Recently, I traveled to the Blue River to join in a day of trout fishing with my cousin, Gary. He lives in Duncan, OK, but recently took a job out here in Midland, TX. Seeing that he grew up in west Texas and spent many years working various jobs out here, he seems to be pretty darned happy to be back out here. However, his wife remained in Duncan until his job works out where he'll be permanently living. Seeing as he oversees fiber installation from almost El Paso to Eldorado to Amarillo, he is probably going to settle near San Angelo.
Well, enough about him. Now, about me and the trip!
Gary stopped over on a Friday about noon and we loaded up my pickup with lots of his fishing gear. We headed out and immediately stopped for a big, sloppy Burger King burger! Since we were going to be on the road for around seven hours, we turned the radio off and talked a whole bunch about current affairs, things that happened to us since we were kids, and just things in general.
We stopped for ice cream at Dairy Queen and a much needed pit stop at Braum's grocery in Wichita Falls before pulling into his abode in Duncan. His darling wife (who was recovering from a stomach ailment) greeted us and, seeing as I'd only met her once before, we got to know each other a bit more.
Gary laid down some ground rules about fishing with him. Nice. He put these rules down after we got to Duncan so I couldn't negotiate any changes. :) His rules were simple: we were going FISHING and nothing else. There will be no stopping for lunch, no beer drinking until after we finished, and no wimps need go. OK. So those aren't bad rules as I totally agreed with all of them.
At 0700, Doug (Gary's friend) arrived and we started off on the adventure.
Let me say that I didn't realize that going FISHING involved a lot of rules really unrelated to fish. First, we had to stop at Carl's Jr. for breakfast. Not McDonalds or Joe's Taco Stop.
Next, we had to stop at Wal Mart about an hour away to buy their super secret guaranteed to catch fish bait (I swore I would not tell anyone that their secret bait was frozen, cooked shrimp. Apparently, it stays on the hook better than raw shrimp.) and it gave me an opportunity to buy my non-resident fishing license.
Finally, we had to stop at a small Phillips 66 convenience store to purchase one, and only one, oatmeal cookie thing. Evidently, Doug must eat one of these and we will be guaranteed to have a great day of actually catching fish. If he doesn't have one (from this particular store), the fish will know and not jump onto the hooks.
We finally pulled into a small parking area where we got all of our stuff and started a walk of about one mile or so to the Blue River. Gary and I headed up to a small water fall and started casting into the really beautiful river. In less than 30 minutes, I caught one small mouthed bass and one trout as Gary pulled in two nice trout. Since this was the "catch and throw it back so it could be caught again and again" place, we hitched up our waders and headed over to the "guaranteed to catch a catfish" spot.
I threw my bait into the river, reached over to light my cigar, and put the cigar down because I was already getting a bite.
To make a long story short, I was getting bites left and right. I finally hooked a nice sized large mouthed bass! No catfish, though, since the only one I hooked spit out the bait just as I was pulling it out of the water.
We then headed down to "the pond" where I was guaranteed to catch a lot of trout. To get there, however, I had to climb through some of the worst brush and briars I've seen in some time. Once we did get there, we were disappointed in seeing seven other fishermen already there.
After a couple of hours, we decided to head back and find Doug. We moved upstream for a few hundred yards to try a crossing at the cable. About halfway across the river at the big water falls, we saw trout hitting the top of the water so we just had to fish.
An hour later, we had tried every type of bait, lure, plug, etc., we had in our inventory and those stupid trout ignored all of them!
Since the sun was getting low (like almost setting), we ripped through the brush, tearing down small trees, and making enough noise to raise the dead. Finally, we got to the western bank and found the path. Starting to head back to where Doug was last seen, we decided he was a big boy and could find his way back to the truck. About 3/4 of the way back, he caught up with us, regaling us with stories of the dozens of trout he'd caught (and tossed back).
We got back late and watched Baylor soundly defeat then #1 Kansas State. I was so tired, I excused myself and slept the sleep of the dead.
Next day, after a great lunch with Gary, Doug, and their families, we drove back to Midland.
Overall, I had a great time and truly enjoyed every minute of it (except for the thorn I jabbed into my thumb). Gary and Doug are outstanding companions and a delight to be with. Maybe next time My Sweetie will be able to go with us.
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