Two (unshaven) “mountain men.”  One spinning rod.  One fly rod.  One stream.  Fifty trout hooked and twenty-seven landed in five hours.  What a morning!

Sean and I made a quick weekend getaway to the cabin Friday afternoon and hit Moccasin Creek early Saturday morning. Before the sun was up we had parked the car and ambled down to the creek. The cloud cover kept the sunrise at bay a bit longer than usual, but we didn’t have any rain until later in the morning.

With a spinning rig, Sean began working a favorite pool with a gold-on-gold Panther Martin. I set up my fly pole with an indicator fly (Parachute Adams), with a Copper John nymph (small, a size 18) about 12 inches below. It couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes and we had both landed a decent stocker rainbow, in the 13- to 14-inch range. It was good to see Sean enjoying fishing as he sort of abandoned the sport a few years ago. See, I figure there are those who are lucky at fishing and those who aren’t, or maybe some are born with an intuitive skill. Sean, like me, has to work at catching fish. But that work can pay off, as it obviously did that Saturday.

Rain began to fall in earnest about mid morning, but thanks to the trees lining the stream banks, we were spared from getting too damp.  During the morning we switched up our lures. Sean went to my favorite gold-on-red Panther Martin while I opted for a Zebra Beadhead Nymph. I don’t think we went more than 30 minutes without one of us hooking a fish. In the end, Sean’s tally was sixteen trout hooked with nine landed; my record was thirty-four hooked and 16 landed. (Keep in mind that we only counted fish we touched or netted, meaning that we played some to shore, only to have them self release.)

After quick showers about noon, we headed to Columbia for some sarsaparilla and a gander at the town and a visit to the candy shop. We grabbed an early dinner of great hamburgers at the Diamondback Grill in Sonora. (I’m loving those buffalo burgers!) Driving back to the cabin we were entertained by a bit of lightning and thunder, and after watching a movie, it was early to bed.

It was a nice little break from everyday life, and maybe I can get Sean to go fishing again…