All Wet!

Today's mission - Ridley Creek.

It was stocked with some rainbows earlier in the week, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was a brisk, but nice morning, and the sunrise over the trees was absolutely beautiful. Got there around 7:45 AM, and hiked the trail to the section that is not "fly-fishing only". There were tons of fly fishermen already there in very close quarters - the crowd looked almost like it was opening day.

So hiked in from the Dam about 100 yards and found a spot to cast from the bank. I was doing fine, no issues, but I noticed a spot across the creek that looked too good to pass up. Saw a couple "rises" around a submerged tree branch, but just couldn't reach with my tackle. So I decided to come off the bank and wade over...BAD IDEA!!!

Took two steps off the bank onto what looked like solid ground - nope - SQUISH - big mud hole. Well, was only wearing hip waders, and now I was over my belly button in freezing cold water. Made my way quickly back to the bank, but I was soaked. My waders had taken on at least a gallon of water each - I was done. If it was warmer, I just would have wet waded, but it was pretty cold, no sense in getting hypothermia. So I squished back to the car, stripped off the wet clothes, and headed home for a warm shower - no fish!!!