Trip interrupted....

Took Friday off and headed for the big ditch. Stopped in the gorge to scout some carp spots and then onto Maupin.
Headed for Nena, crossed the river in the Commander and fished two of my favorite runs. Had them all to myself and had nice cloud cover.
Despite nearly ideal conditions, no steelhead hooked. I had one bump on a Bennett's Halo and then a follow on a green-butt Lil Wang skater. Looked like a torpedo was following my fly. Really cool, but no go.

I saw 2 other steelhead roll and a few really nice redsides. The October caddis were poppin and I was sort of mad I didn't bring the 5wt. It's also one of my favorite trout spots and the memories of nice redsides caught there over the years were hitting hard.



I crossed back and had everything loaded in the truck. The only thing left to do was to take off my boots and waders. That's when the trip took a turn.
I do this about every 4 or 5 years. I abuse my back working or fishing all day and then do something stupid like bend over too fast or do something awkward and pull a muscle in my back. Well, I did that when I took off my waders. Hmm, "THAT didn't feel right". I thought I was good once I got sat down in the truck, but nope. By the time I got to my Airbnb (thank God I wasn't camping!) I knew it was bad news.
When this happens, it's not the pulled muscle that's the problem, it's the ensuing back spasms from that pull.

I popped 2 naproxen and was hoping for a miracle, but knew my trip was over when I had to friggin crawl to the pisser. Not good!

It was a rough night and I was glad I had decided to keep the Airbnb when a friend had to cancel. Camping in the back of the truck would have made for an even harder night.

I was able to load my crap back into the truck in the morning and headed for the urgent care in The Dalles. And, of course, they were closed for some unknown reason. Great, ok, onto Hood River. The nice people of Columbia Gorge Family Medicine Acute Care got me a prescription of muscle relaxers.

Popped 2 and ate some lunch. I was feeling just good enough I thought about fishing from shore on a couple spots on the Klick. And then reality slapped me in the face when I spazed just grabbing my water off the passenger seat. Yeah, fishing would've been really stupid.

So fishing trip was over and I headed for home. Stopped at every rest area along the way to walk like an old bent over man, in pain, to the bathroom and back to the truck even if I didn't have to go. I made it home with no issues, besides my pride and fact I wasted $$ on another night at the Airbnb and 2 more days of a 3 day license. And 2 days of river passes. Trying to be thankful it didn't happen on the other side of the river and just be happy I got home safe.

I've had planned trips change at the last minute and even trips that changed mid-stream, but not for injury or illness.

What are some of your worst trips? Any shit shows out there?

At least I got to experience a typical Deschutes moment. Slow trains and great water.

 

[clarkman]

oh man, glad you're ok. Back issues are no joke!

 

[FinLuver]

That sucks! I have never had it happen on a trip but I have experienced it...back spasms are terrible! I have been "laid up" twice in the last 3 years. My last 2 episodes were set off by dehydration...at least that's what I attribute it to. I have never had a "bad back". I workout everyday, I have a strong core, I work on mobility all the time and I have never been over weight. Yet somehow, I will reach for a sock while seated or pick up a football at practice and there it goes.

Once a PT buddy told me, anyone over the age of 35 who has done some living, has a bulging disk somewhere along their spine. It's just a question of whether or not it becomes symptomatic. I don't know if that's true or not. The thing that kills me is that it never happens with a heavy barbell or a giant load of meat on my pack. It's always something silly like taking off your waders. I hope you're on the mend.

Bending over to pick up a cotton ball is worse…

 

[PhilR]

At one point I thought "hey I could go down and fish the righty at twin springs". Funny how we think we can just do stuff even though our body is telling us no. Just the drive down there probably would have convinced me not to do it.

I've never pulled a muscle rowing but my tennis elbow flares up every now and then if I do a lot. The elbow doesn't like pulling a 25 lb anchor very many times either. Hope you feel better!

That’s why I have a pulley on my anchor. Twice the pulling but half the weight.

Am curious about the water on the other side there.

 

[Canuck from Kansas]

Wife: "Honey, how'd you hurt your back this time?" Me "Blowing my nose"

Back spasms are no fun, get well soon.

 

[Salmo_g]

Wife: "Honey, how'd you hurt your back this time?" Me "Blowing my nose"

Back spasms are no fun, get well soon.

Ain't that the truth! A year ago I drove home from Edmonds, so the better part of a 2-hour drive. Getting out of the car at home and a disc in my lower back blew out! Fortunately some pain meds, stretching exercise, and the tincture of time had me back to fishing form for spring fishing. I had a ruptured, or herniated, disc in my neck some 16 years earlier, so I'm well schooled that a blown disc in neck or back is no laughing matter. It's downright weird that a guy can spend his entire life "lifting with your legs, not your back," and then blow a disc during the most insignificant activity. It scares me to think how fragile our spines really are.

 

[Tom Butler]

I was sitting at my desk, a student came in for help, I started to turn in my chair, and a loud pop revereberated through our office. The other professor I shared my office with turned to say "What was that?", and I'd already fallen to the floor, prenatal, about in tears.
Happens once, maybe twice a year. Sometimes it's just pain all the way down to my left knee. Usually 2-3 days rest like folks mention, however sometimes it's two weeks. Rx meds are great for pain and the short recovery, but with my history I suffer through with ibuprofen most every time. Then a mild walk as soon as I feel up to it, then get to fishing easy places OMJ would have liked to loosen up and get to feeling good again.

 

[JudyM]

Trust me, women have it happen, too. That dang MRI is noisy, still hear it over the music and ear buds the tech gives you.
Driving home to the PDX area from Newport with a fractured vertebrae in a 4-speed manual sports car was no fun, either.
I feel your pain....

 

[5 Weight]

Took Friday off and headed for the big ditch. Stopped in the gorge to scout some carp spots and then onto Maupin.
Headed for Nena, crossed the river in the Commander and fished two of my favorite runs. Had them all to myself and had nice cloud cover.
Despite nearly ideal conditions, no steelhead hooked. I had one bump on a Bennett's Halo and then a follow on a green-butt Lil Wang skater. Looked like a torpedo was following my fly. Really cool, but no go.

I saw 2 other steelhead roll and a few really nice redsides. The October caddis were poppin and I was sort of mad I didn't bring the 5wt. It's also one of my favorite trout spots and the memories of nice redsides caught there over the years were hitting hard.

View attachment 130434

I crossed back and had everything loaded in the truck. The only thing left to do was to take off my boots and waders. That's when the trip took a turn.
I do this about every 4 or 5 years. I abuse my back working or fishing all day and then do something stupid like bend over too fast or do something awkward and pull a muscle in my back. Well, I did that when I took off my waders. Hmm, "THAT didn't feel right". I thought I was good once I got sat down in the truck, but nope. By the time I got to my Airbnb (thank God I wasn't camping!) I knew it was bad news.
When this happens, it's not the pulled muscle that's the problem, it's the ensuing back spasms from that pull.

I popped 2 naproxen and was hoping for a miracle, but knew my trip was over when I had to friggin crawl to the pisser. Not good!

It was a rough night and I was glad I had decided to keep the Airbnb when a friend had to cancel. Camping in the back of the truck would have made for an even harder night.

I was able to load my crap back into the truck in the morning and headed for the urgent care in The Dalles. And, of course, they were closed for some unknown reason. Great, ok, onto Hood River. The nice people of Columbia Gorge Family Medicine Acute Care got me a prescription of muscle relaxers.

Popped 2 and ate some lunch. I was feeling just good enough I thought about fishing from shore on a couple spots on the Klick. And then reality slapped me in the face when I spazed just grabbing my water off the passenger seat. Yeah, fishing would've been really stupid.

So fishing trip was over and I headed for home. Stopped at every rest area along the way to walk like an old bent over man, in pain, to the bathroom and back to the truck even if I didn't have to go. I made it home with no issues, besides my pride and fact I wasted $$ on another night at the Airbnb and 2 more days of a 3 day license. And 2 days of river passes. Trying to be thankful it didn't happen on the other side of the river and just be happy I got home safe.

I've had planned trips change at the last minute and even trips that changed mid-stream, but not for injury or illness.

What are some of your worst trips? Any shit shows out there?

At least I got to experience a typical Deschutes moment. Slow trains and great water.

I would recommend you try a chiropractor. They have resolved serious back problems for me over the years with no drugs or surgery. One also resolved serious numbness in both thumbs and first two digits when I used to pound nails for a living.

 

[BigSplashTom]

Wow Stacy, that is a tough one. Glad you made it home safe.
Loved the video with you casting and the train rumbling by.
Hope you get to repeat that trip with a better outcome in the future.

 

[skyriver]

So I'm not the only one with back issues. Thankful mine hasn't been a disc issue. The knot in my left lumbar, which also tightened up my whole left hip and butt finally melted away like butter today.

Besides all the naproxen and muscle relaxers (methocarbamol, NOT cyclobenzaprine) taken since Saturday, my rehab really didn't start until yesterday. Monday work was too busy and then we had company that evening so I didn't do the things I needed to do. And then I had to work later that night. A rare things these days so really bad timing. Tuesday morning was rough. Almost felt like I went backwards.
What really helped me starting yesterday was this-
- lay flat on my Milliard 4" mattress on top of the couch for 30 mins
- walk up the stairs
- 5 minutes on the elliptical
- 5 minutes standing up playing guitar
- walk around the house or even short walk outside for 5-10 minutes
- repeat....
I woke up this morning a bit worried because the left lumbar was still tight, but also more painful than on Tuesday.
The good news is after breakfast the 5 minutes on the elliptical really did wonders. The knot and pain was gone by noon.

So then I probably did too much puttering around the garage this afternoon getting the raft ready for the next trip. Haha!

I also didn't have to take any relaxers today. So I have 7 or 8 left to take on the road just in case.
Going to try to take my last 2 naproxen tomorrow morning. Thanks for all the well wishes!

Stay flexible out there! Tight lines, not tight backs.

 

[Yard Sale]

Since you mention hips and thats what totally controls my back issues. The figure 4 stretch is pure gold. Easy to do in your camp chair too. I push down on my knee though, really stretches the hip/lower back.

 

[RCF]

I have had back issues; as described above. I totally understand and have lived with them. But there have been other interruptions in some of my fishing adventurers.

One year I was fishing on a blue ribbon stream in MT. where the Merc is located. I was fishing near a forgotten sapphire mine was once located. The flows were quite high.. A 1/2 mile walk-in to a side channel of the stream was a perfect place to fish. As it turned out I had a great strike by a large flash of of yellow. Brown trout for sure! As I was playing the fish I was being moved downstream by the flow in only 8" of water. The felt soles and carbide tipped soles were not working! Fish or me? Me or fish? I obviously chose the fish. 12' feet downstream just before the main channel I had the 5#-6# fish under control. Down I went on my knee cap. I caught the fish but I was under serious pain due to the fall. The 1/2 mile walk-in felt like a 5 mile walk-out. The next 3 days of no fishing was worth it or was it?. YUP!

Don' ask me about running into a barbed wire fence on that stream. My neoprene waders turned red. Enough said...

I was fishing a middle fork of the 'S' river. Jumping from boulder to boulder to boulder. Then on one jump an excruciating pain happened. I looked down and saw my foot laying sideways on the boulder. Oh S@#T. The one hour walk-in took 4 hours to walk out. I was fine if the trail was level. Do you understand how un-level a trail is? Went to the ER. It was so swollen they could not help except with pain killers. Several days later I got a hard cast worn for several weeks followed by a soft cast for 8 weeks. Worth it? Not in the least ---> No F'n way!

We all have had adventures we would of liked to avoid or definitely not experienced. But fishing is fishing. Fishing trumps all (maybe).

 

[DimeBrite]

Best wishes to heal up those back muscles fast. I can only imagine the pain and difficulty getting around when it first happened.

I cracked a rib during a jungle trip far from home, and that pain was constant during fishing and hiking. Of course the injury was followed by good fishing. I will never forget the agony while pumping and winding big fish. That was so brutal.

One of my worst was getting a raging case of COVID at a small Yucatan village the night before tarpon fishing. No sleep, raging fever, nightmares, sweating, and cluster headaches. I decided to fish the next morning since rest was impossible. Glad I did, we stuck lots of tarpon that day. It seemed like I was more focused due to the sickness, and hooked my tarpon on the first shot so I could sit down and rest while watching my partner fish.