About a month ago I was walking along the tracks to the put in point and came across a broken culvert that runs under the tracks. There are actually a number of them that run under the tracks, but unless you're looking, or hear the water running down the hill from the south, you would never notice them. The rock around this broken culvert was starting to get washed away.
This time I decided to take a picture of the wash out. In the category of "Well, that can't be good," I would imagine the bed under railroad ties getting washed out is pretty high up the list.
It’s hard to tell from the picture, but under the center tie is a foot deep hole that extends back to the rail. It looks like the rock is getting sucked down into the culvert, which means there may be a bigger break under the rails.
My desire to get involved with any of the things I see happening on the river, whether they are good things or bad, has pretty much disappeared. I like to go fishing, wandering and exploring and right now getting involved would cut into what little time I have to do those things. I sent the picture of the wash out to the head of the department in Oswego that should take care of these issues.
This has nothing to do with doing the right thing, protecting property from damage or protecting the river from whatever were to spill into it if a train were to derail in this stretch.
This is strictly self-preservation.
I like to fish this stretch. While I was wandering along the shore a train went by. If the wash out were to give way, the train would derail and fall toward the river and down the hill and directly on top of me.
That would ruin my day, for sure. Can't have any of that.
This was one of those days where the fish were just not going to cooperate. I did manage to drag a lure across the bottom and pick up a hunk of wood that has a strange resemblance to some kind of deformed fish.
Other than that, only one smallie could be coaxed to hit. That one I lost when it decided it wanted nothing to do with being hooked, ran me all over the river and jumped and spit the lure back at me as a good riddance. Ingrate, it's not like I was going to keep it and eat it.
I've been seeing more and more geese and ducks along the river. It's as if they are staging for the migration that will be coming up relatively soon. The last of the light of the day seems to really bring them out over the river. You can watch them flying down the valley looking for landing spots. A place to spend the night.
September 1st is the beginning of the resident goose season. You can hunt in this stretch. I may have to skip bringing the rod after work one night and bring the shotgun.
