Monday, February 7, 2011

Adventure On The Dark, Provo River

Do you ever have the desire to try something new, not knowing what to fully expect?   Usually, I will venture out and do something new as long as it's safe...Well...a few of my fishing club buddies wanted to go do some night fishing.  And it was my birthday to boot!  So, it sounded like a fun time...I bought a headlamp and I thought that I was ready...Oh, yeah, I also grabbed some mice knowing that this might be the first time that I could actually catch a fish on one!  But, no!  That wasn't all I needed...as I was going to find out.  I needed a secret service agent. Or a bouncer...or, Owl Jones! Yeah, that would have been more like it. 


So, let me begin...It was a nice summer evening in August.  The sun was just starting to give way to shadows on the water.  We had caught a few fish and were having a good time.  As the darkness approached, I grabbed my headlight and adjusted it where I would need it.  One step at a time, I carefully went into a pool of water just deep enough to give me a little apprehension, but the current was slow.  I was a just a little nervous, being the first time on a pretty big river at night. The moonlight glistening on the river was quite beautiful.  This river is famous for Brown and Rainbow trout.  And the night fishing is supposed to be some of the finest that you can find.



I was quite excited about it all, until..."Splash"! "Splash"! "Splash"!  WTF(udge)!!!  Rocks were being thrown at us from up above in the trees.  The section of the Lower Provo has elevated banks that have thick brush and trees.  We couldn't see who was throwing rocks, but this was not very funny, indeed!  I really didn't want to get hit in the head.  You couldn't see what direction the rock was coming from...so a pretty helpless feeling, if you know what I mean!  We yelled back at them to stop the throwing...but, to no avail.  So, here we were in the middle of a dark river, and nowhere to go as the missles were being fired at us, so to speak!  We called the Sheriff, as we stood in the river and they said that they would come and check it out.  They were about a half hour away though.  We thought about walking out, but then thought that we were actually safer where we were.  We didn't want to get into any scuffle with them either.  So, we stayed put.  Rocks were being hurled at us and above our heads about every five minutes.  It was not fun.  I will say that.  My legs were cramping up standing in one place.  In the dark of the Provo River, I never thought that my birthday would be so adventurous!  Or scary...I just wanted to throw a few mice.  One of my friends,  yelled out that he had a BB gun and he wasn't afraid to use it! (Although, he didn't have it on him at the time)  Oh yeah, that did it. Silence...five min...ten min...were they gone?



We heard the Sheriff yell out to us that they had arrived.  They combed the area and no one was there.  So, we all waded out to meet the Sheriff and his search and rescue dogs...ha.  We gave our report and the last thing the Sheriff said to us was, "If you are going back in to fish, have a good time!"  Yeah, right!  This night was finished.  We all laugh about it now and have a code word "Splash" that we say between us when we fish on the river now.  So, I guess that you could say, that fishing with me is...well...interesting!  Adventure in every riffle...errr...pool, whatever! (And my term, "Incoming" is not related to this night in any way!!)



 


19 comments:

  1. I've been fooled into thinking that rocks were being thrown at me in a river at night... more than once... by none other than your friendly neighborhood beaver. When beavers feel threatened or spooked at night, they slap their tails on the surface of the water and it sounds exactly like rather large rocks being tossed in the river. They'll do it repeatedly, trying to intimidate you... until you leave. It's quite terrifying until you figure out the source of the noise... then it just becomes one of the comforting sounds of nature at night. Could it possibly have been beavers?
    Just the thoughts of a Nocturnal Naturalist.

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  2. Yes, you did need Owl. :) I'd have turned off my light, told you guys to keep fishing and taken off to find out exactly what their problem was! Of course, I might have ended up in a "scuffle" as you call it, but that would at least have let you guys fish for a while unmolested! It was probably just some kids thinking they were just having some fun. I think Jay's hypothesis holds some water ( pardon the pun) but if the splashes were close and many, I doubt that it could be many beavers all at once or one very nascar-fast beaver tearin' up the water. Jay, also - wouldn't a beaver alarm once or twice and then high-tail it out of the area? I don't know much about beavers.

    My guess is kids thinking it was funny. Your headlamps made you easy marks in that dark river, I'm sure.

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  3. Jay ~ No, that would have been more comforting...but, I'm pretty sure these were stupid individuals trying to give us a scare.
    The splashes were just too close. But, thanks for giving me this info for future trips out!

    Blake ~ Good one!

    Owl ~ Nascar beavers...yeah, right! I'm thinking that they wouldn't have hung around for an hour...And don't think that these kids would have been laughing if one of us got seriously hurt. I believe that we turned off the headlamps after the throwing started. That's why I stayed in the same place.

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  4. Owl,
    Beavers are more comfortable in the water than on land, so they (in my experience) don't leave... they try to intimidate you to leave. I've had a beaver remind me for at least half an hour (15 slaps or more) that he was in a swampy pond that I was wading in at night (photographing snakes and frogs)... and he did not want me in "his" pond. I was not intimidated. If he started gnawing on my legs, that would make me leave.

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  5. Just trying to make you feel better.

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  6. The life of a Naturalist! Jay cannot be intimidated! That is awesome...

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  7. Jay ~ The beaver theory wouldn't apply to this story as we did hear something in the bushes above us...but, I am glad to stay out of swampy ponds...no worries about that! ;)

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  8. Teenage punks (or hillbillies) with rocks are much scarier than beavers. I would be slightly intimidated in that situation.

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  9. Personally, I believe you may have had a chance encouter with the rare and rarely seen nocturnal Utah rock chucking muskrat! Aggressive little monsters!

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  10. Well, when you say, an adventure in every riffle, you aren't kidding. I thought about asking you if you've ever had a normal fishing trip, but I guess normal is relative. Sounds like odd experiences are the norm in your case.

    I must say I've had a beaver or two give me quite a start. And I was so enthralled in my fishing one day, I didn't notice a guy walk up behind me. Couldn't hear him over the sound of the river, and he was like, HAVE ANY LUCK!? I nearly jumped completely out of my waders. Maybe I should cut back on the coffee.

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  11. "Hey you woodchucks, quit chuckin' my wood!"

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  12. I think Cofisher may have discovered the culprits.

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  13. Muskrats, Beavers, Woodchucks...Hillbillies???

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  14. Mark ~ What is a "Normal" fishing trip, btw???
    Cofisher & Midgeman ~ I hear woodchucks in the next post!
    AFA ~ Let's just say that I don't want a repeat!

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  15. For you RD, I have no idea what a normal fishing trip should be. For me, I load up the truck, go to the creek and fish, pack up and leave. That seems so boring now.

    I'm leaning towards woodchucks. After all, you didn't hear any human voices, and noise from the bushes could've certainly been a woodchuck.

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  16. I must admit, I laughed at your story. Of course I would be scared too being on the river at night, but looking back it gives a chuckle. Just glad no one was donked on the head

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  17. Mark & Steph...I guess that this is the "norm" for my trips out!! Maybe that is why I started blogging because there is plenty to write about! Ha.

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