Day fifty five - Saturday

Although we're here for the shows, today wasn't a show day. The first part of the day was spent relaxing. I checked out the nearby river and was amazed at the fish that were in the river and being caught. I was equally amazed at the number of fishermen working the river as evidenced by this photograph. It seems every October and November the Brown Trout come up the river and people come for all over to try to catch one. I'm told they get up to ten pounds. Most of the people fishing the river were fly fishers but there were also spin fishers on the river.

A fishing license for non-resident is $7.00 a day and $7.00 for a trout stamp. Fortunately even non-residents only have to buy the trout stamp once. If a non-resident wants to fish for six days or more, there's a season license available for $40.00.

I figured we are going to be here for eight days so I'd wait til later in the week to fish but I just couldn't help myself. I went to the nearby fly shop, bought a license for the day along with a dozen flies ($1.00 each for the productive scud pattern) and hit the river at about 4:00.

Fish were rising all around me. I figured a trout is a trout so I tied on several dry flies and tried to catch a rising trout. No luck! The guy at the fly shop told me the dry fly bite is a tough one but I just had to try. Okay, I broke down and tied on a scud. Bang, fish on! I caught four nice Rainbows but no Browns. I thought I'd change my luck later in the day and try a dry again. Still no luck. I then threw a bead head wooley bugger and caught another Rainbow. All the Rainbows I got were in the 12 to 14 inch range and very scrappy. By now it was getting pretty late and dark. It was about 6:30. Plus, my feet were so cold I couldn't feel them. I gave it up.

Back at the coach I found Ann had had a relaxing afternoon of computing and TV. We had a game of Scrabble and watched game three of the playoffs. I hoped Colorado was going to pull this one out but it wasn't to be. I'd hate to see Boston sweep Colorado. We'll see about that tomorrow night.

Picture shows fishers lined up on Lake Taneycomo. Although it's called a lake, it is the tailwater of the dam for Table Rock Lake in the background. It flows and fishes like a river and is full of Rainbow Trout. I counted over 50 people fishing, some from boats, in a 200 yard section of the "lake."