Trout & Bear

Well, this past week had a big surprise for me. Every year I go on a three to four day camping and fishing trip to wade into as many trout streams as possible. It's my gypsy fishing adventure. I pick an area with several diverse types of streams, close enough together, so that I can squeeze in a lot of fishing time. The truck is loaded with only the bare necessities concerning camping and fishing gear, and away I go...

The first day included gusty winds on a big river that had no sign of any hatch going on...didn't see a bug in the air or on the water's surface. Not a good sign for a dry fly guy. So, I turned the situation into an opportunity. Turned out to be a fun day for taking my MBR rod through its paces and come to some conclusions about its performance capabilities (see previous post). Yeah, it's an impressive fly rod, indeed!

The next morning, I drove further up into the Rocky Mountains to fish a couple of streams at higher altitude. It was a fabulous fishing day and was exactly what I was hoping to experience. Working a mountain stream with a light line rod is my passion. Great fishing, until the rains came pouring down later in the afternoon. That's okay. I took a break and drove into a nearby little town to get a bite to eat...under a roof and out from the rain. I was hungry. And then it occurred to me...this rain is here to stay. With that reality, I decided to cut my trip short and head for home. That's when the big surprise hit...literally.

As the two lane blacktop road came out of the mountains and into New Mexico, my peripheral view caught a charging bear in a dead run for the road. I now know just how fast a bear can run. And he never stopped, running right across the road in front of the truck. I could hear my tires skidding on the wet blacktop surface. BAMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

You know. I have prepared myself in event I am fly fishing and have a bear charge at me...as to how I'll respond to the threat. But, I never gave a thought to a charging bear suddenly appearing in front of my truck. Yeah, it took some time to get things sorted out with the State Police, once I got back into cell service and could contact them. Needless to say, I was very late getting home and with adrenaline still surging within me, there wasn't much sleep that night.

Life has surprises and one must take the bad with the good. This trip had both…and, I'm still feeling very sad for the bear.

Gear: Montana Brothers Rodworks 904 rod, Winston IM6 7'6" 3wt rod; Hardy Perfect 3 1/8" reel, Trutta Perfetta 3" reel; Rio LightLine WF4F and WF3F lines; Fisknat landing net; Dry flies only, as usual.

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