Fishing alone. I always fish alone. I didn't grow up fishing. No outings with friends, or brothers or dad or grandpa.When I started fishing it wasn't necessarily my intention, but now it has become a habit.Recently, I've had some opportunities to break the solo angling barrier, but I just didn't follow through with it. There are advantages and disadvantages to fishing alone.The first would seem obvious-you're not sharing the stream or fish with anyone. Since I fish at times and places that no one else does( I have seen a total of 5 other anglers in a dozen years of fishing), I've begun take those advantages for granted. But on Sapillo Creek a couple of weeks ago, I felt the rare pang of a disadvantage. I had hooked, landed and released a huge Gila trout (easily over 16 inches and a couple of pounds), and I realized I wish someone else had been there to witness, share and just laugh over this extraordinary bit of circumstance.Sharing it after the fact would not be the same at all. Perhaps that's why so many want to write about their fishing experiences- to relive with others those nearly transcendental moments. We have to convince someone, and perhaps ourselves that it indeed did happen.
that's a beautiful looking lake. i wish i had done more then the san juan when i lived in new mexico
ReplyDeletegood post and so true, I too spend lots of time fishing alone and to be honest, I usually enjoy it, until yes I do catch that 20+ inch fish. lol...
ReplyDeleteMy name is drew and i too was alone at sapillo creek today and caught a 16 inch gila trout. it's an excellent place to fish
ReplyDeleteDutch Salmon sent me to Sapillo, after theGila River Festival a few years back.He reined being too tired to go, but I believe I had done the unforgivable, catching a 8 pound channel catfish out of the same hole he fished! Now onto Sapillo, now as a former guide at Gila Cliff Dwellings I HAD fished the Sapillo twice before its outlet at Lake Roberts(6 bass!) And a brief sojourn with soon to be ex,losing two large gila hybrid trout at the first large boulder off HWy 15.... But that day in September the water was almost clear and I caught and released at least 14 trout of various sizes and coloration.Some had the pale golden look of the Gilas closely related cousin the Apache trout, interestingly I have caught Apace trout up on Mount Graham that were distinctly Gila looking with the rainbow like lateral line heavy spotting and even a faint cutthroat mark.... No Dutch, a literary and real hero to me did not go, so no one saw me catch the same 18 " Gila trout you wished to share but... we did , and the magic of Gila conglomerate rock, vigorous riparian forest and stream born fish, the ones nature or god what have you, placed in The Sapillo...
ReplyDelete