Free Fishing Day

Each year Idaho and Utah have what is know as "free fishing day".  This simply means that you can fish in any water open to fishing without a license.  This year the day was June 8th, a Saturday.  I had made kind of silent plans some time ago to go over to the Ovid Creek and see if there has been any improvement in the fishery environment since the last time I tried it.  I remember in my younger years so many good days spent with a fishing pole  along the Ovid and Liberty Creek.  The largest trout I personally eve caught was taken near what we used to call the Old Swimming Hole just west of Ovid.  I'm not sure what it weighed, but I remember measuring it out at just under twenty-one inches, not bad for a kid fishing in the willows.  At other times I remember walking down to the creek with Merl Roberts and some of the other neighborhood kids in the hot days of July.  We should catch fish by the dozens, that is if you want to call a Utah chub a fish.  They were fun to catch, however, when we were young.  Another memory was when Ellis and I wanted to go fishing on the first day of the season.  Dad always seemed to busy, so on this particular day it was Mom who waded through the sloughs and swaps sometimes carrying us, probably just me, on her back until we got to the Ovid Creek.  It was cold and damp and we sat there shivering for most of the day trying to catch a fish.  Finally Mom caught one, and the not much later another.  As I remember it that was the total take for the day for all three of us.  I suppose events like that would not be very memorable to most, but for me it has always been a fond memory, not so much the fishing or the trip, but the simple fact that we had such a wonderful mother who didn't mind taking time away from her other duties to make sure her boy got to do what they had been dreaming of.  Another memory was of a time I took my little brother Reed fish down by the Old Swimming Hole.  He was ten years younger than me so I'm guessing we were about 8 and 18 respectively.  He needed a little help baiting his hook and was not really very good at concentrating on the task at hand at that age.  I put a worm on his hook and helped him cast it out into what I thought was a perfect place on the opposite side of the stream near the willows. I told him to watch the line and when a fish started jerking on to jerk back and begin to reel in the fish.  In the meantime I went a few yards away and was fishing in another hole.  When I returned Reed's fishing pole was no where to be found. He hadn't been watching it very carefully.  Finally I detected something unusual on the opposite side of the creek.  It was his pole and it appeared to be moving around in the low lying willows rather vigorously.  I told him, I would go get it for him, but if there was not a fish on the line I was going to kick his rear end.  Fortunately for both of us there was a nice fish that was big enough to pull his unattended pole into the creek and across to the other side.  The water was about five feat deep so need less to say the pole rescue effort was a wet event for me.  These kind of experiences have turned into fond memories as the years have gone by.

 

Now, back to Free Fishing Day 2013.  Before I left Logan for the Bear Lake Valley, we made arrangements to take Avery with me.  He and I had not been fishing together ever.  He's twelve years old and such a thing should not ever happen.  We talked along the way, and I told him I didn't expect very good fishing, but that mostly I just wanted to go over to where I often went fishing as a boy.  When we turned out on to the Lanark road and came to the bridge where the Liberty Creek crosses under the road, I stopped the car just to take a look.  There was just a trickle of water crossing under the bridge.  We are in a drought this ear, with very low snow pack in the mountains due to the less than severe winter we experienced last winter.  My mind told me this was not going to be much of a fishing trip, but we were not about to give up with out even trying.  Our next stop was the Spring Hold down below Lyme Hymas' barn.  This was one of our favorite spots to fish when we were growing up.  Almost always, we would get a few good bites and maybe a good fish or two there.  This hole I fed by a steady flowing spring so there would at leas be some water there.  At least that's how I figured it would be.  I carried Avery across the spring outflow stream so he wouldn't have to get wet.  In a few minutes we were at the Spring Hole.  There was some water, but not nearly what had remembered from my youth. Our expectations were not very high.  Nonetheless w baited our hooks with some odd fresh night crawlers and cast our lines out into the murky water.  A few seconds later I got a good jerk on my line and hooked and landed a  small Bonneville Cutthroat trout.  Son Avery had one and the another etc.  They were small, but between the two of us we landed eight fish and several more got away.  We had a good time catching fish and just talking an being together.

We the headed back to the car e where we ate our lunch and the headed for the Old Swimming Hole on the Ovid Creek.  One look at the stream there gave us a good indication that there we no fish to be had it this once popular fishing hole.  The upstream farmers have diverted nearly all of the water out on to the meadows so they will have a hay crop later in the summer.  The upstream farmers have divert  I guess they have to make  a living too, but it sure plays havoc with the traditional fisheries.

 

We talked a lot and I shared some of my memories with Avery.  The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.  It's not lik we were depending on the fish for the evening meal.  We had a good safe trip home and I think shared some very good bonding time.  I had a great ime and hope Avery didn't mind tagging along with his Grandpa.

 

Below are a few pictures of our little fishing expedition taking advantage of the sunshine and the Idaho Free Fishing Day.

 Avery waving to me in the meadow.  Midnight Mountain looms in the background.

 Avery and Grandpa Bart in the green meadows near Ovid Creek.

 

A panorama photo of my daily view as a child growing up on the farm in Lanark.

 Here we some of the water that has been diverted from the stream on to the meadows.  Everything is green, at least for now.  It's still early in June.

Thanks, Avery.  You made my day.  I hope  you will remember our time together and know that I love you and always will.