Morning on Big Slough...

I have not been too mad at the ducks this year. Other than a couple of scouting trips just to look for ducks I finely made it over to The Big Slough Wilderness Area to make a for real try. The ducks put one in the win column today as I saw only about 8 and did not even fire a shot. 

Here is a look down the big slough. This is one of the more narrow places.

This look is a low lying area off the main branch that begins to fill as the water rises. Usually early in the season before winter rains set in you can step across a trickle here. If water gets out all over the bottom areas like this make tricky wading.   

In this photo  is one of my favorite ducking spots. The big slough is at my back flowing past where I sit. A very swift current follows left with a slower current forking right to head to a beaver pond. Right in front of me is a little slack water area that has filled from the tributary in the previous picture. Hope you can follow all this. It's just one of the things I do.

I saw 6 ducks on the water here all swimming down from the left fork against the flowing current. Three were too far for a shot, the next three were in range and I thought briefly about potting them on the water but then I though freezing temps, cold swift water, steep banks and old man and I decided the fetching of the kill would require too much effort.

I shot a duck coming in from upstream at this area last year and by the time I forded the slow flowing slough I had a bit of a search to find where the fast current took him. Recovery involved hanging by my toes down a steep bank.  I did say I was not made at the ducks this year. 

Plenty of red birds about. Wonder if these guys have ever seen a back yard feeder? This cardinal and a titmouse were drinking from the puddles. 

Plenty good eats down on the big slough. Just sit around and shell out the mussels to your hearts delight. 

I carried my popiel pocket fisher man and made a few casts with a spinner bait but no bites. Sometimes throwing and winding back a spinner bait can be a relaxing therapy. While standing here doing that three dogs ran past paying me no mind. The had hunter orange collars so I figured there might be other sportsmen near by. I turned my camo hat inside out so I was orange also. Seemed a good idea. When I got the truck another pickup was parked beside me and looked to have transported the dogs in. I noted an open 30 pack of Bud light on the passenger seat.

It was a good trip and with that I called it a day.