Went hiking and fishing

Another workkamper couple, Travis and Cindy, really wanted us to go fishing with them today. They said they had all the gear to share with us and all we had to do was get our fishing licenses. We went to Pamida last night and got our SD fishing licenses. As residents, we only had to pay $27 per person for the year. I have never fished as an adult and it has been about 30 years since John has fished; this should be interesting.

Travis and Cindy were waiting for us a little after 8 a.m. We were ready and headed to the Grace Coolidge Walk-in area where there are about five ponds that are fed from Center Lake. The hike is roughly 3 miles and well worth the effort as the scenery is beautiful as you hike along a creek on a very nice trail. We also had roughly six creek crossings to make; more on that later.

This was pond #5 where we decided to stop and fish. Shortly after we settled in, a family came up and went to an area that was around the bend. In no time, they were catching fish and so were we.

I did catch a 12 inch fish but I won the award for the smallest fish caught. You can hardly see the little fella in the left side of the picture. He swallowed the hook and John almost had to dig down to his tail to get it out. Unfortunately, the little fellow lost his life. HaHa - The prissy girl even put her own worms on the hook! That was a surprise to everyone.

The fishing award of the day went to Travis as he nailed a 21 inch Rainbow Trout that weighed 3 3/4 lbs. It was a beautiful fish. It made all of our other catches look puny in comparison. Travis and Cindy BBQ'd the trout and brought us down some still hot from the grill; it was very good.

The trout was proudly displayed back at Fort Welikit with all the other fishing people and there was some jealousy as up until now, the biggest trout caught was 18 1/2 inches long.

This shot I took looking down the creek from our fishing pond.

Here is a shot of Cindy, Travis, and myself as we finished up fishing and were heading back down the trail.

Like I said earlier, there were many creek crossings. In the beginning, we were careful to limit the exposure of water to our shoes. It also took some coaxing for Cindy and I to cross as certain parts. I lengthened out my hiking poles to help me balance but I really don't like stepping on rocking, slippery rocks.

Anyway, after about the third crossing, it became apparent that we weren't going to be crossing any further without getting the water up over our shoes. Boy, once we made the decision to just walk through the water, it made both Cindy and I feel a lot more comfortable. As you can tell in this shot, the water was up to my knees as we walked across.
Here is one of the scenic shots John took on our hike out.
Oh, oh another crossing.
There was a section along the creek where all these ferns were growing alongside the water.
And another water crossing.

This one had a board going across so it made the traverse easy. Notice that I have a backpack that weighed about 14 pounds on my back (a first for me). The blue thing is a folding chair that we use when washing the kayaks. Both John and I carried one and it came in handy for fishing. I was very proud of myself as I was way out of my comfort zone and there was no whining or sniveling.

Another creek crossing where the water was over my knees.
Here is a shot of another one of the ponds.

No body complaints other than my shoulders are a little sore. Actually, I must admit I had a lot of fun and the hike was very nice. I found that I really like casting. John enjoyed himself also so it looks like we will be getting some fishing equipment.