Photography and Fishing!!!

Right on cue, the four o clock bears entered the campgrounds, for what can only be described as uneventful. Everyone had taken time to tidy up their sites, we had all seen the damage bears can cause, if given the chance. One thing I knew about bears, was a mother with cubs, is a situation that can become dangerous, I knew, you never want to be caught in the middle. All three, the cubs following close behind the mother, moved through the grounds, then vanished back into the forrest. There was just a trickle of water that ran through Reds Meadow, I never would of thought of this as a stream. My camp site neighbor began to dig through his things, after asking me what I had in the way of flies. He handed me a bug, told me to tie it up, told me we’d try to get a fish. We followed that trickle of water, out of the camp, the underbrush got thick, I was told to walk lightly as he grabbed my rod, and through the thicket, dropped the line into a pool hidden in the brush. Right away, I watched the pole bend, as the fly was hit. How surprised was I at seeing this, following what appeared to be a little more than a mud patch, running through the campground, actually it being a mountain stream. When he came up empty, he backed out of the brush, I thought he was ready to turn me loose on that fish. After telling me these fish were smart, that you had one shot to hook them, that they wouldn’t bite a second time in a day, that for me to quietly move down stream, stay hidden in the brush, that each pool down the line most likely had fish. Each time I found a hole and dropped my line, I got a hit, this was pretty tricky fishing, I didn’t catch a one, and after moving through better than dozen pools, I headed back to the site. We spent a little time talking about this kind of fishing, him telling me, that in the morning, I could go at them again. I figured that Mcdonald trout was better than no trout at all, so I grabbed the garlic cheese, set the fly aside and headed off to Sotcher lake. The sun was low, and the fish were boiling on the lake. Before to long I had a couple keepers, headed back to camp, after this time, cleaning them by the lake. The fire was going as I arrived, we stuffed the trout, wrapped them in foil, in a few minutes they were cooked. High in the mountains, you can almost touch the stars, there was no moon, and the sky was clear. Among the stars, I saw points of light, moving North to South across the sky, I was told that these were satellites. I had in the past seen this, and was always curious. We kept the fire burning, I was bothered by the smoke. I asked my neighbor why it didn’t seem to bother him, as a gentle breeze blew across the meadow. He was sitting where the smoke could blow right into him. He told me that bears wander through all night, that the sent of fire, was not something that bears would be curious of, that they would avoid the scent. He told me to grab my lantern, that we should go to the dump site, that there would be bears going through the garbage. As we stood at a safe distance, we watched the party that was going on. They weren’t bothered by us, just kept going on about their business. It seemed they enjoyed the audience, not even bothered by the light. We stayed and watched a while, I was really lucky to have run into this guy, he kept me safe. When we got back in camp, it was late, it was time to turn in. Before I went into my tent, he asked me what I had inside, to make sure I had no food inside, to check the cab of my pick-up, to make sure everything was covered. He said it would be best to keep Astro with me in the tent, that tied up outside, she would be bear bait!