Knowing something to be true, but having the curiosity (or just plain stubbornness) to question it anyway seems to my default setting in life. I mention this because just the other day i set off on a day long hike looking for fish in a place that i KNEW they wouldn’t be. And if this were a great story, it would have turned out that there actually WERE fish there, all over 18 inches! Unfortunately this is just an okay story, there were no fish, and i didn’t learn anything about myself that i didn’t already know. The day just reinforced the things that i knew, and maybe in some Zen way that might be learning.
For lack of a car, i decided to bike to the 360/Barton Creek access trail, hell bent on finding some new spot on the Creek that could cough up a Bluegill or two. I had
Wondering if this was a good idea.
been checking out the flows and the creek was still up around 70 CFS which is a healthy flow for Barton Creek. Biking up to the Creek right below the 360 bridge, i was greeted by translucent rivulets careening off every rock in their path. It was a sight to behold. It could have been mountain run off with Trout in every pocket it was so beautiful. As i stood there scanning the water for life, a thought crept forth blanketing all the others…
“This is the first flow here in six months, what the hell are you hoping to find?”.
Ah yes, one healthy flow on what has been a dry creek bed for half the year probably isn’t the best place to hope to find fish.
Base camp!
I knew that miles upstream there were sections that i fished religiously, with pools that could carry fish over form drought to drought. But on this stretch it was just one disappointment after another. Somehow the bad idea of dragging my commuting bike, which is not suitable to the trails along the BC, became the albatross around my neck that fueled the stubborn part of me carry on. Mile after mile i dragged my worn out self, and my heavy ass bike up and down rock formations, crossing the flowing creek numerous times, and slipping through large sections of mud brought on by the recent rain. I’m sure i’ve mentioned it here before somewhere, but i REFUSE to turn around and retrace my steps, especially so when i’ve had a lapse in judgement. Unless my wife is along to insist on doing so, because afterall most of the time it makes sense, i will go well out of my way to avoid seeing the same thing twice. This day, doubly so.
I never caught a fish that day, and i didn’t learn anything about myself i didn’t know…except that i might even more stubborn than i thought. But i might have learned (finally) that SOMETIMES you just can’t expect the unexpected.
Not a fish, but a found creature none the less.
Man…there is a lot of water around us right now. To bad it doesn’t stick around longer.
