in the great outdoors?) and then we were back to fishing for a little longer. The thunder and lightening and rain drove us off the river and into the truck to continue our drive through the trees and over the hills.

We drove on again in search of another stream and it began to hail. Big hail stones the size of cherries, some we thought were the size of ping pong balls. And no where to hide on the dirt road. Thankfully it was a slushy, soft hail or the truck would have plenty of dings and dents. We'd all been in hail storms before, some that have done damage to vehicles and buildings, but this hail was really large. It was like someone throwing snowballs down on us.

Across one of the valleys, at least a mile away, we could see horses and cows, but there was some other animal that Eric said had to be elk. We stopped just long enough for me to get out the Nikon P80 with the 18x zoom and try to focus on the big herd of elk. Oh, if only they weren't a mile away. But they were definitely elk. I wish I had another photo that would show how far away they were. I remember the time we were in Greer, Arizona on a dirt road and came upon a huge herd of elk on the road. They weren't afraid of us and we were able to sit for quite a while and observe them all around us.

As we drove along Addison spotted a deer or 2 in the woods that we scared as we drove by. She also saw a lone elk that quickly made it's escape when it saw the truck. Rick saw a deer and it didn't run away like the others and we were able to stop, hoping to get some photos. What a nice surprise to see that the doe had 2 very young babies with her and they were staying close enough to the road that Rick was able to get these photos. They were so cute with their white spots. This was probably the highlight of my day and I could have sat for hours watching them.

4th of July Montana-style

It may not have been as spectacular as the huge fireworks shows in New York or Washington D.C., but it sure was fun! Everything from colorful smoke bombs, to sparklers, bottle rockets and fountains that shot in the air. The other families who were camping with us brought fireworks, legal in Montana, and the kids sure had fun. The older kids also had fun.

Happy 4th!

We are enjoying our 4th of July with Eric and his family and Jeff and his family here at the campground. Although the forecast is for afternoon scattered thunderstorms, we're going to cook out on the campfire again tonight. We have brats, corn on the cob, coleslaw, and smores for dessert. I hope we get to do a little fishing today. Tonight when it gets dark (10:00 PM or later) they will light the fireworks they brought with them.

We hope your 4th of July is filled with good food and lots of good friends and family. Be safe.

Underwater RiverCam

This underwater video camera sure takes some practice! This is our first attempt at photographing or videoing (sp?) wild trout. I did play with the camera some in the pool, but I will spare you the video of family swimming and blowing bubbles underwater. I think a couple things made this difficult = 1.) the water was only a few inches deep where we released the fish, and 2.) the fish didn't want to hang out in shallow water. It quickly darts off when I release my hold on it.



This isn't like snorkling and having a camera to swim with. We are only in the water up to our ankles and perhaps moving out to knee-deep will be easier. Still, I find it challenging. but you can bet that I'll be trying more of it. It is a 2-person task though, so I'll have to convince Rick to give me a hand.