Russian River

I had a day off last week, and decided that Matt and I should go fishing. A "let's go downtown for a quick fishing trip," turned into a full day affair on the Russian River. A short two hour drive from our house is some of the finest red salmon fishing in the world. This is the stuff of legend: combat fishing. We could not have picked a better day to go. Sunny skies, warm weather, and bountiful fish. Matt worked a night shift the night prior and I had a long weekend. We both should have been napping, but we took the bait and fished!

The day was perfect!! We both left with two red salmon each. (I technically caught three, but let one go because it had a wound around its neck.) The max is three, but in our novice approach to fishing we were happy with two. I hit a few stumbling blocks during the day. The first was the rod and reel. I borrowed my father-in-laws equipment. I had difficulty with the reel all day. At one point the reel fell off the rod into the river. Don't worry dennis, I saved it. Lets just say all the kinks are worked out. Then after equipment difficulty, I took a bath in the Russian River. I had a salmon on my line (of course it had to be like 50 lbs!!! - as the story goes.) It got away I was trying to reel it in. The line snapped and I hit a rock with my heel and fell into the freezing cold Russian River. My hip waders were full of water. I emptied my boots, then went back in for my last fish. Unfortunately, I got cold and headed in with only two.

Perfecting the cast (sorry so blurry)

My first catch

"Combat fishing"

Our group's fish for the day

I am so ready to go back!! I bought new waders for the next trip. I now just need my own rod and reel!