Hey Jimmy! Glad to hear you're back. Bless you man! I've got to say that reading your story is giving me a second wind to keep me going through hours of studying.....your post suddenly transferred me to sunlit mesas, high mountains, low brush, hot sun, gorgeous streams and even more beautiful trout......and yes, good camp food, thanks to the descriptions lol....I hope you get more opportunities for such wonderful trips into hte backcountry...
SJHassan, from MD.
>From: "Jimmy D. Moore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>*Hill Country Fly Fishers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [VFB] JIMMY D's BACK from NM - great fishing!
>Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 18:09:46 -0500
>
>I'm back from one helluva good fly fishing trip to Cimarron,
>NM/Philmont Scout Ranch. Got home around 8 p.m. CDT.Sunday. There
>were 12 of us camping in the backcountry at Philmont Scout Ranch and
>from Wed. afternoon till late Sat. afternoon, we caught and released
>over 700 rainbows and about 25 browns. I caught the largest, a
>rainbow of 14", a giant on the Rayado River, which is at most 12
>feet wide and deepest pool around 4 feet. The average size fish was
>9". We had a small Mule Deer herd, (about 12), come grazing right
>up to where we were camped, while we sat and watched. They seemed
>completely oblivious of us. One young doe came so close to me that
>I could reach out and touch her. Same way with a big bunch of, (
>20+), Mirriam Turkeys. Saw bear and cougar tracks on the sandy path
>about 100 yards from the campsite, but never saw the animals.
>Pronghorn antelope were plentiful on either side of the road going
>in to the backcountry. And, there were 5 Coyotes who hung around
>camp waiting for a handout.
>
>It rained every afternoon around 3 p.m., which is standard for the
>east slope of the Sangre de Christo Mountains this time of year. We
>were well prepared, so getting wet wasn't a problem. Everyone but
>me busted their butts, falling several times a day. I almost fell
>several times, but my trusty FolStaff that I bought from Byard,
>saved my butt. I could only fish a couple of hours at a time because
>of my feet problems, but, that was enough. I caught a big bunch of
>rainbows and also the largest fish, so I was more than satisfied.
>Late Sat. afternoon, a large thunderhead/anvil type appeared and had
>some rotation. A small funnel began to form and hail the size of
>nickels fell for about 20 minutes. The funnel began to dissapate
>just as we were heading to the shelter of a rock overhang on the
>river bank.
>
>Our meals were absolutely fantastic. Dinner Wed. nite was Chicken
>Fajitas cooked over the campfire, with "dirty" rice and green
>chilies from my pepper garden mixed in, along with some of my Hot
>Pickles for everyone. Thursday nite was Buffalo T-Bones with baked
>potato, salad and my green chilies on the side. Friday nite, was a
>New Mexican dinner of Hominy mixed with my green chilies, along with
>bacon wrapped beef filets and salad. Saturday nite was 1" thick
>pork chops, marinated in my special "Dynamite" seasoning and Picka
>Peppa, with salad, baked potato, corn on the cob and of course -
>plenty more of my green chilies on the side, and my hot pickles.
>Breakfast each morning was Southwest Kish, a conglomerate of pork
>sausage, chipped potatoes, eggs, my green chilies, (chipped), onion,
>chipped and topped off with my Dynamite seasoning. All this was
>poured into a large Woc made from a 22" disc like a farmer uses to
>break up dirt in fields, placed on the open fire and stirred
>constantly while it all cooked into a sort of Mother and Father of
>scrambled eggs. Ummm Goood!
>
>My film is being processed. I'll have the 14" rainbow on jpg
>tomorrow night, for those who'd care to see it. Was kind of hard
>taking the picture by myself. I was standing on a large wooden
>"log" walkway that was about 6 feet above the Rayado, reaching from
>bank to bank, casting downstream into a run that was about 40 feet
>long. Funny thing. My fly, (one of Rick Zieger's Tennis Ball Fuzz
>Caddis), had just floated by a fairly large rock in mid-stream and
>the line slack had just gone and fly was dragging back and forth,
>when the big gal hit. I had to hold her head out of the water with
>fly rod and take photo - no zoom lense, for this was an $8.95
>waterproof camera, and then I pulled her up onto the log beside me
>and photographed her again lying on her side. Hope the film does
>justice to the size and coloring of her.
>
>And, how was your weekend?
>
>JIMMY D
>
>P.S. I'd tied up a bunch more of Rick's tennis ball caddis and of
>the 700 rainbows, over half were caught on Rick's fly.
>
>--
>Jimmy D. Moore - Author,Outdoor Writer,TOWA, TF&G,VP-GRTU
>Owner/Webmaster - Worldwide Flyfishing Info.
>http://www.BIGTROUTMAN.homestead.com/MainPage.html
>
>www.sportingtales.com This is the website of Sporting Tales
>magazine - No "how-to OR "where-to"! Just the "Why-to",
>with outstanding campfire type stories about hunting and fishing.
>
>
>
>
