Wandering in the Snow

Yesterday, I awoke to surprising news -- Montgomery County closed schools!

I thought we'd maybe get a delay, but didn't anticipate closure with the bulk of the "bomb cyclone" storm being off the coast. The Eastern Shore was supposed to be hammered, but anything on the western shore of the Chesapeake wasn't expected to get much.

So, that notification of closure when I checked my phone at 5:30AM was a pleasant gift. I went back to sleep and didn't get up for another few hours. :)

Snow all up in my grill

While Pat headed out to his tool route around noon, I puttered around and didn't do much of anything until I had to head over to my audiologist appointment for my first followup. She didn't tweak anything, but I go back in two weeks to make another report. At that point, I might get a new program to counteract the too-frequent tinnitus in my left ear. Depending on how that goes, I might not actually need the right side device. 

$5500, but at least they also act as wireless ear buds and as a hands-free device

I've had them for two weeks now, and I'm still meh on them. I guess they are doing what I need them to do, but I'll wait and see how things go at the Caps game on Sunday and at my own hockey game on Monday. 

So, after the audiology, I figured I'd run some errands until Pat returned home so that the WRX wasn't in the way in the driveway. I grabbed a bunch of bags of clothes and stuff that we'd had sitting around forever, waiting for someone to take them to Goodwill, and after I dropped them off, I decided that it was time to wander. 

I went to my usual go-to spot off Ilchester Road, only to find that they are doing some kind of construction on the Patapsco River crossing and the trailhead is closed. Sad, I parked the car, and contemplated what I wanted to do, as it was very brisk and near sunset. 

the car is filthy; it'll get washed at some point, I guess

I decided to head back towards Montgomery Road, but turned left onto Landing Road, since I knew it had to parallel the river. Sure enough, only a mile or so down the road, I encountered a trailhead. I parked, and started wandering through the cold, still forest for about a half-mile before I turned around to come back. When I actually looked at the trailhead information, I learned that it's the Cascade Falls Trail, and that it is a loop. Depending on which part of the loop you take, it's either 0.9mi or just over 2mi. It can also link up with the trail I was trying to use (Grist Mill Trail). 

I got a few interesting photos with my phone before I left. It was bitterly cold, so I didn't linger too long, and my gloves aren't tech-gloves, so anytime I wanted to take a photo, I had to expose my fingers. That wasn't fun. 

This stream was amazingly not frozen over

There was this random area that was decorated with ornaments. Maybe there was a wedding or something else out here recently?

The trail was easy to find.

Little bird tracks everywhere

Sunset snuck up on me

 It was a short interlude, but it was needed. I have to do this more often. My psyche demands it. 

I'm Bad

I always mean to blog more. I just get caught up in other things. :(

I need to make commitments and keep them. Is January 1st, the day of resolutions, as good a day as any to try to change?

Because why not? #firepit 🔥#happynewyear

A post shared by Karen (@kiirenza) on Jan 1, 2018 at 3:00pm PST

Brooks Laich on Instagram and Twitter has challenged his followers over the past few months to change themselves, to be more positive, and to set goals. So one thing I've considered doing is setting up what he calls a "challenge board" for myself.

I don't have an actual "board" yet. But maybe I can lay out some ideas here to start.

1) Wander more. My heart and soul need that wandering. While, yes, I did the #404familyroadtrip to Acadia and the road trip with my mom this past summer, in 2017 I didn't do nearly the wandering and camping that I'd done in the previous few years. I need to get back to just wandering for the sake of wandering. Camping is good. Fishing is good. Wandering is the best.

2) Stop killing myself at work. The number of times I've left work before 6PM so far this school year has been dismally few. I need to prioritize better and just tell people, "No" more often. It's a goal of mine to leave by 4PM on a more regular basis.

3) Do something with my Etsy shop. It's sold some things here and there over the past few years, more out of luck than anything. But with the unexpected expense of these hearing aids (over $5K!) just days before the holidays, if I can bring in a little extra cash on a more regular basis, that would be a good thing.

Those are three sort of big ones that I am willing to share publicly. We'll see how well I do at hitting them and the others that are more private.

Happy New Year. I hope it brings better things for us all.

Where Are All The Fish?

I had to go back to work this past week, and the "Great American Solar Eclipse" was happening on Monday as well. I decided to try to go fishing for a little bit before my last hockey game of the spring/summer season during the eclipse, since I had to be at work on Tuesday and couldn't go somewhere with totality.

Taylor's Landing during the eclipse

No fish were harmed in the creation of this photo

I got nothing during the eclipse. I couldn't even get any good photos of the sun; my phone and my eclipse goggles didn't cooperate. So, while I got to see the eclipse (at about 80% totality), I couldn't take my own photos. I guess I should have just taken photos of the shadows. 

So, I went back to work on Tuesday, and the rest of the staff came back on Wednesday. We've got eight preservice days because our governor decided to kiss Ocean City's ass. Since we can't start before Labor Day, and we have to finish by June 15 (maybe it's June 16), including snow days, and our contract has stipulated a certain number of professional days, there wasn't much choice. It's very frustrating to know that Ocean City's Chamber of Commerce is more important than the education of students in Maryland, at least to our governor. 

Saturday, I met up with fellow Caps season ticket holders at a DuClaw/Goonda beer pickup at the brewery. 

Then I went home and started brewing a new batch of my cinnamon beer to be ready for Chilibrew, a contest I entered in October. I'm hoping this batch of the beer turns out as awesome as the first one!

I went with two grain bags for the initial steeping versus the one last time.

The first batch had an OG of 1.034. This is better. 

That leads us to this morning, when Pat woke me up to go fishing. Now, the first thing I actually did was pitch the yeast in the wort (long story, but let's just say you shouldn't listen to someone who tells you to "add hot water!" to bring it up to 4.5-5gal). Then I grabbed my stuff to head out to whereever Pat wanted to go this weekend. 

That was Point of Rocks. We haven't been there in over a year, and I think I know why. Because it sucks. First off, we got basically the last parking space, in the regular (non-boat-launch) parking. Secondly, there is little-to-no fishing from the shore for someone like me. Anyway, after attempting maybe a dozen casts near the bridge, I opted to move upstream. Pat had already caught at least one fish, albeit a sunfish. 

I walked. And walked. And walked. I finally saw a small pathway towards the river, but when I looked closer, it was a scramble to get to the shore. I opted to keep walking. 

I found a second path, and followed it, only to find tree-covered shoreline. No good for me. I kept following the path, and came too close to hurting myself severely when I stepped over a log and put my foot squarely in a groundhog hole. I writhed in pain for a bit, then hardened up and kept walking to find nothing. So, I went through "wilderness" back towards the towpath, where I could see something. 

Lockhouse 28

Lock 28

I almost lost my collapsible water bottle at the lockhouse when I put it down to take some photos and forget to pick it up afterwards. I had to hike back a good quarter mile to grab it. So, the second time I passed it, I took a photo of the mile marker. 

I just kept walking, and I probably hit mile 50, considering I walked a good 20min past MM49. I'm guessing the MM50 marker is missing. Anyway, I found another path to the river near where MM50 should be, and it looked promising. 

Panorama view is cool

I tossed a swimbait a few times, to no avail, and a Whopper-Plopper a few times.... only to get it hung up in a small tree on a rock that was within wading distance. I'd already expressed frustration to Pat via text, and then I get a response saying he's willing to go elsewhere. I tell him that I need to get my Whopper-Plopper back and then it would be a 30min walk. 

He left it up to me where to go after that. I opted for the Monocacy Aqueduct, since I knew it was close by and had areas accessible from shore. The last time I was at Catoctin Aqueduct, the fish-from-shore areas were very limited. 

Pat immediately caught a sunfish (he'd caught two at Point of Rocks), and proceeded to catch several smallmouth. Meanwhile, I was still catching nothing. I wasn't even getting bites or nibbles. I trundled downstream past where he was wading, and still, nothing. 

As much as I didn't want to, I finally went up to near where Pat was fishing and started tossing lures. 

It was something at least

On a "junebug" TRD Finesse Worm, I finally caught something, a sunfish that was maybe five inches. I haven't caught a sunfish in thirty-some years. I almost kept it, just for noms sake, but tossed it back. 

I wasn't getting any other action from the junebug, so I switched to a swimbait. On a Reaction Innovations swimbait (I think it was a "Spanish Fly" coloration), I finally had a hit from the Potomac mainstay, and fought it to the shore. It wouldn't stop thrashing, even out of the water, and managed to disengage itself from the hook. I was able to grab it before it thrashed itself back into the water. 

Smallmouth fury! All 12" of it.

The only other thing I would catch would be another 5-6" sunfish. 

I guess I need to get either waders or a fishing kayak to open up my possibilities. Pat -- wading -- was able to get so much more that I did. 

Another week of preservice training, then Labor Day Weekend. Maybe we'll go camping! :)

Lazy Sunday

Pat woke me up this morning to go fishing on the Potomac. I am not an early riser by any means, but I dragged myself out of bed and grabbed my rods and bag.

He'd restrung two of my reels last night, so I felt obliged to bring all three of my rods. He also graciously gave me some campground tubes and a few jigs for them, so I scooped those up and into my gear.

Today's destination was Antietam Campground, which we last hit before my road trip. Considering I'd caught walleye at Dam 4 on Thursday, I was hopeful to continue the streak.

Pat trekked upriver, towards his current favorite spot, while I walked downriver to where I caught the walleye last time here. The river was very still, and a bald eagle flew overhead.

I started off with the Whopper-Plopper, and in the first thirty minutes, had three solid hits. The last one, I even almost landed the damned fish before it shook off the lure and swam away. Topwater lures are awful like that. You get frustrated, and say "One more cast!" and then you get a hit, and you just want to keep casting.

Stupid topwater.

So, after being teased with the Whopper-Plopper, I finally switched over to swimbait. Second cast in, and I've got another hit!

Not a very big fish

It fought well, and I was happy to actually bring it in after the topwater failures.

Shortly thereafter, two other guys showed up and started fishing maybe twenty yards from me. I was a bit annoyed, and intentionally cast near them to show my annoyance. They moved further away and cast downriver after that, though they never left the area.

I think they were a jinx. The only fish I saw after they showed up was a big 'ol carp that startled me, swimming maybe eighteen inches from my feet.

Carp don't care. Kinda like musky, but no one wants to catch a carp

Meanwhile, Pat says he caught five fish, though the fifth one was allegedly sixteen inches and there is no photo...

Maybe I'll go fishing tomorrow, pre-eclipse. It'll be my last time for weekday fishing for a while, as I have to go back to work on Tuesday.

Dam, I Caught A Fish!

Since I've returned from the roadtrip, I've been feeling blah. I guess it's a bit of a wanderlust hangover, knowing that the end of the roadtrip signals the beginning of the school year, and when I need to go back to work. So, yesterday, I made the effort to get out of the house by going fishing before heading down to Kettler Capitals Iceplex for a skating session for season ticket holders.

Pat has started calling the Weverton Cliffs area on the Potomac the "community pool," and sure enough, there were some people wading when I got to the end of the first path out to the river. I don't understand the people who wade and swim in areas where I lose a ton of lures (and their associated hooks), but that's their problem. Anyway, I moved a bit upstream, and with my Under Armour Bozeman boots, had no problem traversing some marshy area to get out to a group of rocks to fish from.

It ended up being a frustrating two hours of fishing. Early on, I had a fish on a Whopper Plopper that escaped. I switched over to a swimbait, and had a hit.... that evaporated when the line broke; I could clearly see the dark shape swim off with my lure. I had another one on a swim bait that again escaped during a leap into the air.

I should have brought a cup. I could have at least come home with a ton of crayfish.

How many crayfish can you find in this photo?

Just before I was ready to leave, I was visited by Mr. Sneaky-snake. I'd seen this snake swim by maybe a half-hour earlier, and then it came back to poke around in the rocky area directly in front of me. It decided to swim up and poke its head out just feet from where I was standing.

I actually hissed at it to make it go away

My first thought was that it was a copperhead, but Pat says it could have been a "northern watersnake." It was a bit pale brown compared to all of the northern watersnake photos I could find. But, when it swam, it was completely underwater, which I don't think is characteristic of copperheads. I didn't get close enough to see the shape of its head.

The trip down to Arlington for the skating session was awful. Traffic was more miserable than usual, and then of course both Elizabeth and I miss out on winning cool prizes by only a few numbers. We had 273165 and 273265, and 273163 and 273267 were called. :( We consoled ourselves at the former World of Beer location just a block or so away, before calling it a night.

So, this morning, I woke up wanting revenge on the fish who'd escaped me.

I decided to try my luck at Taylor's Landing, and chose poorly. Ninety minutes in, and nothing. No nibbles, just several lost lures.

Giving up there, I drove out to Dam 4. Last time I'd done these two in conjunction, I'd caught nothing at Dam 4, but a smallmouth and a walleye at Taylor's Landing.

My first spot, I was vying with two idiots that if I didn't know any better, I'd just call them frat boys. Loud, obnoxious, and just trying to be disruptive. I just kept casting, and didn't say a word. They quickly got tired of trying to antagonize me, but they'd clearly scared the fish away. When I was sure they'd left the area (and so wouldn't think they'd "won"), I moved further downstream from the dam.

I cast for about fifteen minutes with nary a nibble. I moved further downstream and tried again. Nothing. I moved a total of four times before I found a place with fairly calm water, albeit a huge log about five feet off shore. It was going to make casting interesting if I wanted to reel in directly in front. I opted to cast so that I was bringing in the bait at an angle to the log, and hopefully missing it.

Now, I'd been trying everything I had. Topwater (Zara Puppy and Whopper Plopper). Swimbait (Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and BPS Sassy Sally). TRD Finesse Worms. Nothing was getting even sunfish bumps. So, I went back to my old school setup -- the Spider Classic hook with a BPS Sticko Split-tail worm (minnow color).

The second cast, I felt something, and figured it for a sunfish (which I'd seen chasing some of my bait on the way in). I was wrong.

I'm probably the only person who is disappointed to catch a walleye

It was a skinny little thing, and came in just over eleven inches. Figures, considering I now have a stringer to keep the larger ones! I tossed it back and kept casting, only to lose the lure a few moments later.

I put on a swimbait and promptly caught another walleye; again, it wasn't quite twelve inches. All I could think was that Pat was going to be upset that I'd caught two walleye, and couldn't keep either one.

The swimbait was pretty beat up after the walleye (as usual), so I swapped it out for another one. A few more casts, and I'd gotten it hung up on a log (not the one I could clearly see) twice, bad enough that the hook was slightly bent. It was getting close to six, and I was thinking I should go home, but I wanted one more cast. Just one more.

I tossed out the line, then actually started walking downstream as I reeled it in, to try to avoid both the visible log as well as the one I'd gotten hung up on the past two casts. Then it hit, hard. I knew it had to be a smallmouth. I set the hook and reeled for all I was worth. When I saw the fish, I thought, OMG, it's a monster.

A good 14-15" fish, and a hell of a fighter

I think it looked like a monster right off because of how skinny the walleye were. Still, this fish was feisty, and it was hard for me to even get it off the hook. It was thrashing so much, the swimbait flew off, and I was nervous I'd end up with the naked hook in my hand. Obviously, it calmed down enough that I was able to grab it by the lip and remove the hook.

Since I was pretty satisfied by that last cast, I packed it up afterwards and headed home. Pat scowled at me when I returned, but I will put money on us going fishing this weekend, and him outdoing me. :) Though I might catch more walleye.... ;)