Wednesday December 30, 2015 Monte Rio CA.
Drizzle
The drizzle was coming down as I got it going this morning. It was supposed to slow up by late morning. I decided to take a chance and drive down to Jenner to kayak, hoping the rain stopped by the time I got there.
It was drizzling when I went through Monte Rio and also in Jenner when I arrived, so I drove down to the overlook at the river’s mouth which looked like this.
The harbor seals and seagulls where resting on the sandy beach and the river’s mouth is wide open and deep, good for the spawning fish to get into the river.
Decided against kayaking at Jenner
I drove back to the boat launch area and got out to see if I wanted to put my boat in the water. Some drizzle, not too bad, but it was a bit chilly so I decided to go back to Monte Rio and see how things where. I knew it would at least be a couple degrees warmer, so off I went back to Monte Rio.
I shoveled a bit more mud off the boat ramp before putting my boat in the water. Most of the drizzle had stopped which was good. I headed down river.
Steelhead fishermen
I could see the steelhead fishermen in their boats just up ahead. The guy in white in the middle boat just hooked one which he played and then lost as it got tangled up in some bushes on the shoreline.
They have a fish
I pulled in down along side of the boats in a spot out of the current and watched them for a half hour or so. I noticed this guy had a fish on a string hanging off his boat so asked him to hold it up for me. Nice fish.
Eventually I wished them luck and started to go down stream. I only got this far when this boat had a hook up, so I stopped and watched.
They landed that one. I continued on down the river just drifting along.
Misty can be nice
I drifted along the river going down stream at a slow pace watching for wild life as I went. This is looking down towards the Villa Grande Hole which is as far as you can see.
I noticed this snowy egret fishing along the edge getting some kind of very small fish repeatedly. The little fish it was catching and eating were less than an inch long.
Villa Grande Hole
I made it to the Villa Grande Hole and sat in this spot for a good while just watching and enjoying the day. There was a little drizzle, but not much.
I paddled down below Villa Grande to just above Sheridan Beach where I stopped in one of my spots. This little ruby crowned kinglet was feeding in the weeds.
It rained lightly so I pulled under a big redwood tree overhanging the river until it stopped in a few minutes.
Back up the river
I wasn’t planning on going down the river far today, so I turned around and paddled back up to the Villa Grande hole and sat some more, before continuing up the river which looked like this as I paddled along just below Monte Rio.
Something moved in the weeds. As I paddled over to see what it was, it sank in the water and eventually came back up. It was a pied-bill grebe feeding in the weeds.
The next thing that caught my attention was this wood duck cruising along the shoreline, keeping an eye on me.
And not too far past that, I ran into these mallards feeding while the great white egret watched and hoped they’d scare up some fish.
Some fishermen did well
I paddled back up to where the fishermen were and noticed they’d done well while I was gone. I see three steelhead there on the string.
I had the guy hold them up for you. I’d say they were having a good day.
I left them and headed towards the boat ramp. More fishermen were fishing just below the Monte Rio Bridge.
I pulled my boat into the boat ramp and loaded the car and went on home for the day.
At home it was chilly out as it was overcast and the sun didn’t come out today. I decided to stay in where it was nice and warm for the rest of the day, so that was my day.
