I thought I was pretty hard core. I mean, few people are crazy enough to stand IN a river when its that cold. It was so cold that my fishing line would freeze to my rod every 15 minutes. No one else was on the river and I had the whole river to myself! Until I saw this guy....
A kayaker. When I saw him, I was sitting on a rock in the sun trying to warm up my hands to the point that I could feel them. I couldn't have been colder. In that moment, I saw the kayaker do the unthinkable- he flipped his kayak over.
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE COLD on your face and head? He got himself upright again, floated a little bit more, and flipped into the water AGAIN! "What is happening?" I thought to myself. "Is he trying to kill himself? Do I need to jump in and save him?"
He flipped upright again and after dunking himself a third time, he floated towards me.
"Hello!", said the crazy kayaker.
"Did you just dunk yourself?", I asked, being both physically and mentally frozen after witnessing what only could be described as suicidal.
"Yes, I did", he said.
"WHY?" I asked, knowing that within 10 minutes the water on his head/face would freeze solid.
"Merry Christmas!" he said. Then he went back, dunked himself again, and floated past me for the last time. I caught our last exchange on video.
Bear Grylls of "Man vs Wild" has nothing on this guy. Even though the fishing was good, it was too cold to continue fishing. After another 30 minutes passed by and I was still sitting on a rock in the sun trying to warm up, the kayaker approached me on a trail carrying his kayak and oar. As I thought of what to say to this cuckoo bird, he greeted me with "There is NO place holier than where we are right now!"
HAHA! What a character!
Part of why I was excited to fish despite the temperature was to break in my new Sage ONE fly rod, Lamson LiteSpeed reel, and Simms Guide jacket. I love my new gear!!!
And so do the fish!
