Saturday February 28, 2015 Monte Rio CA.
It was supposed to rain a bit today, but not until the afternoon. I decided to go on down to Monte Rio to kayak for the day as I saw the boat ramp mud was moved back when I looked the other day.
The sun was out with blue sky as I put my boat in the water, while trying to stay out of the mud that was left on the ramp.
Being Monte Rio, some mallard ducks joined me just as I left the boat ramp.
I headed on down the river and stopped at the slot where there were three boats of fishermen fishing for steelhead.
Catching any smolt?
I asked if they were catching any of the small fish that they release from the hatchery this time of year. They said they were and they also thought they had released a lot of larger fish this year, in the sixteen inch size or so. I thought this would be good as they would be too large for the cormorants to eat easily down in the estuary at Jenner.
As it was, I saw at least 25 of these larger fish jump on my trip today all along the river and a lot of the smaller smolt too. A smolt is what the biologists call a fish that is old enough to live in the saltwater of the ocean.
I moved on down the river which was looking like a real nice day.
As you can see in the above photo, I was paddling down the middle of the river when I realized I should be over on one of it’s edges to see more wildlife.
Turtles
As I looked over to the edge where I should be, I saw these two turtles on the log getting some sun.
I pulled into the Villa Grande hole area where I could hear the ospreys chirping up in the air.
This one flew off the close by nest and landed in this big redwood tree.
It’s mate was still up in this nest. It seems the osprey have just recently come back for the year to start their nesting, which they do about this time of year.
The wind picks up
As I rounded the corner at Villa Grande, I paddled into some stronger winds that had picked up. I paddled on down to the Sheridan beach where I was thinking of stopping for the day, but continued on down to this spot where I stopped out of the wind and in the sun.
The wind wasn’t really that bad, but I was feeling lazy today. However, I was thinking that if I went on down to Moscow hole at Rein’s beach there might not be much wind there and there wasn’t.
Here, I’m just coming around the Rein’s beach corner and some nice looking clouds are starting to show up.
Wood ducks
I saw some movement under some trees on the edge of the river so went over to check out what it was and it turned out to be these two wood ducks.
I pulled into this spot in the middle of the river, just below Rein’s beach looking back up the river. That’s Rein’s beach to the left.
Building clouds
I just sat there enjoying the river and watching the clouds, which seemed to be building.
I decided this was far enough down the river for the day, so after a good long break at the above spot, I started back up the river and ran into this kingfisher, which sat long enough for me to get a picture.
With all the clouds in the sky now, the river was real scenic, as I’m just leaving the Rein’s beach area going up the river.
The rain started
I paddled back up to the Villa Grande beach and was just sitting there when it started to sprinkle. Light at first, but it started to get heavier, so I pulled under some tree branches. The rain got harder and even heavy, but it looked like it was just going to shower, so I stayed under the tree branches for about fifteen minutes until it stopped. I had my rain jacket on so was mostly in good shape.
The sun was still out, but it was raining in this picture at the Villa Grande hole.
These guys fishing in the boat got caught in the rain and were heading back in for the day up the river. They all had rain gear so were doing ok.
Once most of the showers stopped, I continued on up the river and ran into this fishing great blue heron, just down from the slot where there were some fishermen.
Talked with the fishermen again
I stopped to talk with the fishermen some more. I had to give them my report of what I saw down stream. They hadn’t done well today, but said fishing had been good the other day and there were fish in the river.
I paddled around them and was headed for the ramp when I spied this green heron up in a tree keeping an eye on me.
When I got to the boat ramp there were a couple of boats pulling out which I had to wait for, but they were quick at getting their boats off the water as most of the experienced fishermen are.
I went on home and as usual hit the couch for a nap. Nice day.