03-28-2013, 09:00 AM
<br /> I got out for my first fishing trip of the year last Sunday. We dropped a truck off in Reliance and drove up to the Powerhouse to put in our fleet of one kayak and two canoes. It was overcast and they were running about 2700 cfs the whole time we were there, and while I tried to catch some on the fly, everything we caught came off of ultralight rigs with gold or yellow with red spots panther martin spinners. We caught about 18 between the three of us, with the biggest coming in around 13 inches and averaging 11&amp;quot; or so. <br /> <br />It was mainly a shake down trip for the new canoes and anchor systems. I&#39;m glad we went, I&#39;ve got to make a few changes to my anchor, which is basically this setup.I didn&#39;t wrap my chain in tape, and it was making quite a racket bouncing off the rocks, so much so that I could hear it from 20 feet away above the water. <br /> My father in law also tipped over going over a set of two ledges. I was anchored fishing upstream from him and I watched as he went down the first ledge successfully, so I turned back to my fishing. One second later I hear a crash. Now, the ledges totaled about a four foot drop in about 10 feet, so that looking at them from upstream there was a distinct horizon created by this, so that you could not really see what was below the ledge unless it was sticking up past it. When I turn back to look, all I could see was a leg from the knee down and a blade of a kayak paddle quickly dropping from sight behind the ledge. I got my anchor up as quick as I could to go help, but by the time i was down there he was on the bank with his son dumping the water from his kayak. He was fine and had a set of dry clothes he changed in to, and only lost a little Ugly Stik ultralight, so we were able to laugh pretty hard about me just seeing his leg and paddle disappearing over the ledge.<br /> We got back on the river, caught several more between us, and finished the rest of the float without incident. Good times. <br />