I haven’t been able to get to the streams because of weather and working, but I hope to soon. Meanwhile, Anthony Naples over at Castingaround.com has been busy putting together a little piece of collected works. Some of my poems and pictures are included in this project.
Thanks Anthony for your work and dedication to the project.
Here is a pdf file of his project:
I drove my daughter to school in my waders. It wasn’t the first time, but she kept saying, “That’s weird”. She’s almost 10, but I wasn’t going to let that wreck my day. Today, the sun was out and it was just at freezing when I left for the river. I was pretty sure that today would be the first good day for fly fishing.
I was going to fish the deep pools and soak up all the sun I could. The river was very clear and stealth was a priority.
I caught eight brown trout, but the largest was only 12 inches.
In one section of the river I found a completely submerged dead fox. It was trapped between some boulders just off the faster current. Often in late winter/ early spring, I find the remains of animals that perished somehow through the winter. The body of this fox was almost in perfect condition.
As I was finishing up my morning of fishing, I saw a cross country skier who had a fly rod strapped to his back. He was heading deep into the woods, but he was the only other person out there today. It felt more like a normal day of trout fishing.
A small stream with very few pools to fish.
With the threat of a new snow storm coming, I decided that I had to get to the river while I could. I knew that I would have about two free hours and I was going to make the most of it. I raced through all my domestic duties. I got the kids up and ready, took them to school, swam laps for some exercise, gave the house a quick once over, and then started to get ready.
My waders and boots were in the garage from my last excursion, and now I found that the boots were frozen solid. I was forced to de-thaw them in the kitchen sink, but otherwise I got ready in just a few minutes.
After parking my car and climbing over the four feet of snow at the side of the road, I made my way down to the river. I was in such a hurry that I hadn’t noticed that it was mostly iced over until I was at it’s side. I stood with a dropped jaw and stared. Was it fishable? Should I even try? After observing for a bit, I notice that most of the pools were open, but the other 85-90% of the river was iced over. I decided to give it a try.
The air temperature was slightly warmer, but the water was definitely colder. I began casting in the first pool, and I was forced to move on when my line got stuck on the ice. I made my way along the shore as much as I could to the next pool, but at times I was forced to enter the river and break up the ice. It was slow moving through the ice. I fished about three pools before I gave up. I decided to head up stream where I was sure that the water would be open.
I arrived at the site of my video “Breaking Down the Door of Cabin Fever“. I saw that the water was open, so I gave it a try. Using my 12’ Iwana would be tricky here, but not impossible. I also knew that I would have maybe one or two casts per pool before the pool was shutdown. I tied on a size 16 sakasa kebari fly and crept towards the first pool.
A small brown trout.
I casted into the first pool and brought my rod up for line control- nothing. The second cast was better placed and almost immediately there was a bend in my rod. It was my first fish of the season- a little brown trout. I fished each pool for a while before creeping and crawling to the next one. There were five pools total that were fishable, but I only caught one trout.
I headed home. I quickly shed all my gear and moved the laundry from the washer to the drier. I gulped down some leftover pad thai and relaxed. I felt satisfied that I caught my first trout for the year, but the next step would be to get some better weather. Of course that is out of my control.
Reflections in the river.
The river has been unburden to man’s predation for months, and today I tried waking it from that slumber. It was the opening day of the catch and release inland trout season, and the world was covered in deep unmarked snow and a heavy cold.
I was very over dressed in long underwear, multiple pairs of socks, a fleece hood and hat, my fishing gear, neoprene waders, and a backpack with extras- in case the wet or cold got the better of me. Overall, I was warm enough. My feet were cold only a few times, but my hands worked overtime to help keep my line and fly free of ice. At one point my fly was encased in a nickel size piece of ice. Another time, my Tenkara level line froze to my boot, and it had to be forcefully removed. It was definitely cold.
I saw a few fish, but the day lacked the pleasure of any hook ups. It was a day for getting the rust off and for working through the mechanical problems of all the ice. I expended a lot of energy, and I think most people would have given up and gone home.
I did set up my camera under water, but after reviewing the footage, it showed how much the camera was under siege and bombardment from all the icy objects caught in the river’s current.
The conditions were not ideal in any way, but it still was just great to get out. Hopefully, warmer weather is on its way to show us some signs of spring and some better fishing.
Remember the joy of being a child and opening that one Christmas present with the toy you really wanted. Some kids go hysterical, some start crying, and some just freeze up. I remember that joy and I have seen that same emotion in my own kids.
“Look Dad, I got the BATMOBILE. THE BATMOBILE. I can’t believe it. I got the BATMOBILE,” from my son.
“I’ll never ever throw it away. Not ever ever. I‘ll keep it forever. When I‘m old and gray, I still have it forever,” from my daughter.
I think as adults, we get a similar joy when we see a UPS or FedEx box that we know we ordered. You know what’s in the box, but deep inside that excitement still comes to the surface. When you know that box contains new gear, SOMEBODY GET ME A BOX CUTTER NOW! Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but in adult terms, that’s as good as it gets.
The hard part of getting something new is when you can’t use it. You’re forced to look at it over and over, and maybe imagine using it. If there was a way to use it, you would. I’ve seen videos of people fly casting in their backyard in snowdrifts to just try out their new rod. If you have no way to try it out, it’s torture. Right now, my workshop is filled with that new gear smell. Not just stuff I purchased, but gear I made or constructed. It’s bringing me to a new low.
I walk into my workshop and turn on all the lights. I look around at my bags, my rods, my nets, all my fly tying stuff, my fly boxes, and my vice…I just stand there staring at my vice like some kind of zombie. I want to tie some more flies, but I just can’t get myself to do it. The inner conflict goes back and forth. Should I make one more? Then I think maybe I have too many flies already, so I just can’t do it. Shutting off all the lights in my workshop, I shamble out in my zombie form- leaving the new gear smell behind me.
I think fly tying is supposed to ease the pain of not being able to fish, and it did for a while. Now I need something else to fill that void. Thank goodness that there are only five more days until the catch and release trout season opens in Wisconsin.
Before we got married, I warned my wife about two things. We would never be rich, and being married to me, our lives would never be completely normal. She married me anyway.
With the early catch and release trout season just over a week away, 90 percent of everything I’m saying and thinking is about fly fishing. The one person who is super patient and listens to my endless froth is her. I’ll grab her attention for redundant videos of people catching fish on youtube or for her to listen about something I read or saw. It’s always something fly fishing related and always something that I need to share. Maybe I’m worse then the kids in trying to grab her attention.
Many years back just after we were married, I got her to try fly fishing with me on a small stream, but it was only just that once. Over the years she’s heard enough about all aspects of the sport to be an expert. Maybe she is. If I took her out now, maybe she would be an amazing fly fisher.
I’m lucky that she puts up with me, but I did my research before hand. When we were first dating, we took a trip to large marsh in the area, and we rented a canoe. After rowing far from our starting point, I started to slightly rock the canoe. She warned me to stop, but I brushed it off and said, “That we weren’t going to tip“. Of course, I had to rock it harder then, and that’s when the canoe went over.
There was the “Oh #%*@!, “ and then the hitting the water. I saw my Coke can go under the surface with me in the tea colored water. The water was cold and a big shock to both of us, and we both gasped for air at the surface. Then, I saw her scrambling to get on the over-turned canoe, but with no success. I told her she could stand up, and with a shocked look, she stood up. It was at the moment that I made my careful assessment. Is she going to kill me or what? I carefully looked over her way, and there was no fire in her eyes. She looked at me and laughed.
I wouldn’t recommend planning something like this, but I’m glad that it happened. You can tell a lot about a person in a moment of crisis, and this was one of the many signals that my wife was a keeper. Somehow I reeled her in, and somehow she has stuck by me. I’m a lucky man, but I still need to get her out on the stream some day.
I couldn’t take another day indoors today, so I head out to check out a stream. I needed to see something green. I needed to see something that would help me remember that spring was near. The soothing sounds and signs of life helped to put the winter blues out of my mind. Even with tons of snow and ice, life abides.
Watercress growing green in the middle of winter.
After taking many photos and some film footage, I put it all together in a movie. Let me know what you think. I still think of myself as a total film amateur.
I dug through my old media from last year and put together a little movie with all the unused leftovers.
Hope you like leftovers.
Old notes and drawings
In the early to mid-1990′s, I got my first fly fishing rod and went to it with little to no idea of what to do. My vehicle was a city bus pass or my mountain bike, so much of the practice that went into my learning fly fishing was in my head. No fly fishing opportunities existed on any of the bus routes or within biking distance. I wrote down notes and sought out any information that I could find. The internet was fairly new and I didn’t have it on my old black and white Mac Classic. Living in a big city had one major advantage- lots of libraries and I had a library card.
An old notebook of magazine and newspaper cuttings
Circa 1993-1995, I was constantly checking out every book that I could find on the subject of fly fishing and fly tying. Being an anti-social learner, I dug deep into those books and any magazines that I could find. I cut up magazines and newspapers with any hint of fly fishing in them, and I pasted them into notebooks. When the opportunity came about I was going to be ready.
The opportunities did come. I frequently visited my parents and requisitioned their car or I planned out small trips and rented a car. On my first car requisition, I went not far from my parents house to a small swampy pond in the middle of nowhere. The wind was horrible, and my casting not much better. I struggled and had a hard time focusing, but I kept trying. The good news was that even though I was a stranger in strange land with this bad outing, I managed to catch a 12” northern pike.
My brain soaked up a lot of information in those first years. Most of the notebooks are lost- only one remains and a few of my drawings (shown here). Now I live within biking distance of trout streams, and I own a car. I use the internet almost everyday to get my fly fishing fix of videos, gear reviews, or anything fly fishing related.
This season will mark my 20th year of owning a fly rod, and it amazes me how something so simple can change and direct your life. I was changed and maybe it brought out part of me that was always there too. Back then, it was a radical decision to buy that fly rod, and I’m sure some of my friends thought I was a little crazy and obsessed. However after 20 years, the fly fishing fire still burns stronger than ever.
Old drawings from a notebook. I think that the top fish image was a free hand copy of a Dave Whitlock drawing.
With the trout season not far away, I have rivers and fish on my mind, and this morning was no different. I awoke with words for a short poem and here they are.
