6-2-11....Exploring

I think it's safe to say that as part of the human condition we all seem to suffer from "the grass is greener syndrome."....Fly fisherman suffer from a special version of this as well...."that water is better then my water"...As an angler I am always on the lookout for new water to explore...It's not that I am unsatisfied with the waters that I fish, I just have this insatiable desire to have more water and see what I might be missing out on. Every body of water that I pass, a small stream, a farm pond, a lake..I can't help but wonder what might be lurking beneath the surface. Well....today was such a day...I needed to go exploring.

There is this lake that a few people in the know talk about. It is lake no one seems to know anything about other then that it exists and it's private. I made a drive last week to check it out. I noticed a small dirt road leading down to it. There were no posted signs, so I stopped at the nearest house and began speaking with the guy outside. The road runs on the outside of his property and suggested that I ride down it and check the lake out. Feel free to put a boat in and go nuts man...So that's what I did today. I kicked the Jeep into 4 wheel drive and drove to the lake.



The overgrown brush and hanging tree limbs did a number on my paint, and the mud puddles went up to my doors but I made it. Unloaded the boat and took off paddling down the channel to the lake...



I walked a bit, climbed over a beaver damn and poled through mud flats to make it to main body of water. A pretty sight for sure, but honestly it was like floating in an overgrown mud puddle. Dirty, dingy water that smelled a little like rot. I saw a few signs of carp existence...Actually one swam under my kayak...I fished for a while, got beat up by the wind and hooked into nothing...By all means, the lake looked like it should have a ton of fish...Other then a few passing carp, I saw no other signs of life. The deepest part was about 4 feet and the entire lake had a soft mucky bottom...not the greatest habitat for fish life...I left after about two hours of paddling and fishing.




It's easy to feel like you wasted your time when you go exploring with no success of hookups, but the fact is if you don't go you don't know....This will be lake that I probably won't visit again, it was a lot of work to get into for not enough payout....

There is this small stream that runs through my town. It's the same stream that feeds the lake I just spoke of. I remember as a kid being able to catch rock bass and little smallies out of it drifting worms. Over the years, farming, insecticides, industrial waste and rumors of human waste seemed to have wiped out the fish population. It is known around town as a dead creek. I recently passed over this creek again and thought to myself what if they are wrong...what if there is life there....I went exploring....As I pulled up and began walking, I had high hopes for this "new" water. I slipped on the heavily mudded and eroded bank and dunked into the water feet first...I saw some crayfish scurry away...Good sign I thought...I fished and fished, with no other sign of life to be found. I'm not saying that there might not be fish in there because I didn't catch any...I'm just saying that I saw no signs of life beside crayfish....The rocks were heavily silted over and the water smelled of decay and manure. I tried multiple spots to no avail...The smell on my clothes at this point leaves something to be desired and I think I may not be going back again. It is ashame really, it could be such a pretty little creek. I was hoping for a hidden smallmouth gem....my only hookup was an insole to someones shoe....Now if I can only catch that other one......