Home on the Range

And it really is where the deer and the [buffalo] play. And seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day. But a few more clouds now and then would be OK too.

This time of year and this time of day (at sunrise) you can see the herds of buffalo coming up the river. There must be a huge number of them judging by the swirls you see on the surface. They surface like porpoises do, the nose comes up first, then the high fin on the back, then the tail – all of this in a quick motion. It is so quick that you really have to be looking at the spot at the same time the fish comes up, if not, you miss it. The swirls in the top picture are made by the fish.

This afternoon I was fishing for the cats with a rod and reel and one of these buffaloes took a hook baited with river shrimp. That’s a picture of it. One this size pulls pretty hard and the drag on the reel gets a workout before the fish comes in.

Nopoleon is thinking about making friends with the big fish. Well, maybe with part of it anyhow.

The river is at 3.4 on the Butte La Rose gauge, falling to 2.7 by Friday. The Ohio and Mississippi are going nowhere very fast.

Rise and Shine, Jim