So last year was the first year of my life where I didn’t go fishing at least once. I didn’t even buy my fishing license. Sigh.

Determined to not let this happen again, Yum and I set out yesterday to catch some fish.

First we drove up highway 80 to Auburn, where we turned onto highway 49 and drove over to Coloma. We parked at the Sutter’s Mill area and took lots of pictures. I mean, we fished a lot. No luck. Not even a bite. So we left.

We drove down to the confluence of the American River near Auburn and fished near the bridges. I caught two huge trout, one of them was 15 inches (we ate both tonight).

Yum didn’t catch any fish, but smiled and laughed and had a blast. It makes me happy to see my Yum in her Teva sandals and cargo pants, taking pictures of pine trees and smiling from ear to ear.

Today we went fishing again, this time to Silver Fork. We drove up highway 50 and took Silver Fork road, just past Kyburz. We parked and camped at the Haytown Posse’s old Memorial Day weekend camping spots along the river. Nobody was up there today. Maybe it’s because the US Forest Service went in and blocked off all the OHV areas–nobody can get off the main road, not unless you have a dirt bike. But I digress.

I did some fly fishing and managed to catch a little 6 incher, which I threw back. Yum was skunked again, but like yesterday didn’t care. She smiled and laughed and took pictures. She got her line snagged in the river more than once and just shrugged it off. All that mattered to her was that we were in the mountains together. That’s all that mattered to me, too.

I sure do like living on the road to fun. Last year this wouldn’t have happened. This year we’re 60-90 minutes away from cold Sierra mountain streams and fishing and pine trees and mountains and fun.

And it just wouldn’t be a teebiss-approved adventure without photos, so here they are!