Philmont 2016: July 1 - Day 5- Fish Camp to Apache Springs

By now we have mastered waking up at 5 so we can leave by 8. We planned to hit the trail but Curtis was sick this morning. He had no energy and was just crashing in place. We were able to motivate him to make it the Fish Camp lodge. We had a staff member evaluate him. Coordinating with HQ, they decided to give him a high dose advil. We let him rest on the porch while we went to a Fly Tying course.

Jacob's Fly

For fly tying I started with a hook which I put in a vice. I then took a special bobbin with yellow thread and wrapped until the length of the hook was covered from the eye to the bend in the hook. I then took a feather and lashed the tip of the feather near the eye. I then wrapped the feather down the hook shaft. This caused the spikes you see on flies to stand out. Next I took a material that was wrapped on to form the head. When it was over my fly sort of looked like a bee. I wish I would have taken a photo.

Brandon and his trout

We then headed to a Fly Fishing class. Here they taught us how to work the reel and most importantly how to get our fly out of a tree without breaking their poles. The above photo is the Aqua Fria Creek. With the flies we just built, we all hooked the fly to our line and headed out to fish. Three cast in and my hook was in a tree and after giving a good tug, the line broke and my beautiful fly was lost. Just a few minutes later, Brandon was the first and only to land a trout. We had to wait a while for help to get the hook out before releasing it back in the creek. I learned a lot of interesting facts about trout fishing. First the trout bone structure is not near as robust as say a bass. This is because the trout really does not have any natural predators. So you have to be very gentle with it. A second fact is that the slime you feel on the fish is their immune system. They taut us that before touching the fish you should wet your hands.


Fishing the Aqea Fria Creek

By now Curtis perked up and had joined us at the creek. It was time to get back on the trail so we checked out, loaded up, and headed to Apache Springs. The temperatures were rising but the clouds were forming and rain was to follow. Today everyone opted to put the raincoats on.

Apache Springs

We arrived late at Apache Springs so the programs were already booked out for the day. We registered for Sweat Lodge and 3D archery for the next morning. We headed to our camp site, setup camp and ate dinner.

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