Glissmeyer Adventures 2011

[kglissmeyer1]

After two months, it seems it's time to get this started. Thanks to a friendly suggestion by another board member I decided to rename this thread for this year.

Although I am still rehabbing (is that really a word?!) from my ankle surgery last December and not able to get out, my two sons and their buddies are. So, I must live the adventures through their descriptions, tall-tales and the few pictures they manage to take to record the experience.

The reason for the new name to our fishing journal is because for years our family has named our family outings "Glissmeyer Adventures", more because there was always something that managed to make each trip quite memorable, from car breakdowns, to camp accidents to all-around weird stuff happening to define that particular trip. Over the past few years we have had the same weird stuff often happen while we were out on the water in pursuit of our favorite quarry - trout. So, the name seems even more appropriate.

I will include with this first post a thread I posted earlier about the true definition of cold as my oldest son and his friend, Ryan, headed out for a winter outing with a film crew in tow on the coldest day we've had since 1956. So, without further introduction, here begins this years chapter of "Glissmeyer Adventures".

Recently my son Mike and friend Ryan were invited to participate in an outdoor adventure with a film crew from Outdoor Idaho along with a local camera crew. The outing resulted in a print article in the local newspaper (Post Register - Idaho Falls, ID), and most recently this week in a news magazine story on television Tight Line Media | Outdoor News | Southeast Idaho | Video Production .

They will then be a part of an Outdoor Idaho segment on Idaho Public Television in July.

The only problem with the outing was that when a film crew decides to shoot, they set a date and it becomes firm - come rain, shine or frozen leaders

The guys found themselves on the South Fork of the Snake River with a two-person film crew on the coldest day of the year thus far in the Idaho Falls area. The film segment said it started at minus 18 degrees F. and moved down to minus 20 at sunrise. The local news reported that evening that we had tied a record set in 1956 (the year I was born :yikes: ) at minus 21 degrees - Brrrrrrrrrr.

So, tough as these two guys may appear, know that we don't usually get out on the water if the temps dip below 20 degrees above zero. In all they had a great time and got their fifteen minutes of fame, so to speak.

28 February 2011

Well, that was a few weeks ago now, and the guys picked a bit warmer weather for their next outing, a week ago this last Saturday.

They got on the water at around noon or so, with the temperature around 14 degrees.

It was overcast and spit at them pretty regularly. They caught a fair amount of fish, with most of the catch being whitefish, a few browns mixed in, along with a rainbow or two.

This was a first trip for one of Mike's friends, Matt. Matt just got out of the Army and he and his wife moved back to the area and he has caught the bug bad! Michael is a great teacher and so Matt has hit the ground running with some good beginner skills.

As for me, I've been tying a lot of flies and grousing around the house - I'm surprised my wife can stand me anymore :sweatingb

Here are some pics from a week ago:

New Kid on the block - Matt:

Gettin' ready at the truck:

Ryan's pretty stoked to get on the water:

Matt's first fish on a flyrod:

How do you say cccccoooooolld?

Mikey with a decent brown for the day:

Well, that's the beginning of what I hope to be many, many other outings this year.

Tight lines, everyone.

Kelly.

 

[Davo]

And another season gets going!! Look forward to following your exploits Kelly. Hope the rehab goes well so you can make it out yourself soon!!

 

[kglissmeyer1]

And another season gets going!! Look forward to following your exploits Kelly. Hope the rehab goes well so you can make it out yourself soon!!

Thanks, Davo. I'm getting like a bull in a china shop around home and I'm sure my wife would appreciate me getting out also

I see the doc tomorrow. I'm a bit worried since they told me back on the 14th of Feb. that I should be able to start walking on it without total use of crutches - not so, and a very painful thing to experience. Hopefully they'll give me some good news tomorrow - hope, hope, hope. Man, I gotta go fishing:icon_sad:

Kelly.

 

[mcnerney]

Kelly: That was great! I hope the visit with the Doc goes well, best of luck!

Larry

 

[Pocono]

Kelly - great update! Thanks.

Surgery on the lower bones/joints often times goes a little slower than one would like. The joints in the lower half of our body support the weight of the whole body, so you want to be sure that they're working properly before you start stumbling through freestone streams and the like.

I hope that the doc says: "go"; but if he doesn't, stay with his advice. The fish will still be there when you're fully mended and I'm sure that your wife appreciates the little things that you can do around the house while you're home-bound

Pocono

 

[cattech89]

I hope that the doc says: "go"; but if he doesn't, stay with his advice. The fish will still be there when you're fully mended and I'm sure that your wife appreciates the little things that you can do around the house while you're home-bound

Hey Kelly, so happy to see your new thread up and running!! Hope that you can get out soon, but I have to agree with Allan. You need your rest. Don't push it otherwise you'll end up spending even more time on the bench.
Can't wait for your next adventure.

 

[kglissmeyer1]

Thanks, everyone. I have another report from this past Saturday waiting in the wings, just need to get the photos from my son. I also took a drive around my favorite winter haunts on the lower Henry's Fork and I'll post some winter photos of those soon.

As for my recovery, thanks for everyone's concern. I see the doc tomorrow and hopefully we'll see something change or at least get some answers. I'll behave myself. Funny thing, I had a hip replaced last summer and I was back fishing within 6 weeks and wading within 8. The ankle is truly a critical joint and we don't realize how much we rely on them until they don't work any longer.

Until then, I'll satisfy myself with putting in serious time at the tying bench and perfecting some of my newest patterns. :biggrin:

Kelly.

 

[twfitw]

Awesome start! Looking forward to more and warmer weather here as well!

 

[milt spawn]

Kelly, I think those strappin' lads should carry you,, in your 'toon, down to the water until you're off the DL. After ice out any way. milt.

 

[kglissmeyer1]

Kelly, I think those strappin' lads should carry you,, in your 'toon, down to the water until you're off the DL. After ice out any way. milt.

I like it...:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Kelly

 

[cattech89]

I like it...:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Kelly

You know, my Dad always told me that the reason he had kids was to have someone to cut the grass, split wood, and carry him around when he got older.

 

[kglissmeyer1]

I forgot one of the best pics from the guys last outing. The area they fish is winter range for deer, elk and moose, and they saw this deer as it decided the grass was greener on the other side of the river:

Now for my report. Although I'm still unable to get to the water (I did enjoy everyone's suggestions about how the young bucks could help me out :biggrin I did hop in the truck with my ever patient wife and we took a drive to Ashton and downriver to St. Anthony so that I could get some pics of some of my favorite areas to fish.

This is looking upriver on the lower Henry's Fork at Ora Bridge just west of Ashton, ID. This water is closed until the Saturday prior to Memorial day to protect fragile rainbow trout spawning redds, but it's a great place for a quick float down to Vernon Bridge during the rest of the season. There is some heavy work going on at the Ashton Reservoir Dam, just around the corner from the furthest you can see upstream and it may affect the river downstream during the coming year. What and how negative it may affect things remains to be seen...

The Vernon Bridge stretch - my favorite winter water destination:
Looking downstream from Vernon Bridge - upstream to the Ora Bridge and on to the Ashton Dam are closed this time of year:

In the middle and a bit right you can see the void in the trees and high bank - this is the Vernon Bridge boat launch where we access the stream from the parking area to the south:

If I could have my best fishing wishes during the winter it would be to cover the water on the far side from the left of the picture to the right - the best winter water I've ever experienced for nymphing - I've caught a lot of dandy fish on this stretch:

We couldn't get much farther upstream to my other early season favorite water below Chester Dam, but we were able to get to the Fun Farm Bridge. This is looking upstream, and fish were on the feed all over that flat water as we stopped to take pictures:

Here is the only guy I saw fishing at all of the places we stopped for pics:

Here are a few past season pics from the Vernon Bridge area, along with some from Chester Dam:

Now I've gone and done it - I'm drooling all over my keyboard. Best clean it up before things quit working.

Thanks all for checking us out and look forward to many more to come...

Tight Lines.

Kelly.

 

[mcnerney]

Kelly: Great looking photos of the Henry's Fork and fish porn! I'm drooling all over my keyboard also! I need to get out and go fishing!

Larry

 

[Pocono]

Ditto! ...............but I'm keeping my drool under control..............

Pocono

 

[kglissmeyer1]

Update on the doc visit this past Tuesday - and I quote: (P.S.: I haven't seen him for almost 6 weeks with a CT scan and phone conversation with nurse in that time) "Well, it appears your foot is filling up with fluid, get off the crutches, get moving, and things will start to move and should get better with time".

All I can say is that going from mostly crutches to no crutches has been more than excruciating, to say the least. At best, something less than tolerable, at worst - I don't use that kind of language...

So, three days so far cold turkey, sans crutches, and it continues to swell and pain me, but I'm doing exactly as the Dr. ordered. One good thing about being on crutches for 2 1/2 months - the hip replacement I had done last June has had some hard and fast rehab on those muscles they cut through to remove the old and install the new hip - luckily the hip is the right one while the ankle is the left .

If I can endure (I'm sure I can, I'm just a big whimp) then I should be back on the water in another month or so - hope, hope, hope.

Kelly.

 

[Jimmie]

Best to you on a quick recovery Kelly.
Your trip reports are the among the best. I've only got one thing to say about the pics with this one.........burrrrrrrrr.........(remember I'm from CA).

 

[mcnerney]

Kelly: At least that was good news from the doc!
Back in the 80's I was playing racquetball and moving backwards when my opponent stepped on my right foot. I fell sideways severly spraining that ankle and had a big grapefruit sized swelling on the outside of the ankle. I went in to ER and the did an x-ray, nothing broken so they put a big ace bandage on it and I was sent home on crutches. I couldn't put any weight on it at all without severe pain. Previously we had gone in with a some other couples and rented a condo at Steamboat Springs for a couple days of skiing. We already spent the money so we went along despite the injury. One of the guys in the group sold medical supplies to the doctors locally and he suggested trying to squeeze my foot into my ski boot, being that it is about as rigid as a solid cast, he said it might actually make the ankle feel better. It hurt like heck getting the foot into the boot, but felt pretty good once I had everything buckled up, so I decided to go skiing on it. The skiing didn't hurt much at all, but the ride up on the lifts with the weight of the boot pulling on my ankle was excurciating, but I lived through it. I guess what I'm trying to say is I wonder if your ankle wouldn't feel better if you could get it in a boot and then lace it up nice and tight.

Larry

Larry

 

[kglissmeyer1]

Well, I finally got some pics from my son, so I can post the past two weeks of outings.

I'll post the one from a week ago in this post, and then I'll post the trip from this past Saturday in a day or so.

This trip, the guys headed out for Swan Valley on the South Fork of the Snake. There is some exceptional water near there with some good access whether winter or summer. There were my two sons, Mike and Geoff, along with friends Matt and Ryan. They were wade fishing this trip. The day was overcast and cold (15 degrees), with a bit of a biting breeze. They got on the water around noonish and this day did not disappoint. This time they caught more trout than whitefish, which is sometimes difficult to do this time of year. They managed to fool bows, cutts and browns and had a great time doing it.

It was strictly nymphing under an indicator with many if not most of the fish taken on a "Big Ugly" Rubberlegs. Several fish were taken on the smaller trailing nymphs, but nothing stood out as "the" fly of the day other than the Rubberlegs.

We usually rig up with a Thingamabobber as a strike indicator, dropping down to the weighted Rubberlegs fly as the weight to get everything down, trailed by one or two different nymphs such as a Rainbow Warrior, Flashback Pheasant-tail, or KG's Improved Shop Vac. Dead drift the rig through likely water. They had plenty of Likely water and they all caught fish.

Here are the pics, Hope you enjoy them:

Where we fish - South Fork of the Snake River, ID:

Ryan's freaky brown trout - healthy and on the feed:

Mikey with a decent bow:

Ryan with another nice fish:

Ryan completes the trifecta with a nice cutthroat:

...and, a cutt-bow hybrid for a South Fork Slam!:

Mike with another bow:

Nice shot of a decent fish and the other guys lined up on the run - there was not a lack of hungry fish on this day:

A small campfire to keep things thawed out in between fish:

Youngest son, Geoff with a nice cutty:

Calling it a day:

This was the most successful day the guys have had so far this year. Here I am writing this and feeling sorry for myself because I wasn't there. I know the old man would have out-fished them at least two-to-one !

The rehab is going well, and the Dr. was right in telling me the best thing I could do is get on my foot and give that ankle a workout every day. Congestion is finally moving out, and, painful as it is, I see some real progress after only a week of no crutches - maybe I see a small light at the end of this tunnel...

Tight Lines,

Kelly.

 

[mcnerney]

Kelly: Another great fishing report! Loved the awesome looking trout and looking at the low water of the SF was really strange! Good to hear your rehab is coming along nicely, hopefully all the pain will be worth the effort in the end.

Larry

 

[kglissmeyer1]

So, I know this is not flyfishing related, but it is something my wife and I enjoy experiencing every spring - the outing of the spring bears.

We have a local bear park that touts itself as the place to see bears like you did years ago in Yellowstone Park, and they are true to their word. Every spring we have the opportunity to see the new cubs because of some friends that work at the park and take care of the cubs during the weaning process.

So, here are the pics from this week's visit. Enjoy.

This guy was definitely not sucking on my finger, he was flat out trying to chew it off - glad he doesn't have teeth yet...:

Chene, a good friend with one of the cubs:

Chene's husband, Gary. So who really is the boss?:

The rest are of my dear wife, Cathy with several of the cubs:

A bit off topic, but fun.

Those cubs are all muscle and claws, don't let their size fool you, they are tough.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tight Lines,

Kelly.