Oops!

I stopped by Outdoor Rec on Kirtland AFB to rent a fishing rod and reel Friday afternoon. I met Alan at the hospital where I work and we left from there. We headed north to Bernalillo and took a left before climbing highway 4 to Fenton Lake… to find it completely frozen over.

D’OH!

I could have sworn I read something on the internet than said there was shore fishing available at the lake but it was evident when we got there, there was nowhere to drop a line without cutting a hole in the ice, which we weren’t equipped to do anyway.

Full of remorse, I climbed back into Alan’s truck where we attempted to come up with a game plan.

We wound up heading back toward town, making a few stops to see if there were any viable fishing options, but all we came across was moving water, which, from what I understand, is usually better suited for fly fishing. It was cold, quiet and beautiful anyway, and I got a few pictures at a couple of the stops.

After a stop at Soda Dam, which I had wanted to explore anyway, we continued on our way down to Tingley Beach at the ABQ BioPark. We finally got set up to put lines in the water, but there was something wrong with the reel on the rod I had rented. Alan spent pretty much the entire time fiddling with it, trying to get it working, and I spent the time fishing with his rod. Again, guilt-ridden. I did want him to fish and offered his pole back to him, but he wound up giving back to me.

We, didn’t catch anything. We really didn’t even have a bite. We did see a LOT of dead fish floating on the water, and a few swimming right near the shore where we were but when we dropped lines right in front of them, they didn’t even look twice.

We called it a day at around 1:00 and headed back to the hospital so I could get my car.

I feel awful for making Alan drive all the way up to Fenton Lake for nothing, and for getting stuck trying to fix the rented reel the entire time. This is something I can see myself doing regularly though, so I think I’m going to drop the $50 or so for an inexpensive starter set before I try again.

Next up, Brandy and I are leaving for Carlsbad tomorrow and will be visiting Carlsbad Caverns on Saturday. I’m very excited for this trip, and Brandy is excited for three days away from work. I’m sure I’ll have a bazillion pictures from that trip. (edit: I’m not posting this until almost a week after the trip to Carlsbad. I’ll be uploading the pictures and writing up the trip report at some point this weekend, and will also (hopefully) have another hike to add to the Hiking page by then as well… -P)

In the meantime, visit my Photo Diary for the few pictures I took on what amounted to be our drive through the Jemez.

And, until next time, I remind you…

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” 

– Henry David Thoreau

-Phil