Author: FisherDad

I am a Christian who has been married to my wife for over four decades, with six children and four grandchildren so far. I have retired from a string of successful occupations as a certified public accountant, a chief financial officer, and a registered municipal advisor. I have been a fly angler for almost five decades. My one and only article submission was published by Southwest Fly Fishing magazine (now American Fly Fishing). You can learn more about me by clicking on “About” on the top of my blog page.

Can a Passion for Fishing be a Ministry?

Nice 12-inch Cold Creek rainbow on 6-foot fly rod

I fished Cold Creek Pond this morning. Set alarm for 5:30 am so I could get ninety minutes or so of fishing with my little six foot fly rod and still make it home before Emily woke up (she knows my days off and always calls for me to get her out of bed on those mornings). The weather was amazing and the short visit scratched my itch, as they say. The fishing was slow despite having the pond all to myself. I practiced double-haul casts, which were amazingly efficient with that little fly rod. There was a Great Heron that flew away upon my arrival but left telltale tracks all around in the shallows, and for the first time ever I saw a little Kingfisher working the pond, even witnessed it diving and catching one of those little goldfish that ignorant people keep dumping into the pond.

Cold Creek Contrarian

This photo looks north through a light snowfall on the trail to the Cold Creek Pond.

I have a friend in the investment business who often refers to himself as a contrarian. He observes many, if not most, investors become emotional about their decisions, and lacking the discipline to stick to their plan they succumb to the “group think” of the masses. He believes it’s important to stick with your long-term plan especially when you see the multitudes moving money between investment classes that is contrary to to your long-term plan. This usually occurs when short-term events cause emotional distress. He somewhat jokingly quips that when he witnesses this type of unjustified, emotional mass-movement it’s often fruitful to move in the other direction. I believe he is right.

Cold Creek Fall Stocking Completed

Brian and I made time Thursday afternoon for a half-day trip to Cold Creek. The last time we fished together was in May 2010. As I recall, on just his second fly-fishing excursion Brian out fished me that day. That was a very good day.

Cold Creek Pond Stocking Reconnaissance

Since it was getting deeper into fall and the weather had turned decidedly cooler I took a quick run up to the pond at Cold Creek to see if it had been stocked this week. As most of you Cold Creek followers know the Nevada Department of Wildlife stocks rainbow trout in the late fall and early spring. The short answer was: no.

Northeastern Nevada – Ruby Lakes, Lamoille Creek, & Illipah Reservoir

Ruby Mountain Range, Elko County, NV. Robinson, Soldier, and Hidden lakes over ridge right of center.

I may have seen more of the state of Nevada than most, but I certainly have not seen all of it. Nevada is such a vast state, over 110 thousand square miles ranking it the seventh largest state. Two New York states could fit into Nevada, or three Indiana states. One part of the state I have not visited is the lonesome northwest. I would love to see the Charles Sheldon Antelope Refuge or fish Knott Creek Reservoir, but they are 600 miles away… one way.

Red Creek Reservoir, Utah’s Dixie National Forest

Enjoying the early morning shadows on road to Red Creek Reservoir, near Paragonah, UT.

As a birthday gift to myself, I took a day off from work to make a fishing day trip. Although I have Fridays off, fishing on Friday is becoming much like fishing on Saturday used to look like. The 4/10 workweeks are more common now, and lots of others seeking more solitude start their weekend excursion on Friday. So, by exercising my birthday holiday on Thursday I got a jump on other enterprising anglers. On top of that, Mother Nature was running her summer monsoon routine and Thursday was forecast to be partly cloudy in the mountains of southern Utah, while the days surrounding Thursday were forecast with thunderstorms. It isn’t good to be waiving chrome-tipped fly rods in a lightning storm.

Pine Valley Reservoir, Southern Utah

This photo looks through the little meadow from which the Santa Clara River enters the small Pine Valley Reservoir. The “river” nomenclature is a misnomer; in reality it is a small creek. Note the two bait anglers settling in near inlet that I had just vacated.

It seemed to me it had been a long time since I had an out-of-town angling adventure. Excluding a 90-minute visit to the local Cold Creek pond, my last fishing trip was with my son Doug over eight weeks ago. I feel as though I missed the best part of the spring fishing. Maybe I feel that way because I anticipate next year will be difficult for spring fishing due to Nevada’s biennium legislative session, but who knows. Regardless, I know the anxiousness I feel about missing the productive early spring season seems directly related to God’s timing.

Cold Springs Reservoir – Wayne Kirch

Doug tubing Cold Springs, Grant Range in distant background

I admit to enjoying fishing alone. When I am by myself I feel as though I am in control of all the decisions. I can decide to fish shorter or longer, stay overnight or not, even to change destinations without consulting a fishing partner. Of course, I only “feel” as though I am in control. When traveling alone and making changes to the “plan” I always check in with my wife, both to keep her informed of my location and travel itinerary as well as to ask permission when such changes affect her expectations of my presence at home.

Chief Financial Officers fishing Cold Creek

Mummy Mountain, 11,527 feet above sea level, from Cold Creek Road

This late winter, early spring has been frustrating as the fishing goes. There have been periods with temperatures around 70 degrees in Las Vegas, and that translates into early morning to mid-day temperatures at the 6,000-foot elevation of 40 to 60 degrees… very tolerable. But life gets busy.

The Pond at Cold Creek

This was Cold Creek pond at 7:30 AM: 35 degrees and no ice. The Sheep Mountain Range is in the background.

Chan’s winter fishing of Utah’s Santa Clara River inspired me, and I was seriously contemplating tubing Baker Reservoir this Friday. Chan was kind enough to verify the Utah Department of Wildlife reports that Baker had not yet frozen over, and I was watching the weather patterns thinking Friday would be a fine time to hit it mid-winter.