Barry called Thursday night to ask if I wanted to go to Blue Ridge Reservoir on Friday. It turns out that Diana and I are headed to San Diego this coming Friday, which was when Barry abd I were supposed to be headed to Blue Ridge.
I had hoped to paddle on Blue Ridge for my first time out on open water with the Old Town Vapor 10 that I've had for several months now. Barry has an inflatable boat with an electric trolling motor.
Part of the trip was to go fishing for trout. Blue Ridge is stocked each year. Andy, who is an avid fisherman would be going too. Part of the reason for switching Fridays was that Blue Ridge is scheduled to be lowered so that they can work on one of the valves that controls the level of the water. We didn't want to miss a chance aince we don't know how much the wayer level will be lowered nor how quickly.
This was my first time out with the kayak and to a place I've visited but never boated on. I had been hoping to make Blue Ridge my first, and it was.
The day was all I hoped for. Great weather, not too hot, not too cold. We saw a few canoes, a few kayakers, and a couple of small fishing boats.
Barry and Andy caught a couple of trout. I brought my fishing pole, more to see how it worked trolling behind as I paddled than to worry about serious fishing on this trip.
I also got to try out my new waterproof camera. I took some movies with it, many still shots, and even some semi-submerged shots. All turned out fine. I'll post them on the website. High Def video from the bow of the kayak. Yes!
On the paddle back to the launching ramp a fellow in a small fishing boat steered toward me. He yelled out asking if I had a pair of diagonal cutters. I had just packed them that morning in one of my cargo bags. He had caught a 14" rainbow trout, but as he was taking the lure out the fish wiggled and one of the treble hooks got this guy in the palm of his hand.
It took a few tries, but we eventually got the hook cut with the cutters and slid the cut off hook through and out of his hand. All ended well.
When Barry, Andy and I were getting the boats out of the water, the fisherman came over and offered Andy the three trout that he had caught. Nice fellow. Andy likes to put the trout in his smoker for later eating.
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