First fish(es) of the year...

I don't fish much these days, and so this TR documents
the first fish I caught this year, and several thereafter.

I actually did break out my flyrod earlier this year, as
I mentioned on ROFF before. In march I fished about 20min
on the Middle Fork of the Gila, during a lunch break on
a horseback ride into the Middle Fork. The river was high
and I caught nothing.

Two weekends ago my wife and I did a one-night pack-in
with our horse, mule, and burro into the Mimbres River
in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area. While we've done
plenty of truck camping, this was our first pack-in camp,
and was an experiment in seeing how we overcame certain
logistical difficulties, you can see pictures he

http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~jcook/Pics/mimbres-packtrip/

It went well, and I had my 3wt with me, but again I didn't
catch anything on my 20min lunch break! The river was
extremely low, dry in some places, and the fish were
incredibly shy. With the low clear water and predators
around (we spooked two herons off the river), the trout
were virtually impossible to cast to. I was unsuccessful
on a couple of pools, and then lunch was over. But I did
see good numbers of fish up to about 6-7".

Two days later we left for a trip up to Colorado to visit
family. But we took our time, and stayed two days in
Angel Fire, NM for our 9th anniversary. Nice place! If
you're thinking of going in the near future, "Rustic
Retreats" has great rates on nice, new cabins. Email me
for info.

On the way we stopped at Coyote Creek State Park, a little
park with a creek and beaver ponds that a friend recommended
to us. It was here I hooked (and landed) my first fish of
the year -- unfortunately a stocker bow, followed by a bunch
more. Anyways, it was good casting practice :-)

On our anniversary day, my wife insisted I take some time
and fish the Cimmaron River below Eagle Nest Lake. Who am
I to argue? We were driving up from the town of Cimarron
(visited there and the Philmont Scout Ranch), and so I
stopped in the regular waters just above the Scout land.
Over 30 minutes of plinking in the pools I hooked but
didn't land several fish, including probably a couple of
about a foot, one at least definitely a wild brown. It
was raining and I was soaked by then, but it was warm so
no big deal.

I stopped one more place, up in the special regs water, to
see if it would be any better (regs are 1 fish over 16").
Some baetis were flying about so I put on a brown SJW with
an #20 RS2 trailing it. Fishing was _very_ good, with bigger
fish around. I didn't fish long but hooked two bows about
12-13", and hooked and landed two browns about 13" and 14",
both deep bodied and strong (and both jumped). The bigger
brown took the RS2, but the smaller one took the SJW just
as it hit the water on a cast I had to flick under the
overhanging willows. It was way cool to see his yellow shape
come up and take it.

Though named a river, this water is pretty small (USGS shows
about 18cfs during the time I was there), and those fish fought
like big fish, shaking their heads and peeling a little
line off my 3wt. A good way to start the year ;-)

Jon.

"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
...
I don't fish much these days, and so this TR documents
the first fish I caught this year, and several thereafter.

I actually did break out my flyrod earlier this year, as
I mentioned on ROFF before. In march I fished about 20min
on the Middle Fork of the Gila, during a lunch break on
a horseback ride into the Middle Fork. The river was high
and I caught nothing.

Two weekends ago my wife and I did a one-night pack-in
with our horse, mule, and burro into the Mimbres River
in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area. While we've done
plenty of truck camping, this was our first pack-in camp,
and was an experiment in seeing how we overcame certain
logistical difficulties, you can see pictures he

http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/~jcook/Pics/mimbres-packtrip/



Beautiful pics, and a soul-satisfying thing to be doing! What's up with your
horse that he needs training wheels?

--riverman

On 6/30/04 4:55 PM, in article
, "Jonathan Cook"
wrote:

I don't fish much these days, and so this TR documents
the first fish I caught this year, and several thereafter.

snip

Nice reports, Jon, and nice pictures! That's some lovely country you've got
out there!

Cheers from campus,
Bill

riverman wrote:
"Jonathan Cook" wrote:
...
Two weekends ago my wife and I did a one-night pack-in
with our horse, mule, and burro into the Mimbres River
in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area. While we've done
plenty of truck camping, this was our first pack-in camp,
and was an experiment in seeing how we overcame certain
logistical difficulties, you can see pictures he ...

Beautiful pics, and a soul-satisfying thing to be doing! What's up with your
horse that he needs training wheels?

My guess is that certain logistical difficulties refers in part to
the fact that Mrs. Cook travels with a wheelchair.

I'd hazard a second guess, but you're a nice guy and will probably
feel ****ty enough on your own without any help from me.

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
gy.com...
riverman wrote:
"Jonathan Cook" wrote:
...
Two weekends ago my wife and I did a one-night pack-in
with our horse, mule, and burro into the Mimbres River
in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area. While we've done
plenty of truck camping, this was our first pack-in camp,
and was an experiment in seeing how we overcame certain
logistical difficulties, you can see pictures he ...

Beautiful pics, and a soul-satisfying thing to be doing! What's up with
your
horse that he needs training wheels?

My guess is that certain logistical difficulties refers in part to
the fact that Mrs. Cook travels with a wheelchair.


Well yeah, that's obvious. So Jonathon: were the 'logistical difficulties'
managable? It sure looked like a great trip; it'd be good to know that you
can keep doing them. There was some discussion awhile back about pack
animals being in Wilderness areas, and your TR puts excellent color on the
importance of it.

--riverman

"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
...

...Two weekends ago my wife and I did a one-night pack-in
with our horse, mule, and burro into the Mimbres River
in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area....

How comes it to be known the "Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area"?

I've spent a good deal of time in his beloved sand counties (actually lived
there for a while)......used to know a couple of his students......and their
students (not bragging.....just sharing).....don't remember any connection
with your part of the world.

Wolfgang
and thanks for the TR.

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
gy.com...
riverman wrote:
"Jonathan Cook" wrote:
...
Two weekends ago my wife and I did a one-night pack-in
with our horse, mule, and burro into the Mimbres River
in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area. While we've done
plenty of truck camping, this was our first pack-in camp,
and was an experiment in seeing how we overcame certain
logistical difficulties, you can see pictures he ...

Beautiful pics, and a soul-satisfying thing to be doing! What's up with
your
horse that he needs training wheels?

My guess is that certain logistical difficulties refers in part to
the fact that Mrs. Cook travels with a wheelchair.

I'd hazard a second guess, but you're a nice guy and will probably
feel ****ty enough on your own without any help from me.

I don't really care (because I already know the answer), but one of these
days you might take a moment to ask yourself if there is ANYBODY on this
planet you wouldn't use for your own selfish ends.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

How comes it to be known the "Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area"?


If I understand the history correctly, he started his career in the
southwest and had something to do with getting the Gila national forest
designated a wilderness area in the 1920's.

Must have been cool to meet his students. I finally got a copy of the Sand
County Alamanac and throughly enjoyed the read. I'm going to be keeping an
eye out for other writings of his.

Wayne

On 6/30/04 11:32 PM, in article , "Wayne
Knight" wrote:


"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

How comes it to be known the "Aldo Leopold Wilderness Area"?


If I understand the history correctly, he started his career in the
southwest and had something to do with getting the Gila national forest
designated a wilderness area in the 1920's.

Must have been cool to meet his students. I finally got a copy of the Sand
County Alamanac and throughly enjoyed the read. I'm going to be keeping an
eye out for other writings of his.

Wolfgang and Wayne-

Indeed, Leopold spent a fair amount of time out in Jon's neck of the woods,
as an employee of the U.S. Forest Service. The edition of Sand County
Alamanac that I own also has some of his writings about the desert southwest
in it. It also has a long treatise on what "wilderness" means. Good stuff.
Time to migrate that one up in your reading pile, Wolfgang. Perhaps we can
discuss over a steaming mug o' joe up north.

Bill

"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
m...
"riverman" wrote in message
...

Going in I didn't have
the wheels tied down as good...so I took them off the donkey
and hung them on my saddle strings...my six-year-old mule
had me, two sets of saddlebags (in front of me and behind),
a bunch of stuff tied behind the saddle, and two 24" wheels
hanging off his hips. He did great -- never spooked once.


Ahh, I did notice that the wheels were arranged differently in the two
pictures. I was wondering if the terrain had done something to your wife's
chair. How is it for mobility on the forest floor: do they make any sort of
special wheels that can give better traction in the pine needles, etc? I
think that being able to get around more easily would make it even better
for her.

Although the ATV and off-roader industry uses disabled people
as a "reason" that motorized access should be maintained (and
expanded!), my wife is a counter-datapoint. She'd _love_ to see
the wilderness and roadless areas expanded, as would I.

There is (was) a strong movement to make the Colorado River in the Grand
Canyon accessible to people with disabilities, and it also raised a lot of
questions about the accessibility of wilderness areas. The consensus among
the clients was that the emphasis had to be on making their hardware, and
the boats, more accommodating, and not to change the environment.

--riverman