gone fishin'

It’s a beautiful Wednesday morning. The sun is rising and will soon melt the light frost covering my deck and yard. It’s one of the few mornings we’ve had lately that wasn’t gloomy. The weatherman, however, tells us we may get more rain this afternoon. No surprise there. It seems like it’s been raining ever since it stopped snowing! I’m skipping work today and pretty soon I’ll go to town and have brunch with Dad, but for now the dogs are romping around the yard, the coffee is hot and strong and I’m thinking about the weekend coming. And fishing.

Gierach said, “I have to go fishing, it’s my job.” C’mon man, how does that make the rest of us feel? I, for one, am darned envious if not outright crazy jealous! It gets worse, too, when he goes on to explain how his travel costs, fishing gear, rods, vehicle, and about everything else he has or uses is a tax write-off. What?! So, I have to wonder, does all his fishing cost him anything? I’m a simple guy and I don’t really know how this write-off stuff works because I what I can write-off is basically, well… nothing. Still, the idea of travelling the country fly fishing the best of the best for a living is a fine and worthy fantasy.

Saturday I’m heading for Montana with good friends and we’ll be doing our best to catch some trout. I’m doing the usual procrastinating about packing, and when I get serious about it I’ll end up throwing stuff in my duffel and trying to figure out what I’m forgetting, i.e. find my polarized glasses and fishing hat in the clutter of my truck. And I know where I left my camera, I wonder if it’s still there? That’s how I do it. We’re taking plenty of food, plenty of gear (despite what I forget), and two drift boats. Last night I was checking out my reels and tonight I’m figuring to condense my fly boxes and take only what I’ll think I’ll need. I’ll likely be wrong and end up buying the right flies when we get there, but that’s part of the fun and I enjoy looking through a fly shop. The fly shop folks are friendly and helpful, even though they probably spot me as a clueless tourist, but it’s guys like me that keep them in business, so it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.

That’s it for now, and what’s that they say? Oh, yeah – Tight Lines!

 

anticipation is making me crazy

I’ve heard it said, plenty of times, the anticipation is often better than the actual event. I suppose that could be true if it all went wrong, or the anticipation was so unrealistic the genuine real deal had little chance of success from the start. Maybe I’m just an old curmudgeon, unimaginative sort, but the positive action trumps the anticipation every time. I mean, is dreaming about it better than… well, you know?

If there was ever a time for anticipation it has been the last few months. There’s nothing else but the expectation and hope of better things ahead and unless you’re willing and able to grab some time and money and get the heck out of here for a while, all that you can do is wait out the winter and embrace the belief that spring will surely arrive. Sometime.

A fellow at work took off for Texas for a week, claiming his wife was going stir crazy and making him the same. She’s from the Lone Star State and being cooped up in Embarrass, Minnesota during a long and brutal winter was just too much. I didn’t hurt that they have family down there and Roy was able to sneak out and kill a couple of turkeys while everyone was still in bed. The trip cheered the wife and seems worth it because she’s been showing up at work with fresh baked cookies, muffins, and biscuits a couple of times a week.

Anticipation got the best of our top mechanic, too, so he escaped the cold and snow for Mexico, where he hired a boat and caught an impressive sailfish, a few tuna, and some other ocean fish I can’t remember the names of. He came back tanned and happy, too, but the weekly snowstorms he returned to are bringing him back to reality the tough way.

My fiddle playing buddy, Flea (of course that’s not his real name – nicknames are big around here) couldn’t wait it out any longer, either. He’s been making numerous hour long drives to Lake Superior to fish for Kamloops and Cohos. He’s caught a few, but half the time the wind blows the drift ice in and there’s no fishing to be had. So he visits the fly shops, which isn’t such a bad way to spend some time, anyway.

There’s actually a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s warmed up some and the snow in the yard is half melted off. The creeks and rivers are about all open and running out of their banks. Easter Sunday was the nicest day we’ve had yet, a sunny day with temps reaching the 60’s. There are some ducks around, almost suddenly as if they were just south waiting for the fields and ditches to flood. I’ve yet to hear a grouse drumming but I see a few on the road every day.

Speaking of looking forward to something, in less than a month I expect to be with some friends casting ridiculously tiny flies to disproportionately sized trout on a beauty of a Montana river. The guys are all into the anticipation to the point of e-mailing photos of flies to each other. It’s great! Being on the river, however, will beat the heck out of wishing we were on it.

 We each have our special contributions to bring. I’m ready.

... we thought last winter was tough

Last November there was a tangible reduction in the number of mature whitetail bucks to be found during hunting season. The area DNR Wildlife Manager related that the number of adult male deer in the fall correlates directly to the severity of the preceding winter, and explained that the deer around here lack any meaningful agriculture to supplement winter diets and survive until spring mainly on stored fat and low quality browse. Ok, that makes sense and last winter was bad, but this winter is worse so far and we all hope it doesn’t last as long. I see young deer daily, mostly fawns enjoying the easy going on plowed back roads or standing on hillsides belly deep in snow. Fuzzy, teddy bear faced and looking healthy this late in the winter. They’re finding food somewhere, even though there is something like 50 inches of snow on the ground. And it’s cold. The first few days of March registered temps of -24, -27, and -32 degrees. Yeah, that’s below zero. This morning when I left for work the thermometer read a balmy 17 below. However, they say, it’s going to warm up soon.

So this evening I broke the red wax seal on a bottle of Makers Mark and am sitting here comfortably waiting for the warm-up. In my daily travels, besides the deer, I see very little wildlife other than birds. I think there is just too much snow, soft dry powdery snow, for the critters to move about in. There are few tracks, as well. But I can’t help thinking the wolves are laying low, biding their time ‘til there’s a hard crust on the snow and the pickin’s will be easy. “Yikes!” for the deer.

What will probably turn out to be a very hard winter for deer has certainly been a fine year for the grouse, with plenty of snow for deep roosts it’s hard to imagine how it could be better. I see the grouse, too, in the tops of tall aspens and alongside the road shoulders seemingly oblivious to the harsh weather and patiently waiting for the snow to melt from the drumming logs. When the temps warm during the day and the snow crusts at night the grouse will be in fine shape to rough it out to springtime.

Deep snow has made the firewood cutting a real job of work and I don’t need any excuses to stay indoors in this sub-zero weather, so I’ve had fun at the fly tying vise, putting together everything from tiny BWO’s to big, bushy pike flies.

There are many of us who enjoy wintertime sports and activities, but you’d be hard put to find anyone around here who hasn’t had enough of this weather. Fledge and I took snowmobiles into a remote lake to fish for lake trout through the ice. The ride in was fun and the scenery gorgeous, but we talked mainly about how long the winter would last. Fledge is looking to start a new lab pup and is as eager for spring as anyone. 

Ski resorts closed – too cold to ski. Poor turnout at the big ice-fishing contest – too cold to ice fish. Too cold for cold weather events. Uh, well… all right, then. Schools closed, work didn’t. The dogs are crazy bored, but it’s seldom warm enough to have them out for more than a few minutes. Last year it was winter until May. Spring field trials were canceled, there was no spring dog training and even fishing season was postponed. Let’s hope we don’t have another like that!

It takes some imagination to move into the right frame of mind and think about fishing when all the water around here is under three feet of ice that’s under four feet of snow, but the Makers Mark helps, and after months of moving snow and trying to stay thawed, the thought of slipping into the water on a pleasant summer day warms me better than the ticking woodstove.

5 March 2014

communication is key...

I received a note in the mail from a buddy of mine. The message was handwritten on a neat note card and enclosed in the envelope alongside a short anecdote cut from a magazine. Outwardly, and not surprisingly, you could say the story was about fishing. But fishing stories on their own – and after you’ve read enough of them – can get pretty dry so of course there was far more to it than that. There were elements of nostalgia and melancholy, with flavor of longing for times past and some regret of the way things are shaping up for the future. It’s about a simple and down-to-earth way of life on a river that’s becoming complicated with techno gadgets and high-powered fuel burning machinery that’s hard for folks like me to understand the appeal.

 I’m reminded of a time many years ago when I was 16 years old and I thought my dirt bike would be a great way to get into a particular trout stream. I stopped at a bend in the trail when I met an old fisherman and his wife hiking out with their rods in their hands and wicker creels hung from their shoulders. Over the idling engine I asked the old-timer how the stream looked down there. He replied in no uncertain terms that the stream was beautiful and it was a shame I was about to ruin it with that damned noisy dirt bike. Well, even though I was nothing more than a young shithead, I was raised to respect my elders and that old fisherman looked like the kind of man I wouldn’t mind becoming. So I turned the bike around and left. I knew he was right and I learned me a lesson that day that stuck. Since that time I’ve spent many a day trying to get from here to there unnoticed, silently and leaving no sign. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Another thing that struck me about the note was, well, the note itself. I’m old enough to remember when writing on paper was the standard form of correspondence. I used to trade letters with a handful of friends comparing hunting and fishing seasons, sharing life’s joy and troubles, and just keeping in touch through the postal service. We took a bit of pride in the note cards we found and mailed, and you could tuck a prince nymph or grouse feather or photo inside for that something a little extra special. When you wrote something it took some time, and thought. It meant something because it was going to last awhile. Sometimes you’d type them out on a typewriter if you remember what those are. When the computers and printers came out we wasted plenty of paper trying to get the printing on the right side of the card. But we kept at it and it all seemed right. That was the beginning to what we have now, I suppose, but I can’t or don’t keep up with today’s forms of electronic instant communication and if I’m missing out on something, I’m ok with it so far. I’m a simple guy and when I get to wondering if I need an upgrade in communications I recall the words of an old Greg Brown song “I don’t need to read the news, or hear it on the radio. I see it in the faces of everyone I know.” That sort of thing strikes close to me.

A neat friend in town laughs at my old cell phone and wonders if I’ll ever upgrade. Another claims I am unreachable and thus unreached. If I got with the modern world I could shoot messages, twitters and photos and whatever else to them daily, maybe hourly. As it is I might see these folks a couple of times a month. To me, face-to-face is worth the wait. 

When I played music with the band I had access to our Facebook page so I know what it is, but I guess I’m a little too private to have a personal site. Anyway, I have that old cell phone, and e-mail and even this blog. Heck, I’m so easy to reach I’m amazed by it.

So I’m encouraged by the note I received. I enjoyed the story that came with it and I didn’t need a battery powered screen to read it. He could have easily e-mailed me the link, I suppose. Don’t get me wrong, I know the internet is important and here to stay and will keep evolving (how would I be doing this without it?) but there’s nothing wrong with being a little old fashioned from time to time. Maybe it will become popular to go retro and use the postal service again, you know, what was old is now new? Whaddya think? Use more paper, cut more pulp, make more grouse and deer habitat. Seems reasonable. And if you’re looking for a bargain send an envelope across the country. It will get there in a couple of days for the price of a stamp! Less than the cost of a cup of coffee. That’s a deal.

OK, I’m kinda off topic here, but it’s a deep, dark, cold, cold winter night and it affects us. Stay warm. 

Happy New Year

When it’s as cold as it’s been, ten degrees either way doesn’t mean much. There were only a few December days that didn’t record below zero temperatures and the New Year is starting out the same. The few days it was a bit warmer I took advantage of the snow and my XC skis, but day after day of bitter cold makes staying indoors pretty easy.

The holidays are over. Those annual couple of months of mostly craziness that I wonder if we’ll ever get used to. I could be unaffected by a lot of it, but even I have to do a little shopping and when I enter a big store filled to capacity with bargain hunters I get a little claustrophobic. Of course I’d prefer to patronize cool little specialty shops and I do when I can, but where I live the choices are limited. It used to be worse; there was a time when I’d feel a little crowded and break into a sweat and even feel a little nausea. When you live a lifestyle of generally avoiding people you’ll even pass the grocery store for a much needed bottle of milk if there are too many cars in the lot. I’ve become much more tolerant of it all, however, I suppose it’s the years under my belt – but I still wish that person behind me in line would keep their damn cart away from me.

The holidays have their moments, though. Little breaks from the hectic when you spent some memorable time with family and friends, or eat something remarkable, or receive a meaningful unexpected gift.  No, I don’t like the crowds, but I cherish my friends.

Still, now that it’s over and the decorations are down, the cookies are gone, it’s a new year and we’re all back to some kind of routine at work, I can’t help but think, “What now?”

I kind of look forward to lazing around the house in this weather. You know how it is, when the weather is decent you feel like you should be outside doing something – at least I do, and staying inside gnaws at my senses and I get a guilty impression that I’m wasting time. Soon enough I’ll have to take the chainsaw and look for next year’s firewood, but for now reading and fly tying are favorite activities and are important in their own rite. It usually takes cold winter evenings to get me to finally give the shotguns and rifles a thorough cleaning before locking them away for the year, and I finished that task last week.

I’ve always liked sporting art and I’ve been known to stand distracted gazing at a wildlife print. I have some favorites of my own, but a couple of months ago I was offered the chance to purchase an original painting of my long gone setter, Birchwood Cully. Cully was not only a winning field trial dog, but he was one heck of a gun dog as well, pointing and retrieving to a standard that I’ve hoped for in the dogs I’ve had since. The account of how the painting came about is a bit complicated, but the artist worked from a photo and though it was not actually offered for sale, when I saw an e-mail copy I contacted her and now it hangs on my wall. And it’s awesome.

Sitting here warm and sipping from my snipe glass, it’s easy to recall the past season with pleasure and gratitude. Floating and fishing new water was a high point and if all goes well I expect to do even more of it this year. Gunning grouse was far better than predicted and it was great to find good numbers of both grouse and woodcock, and while I’ve often quipped that my setter Jack was the kind of bird dog that makes you appreciate fishing, he really stepped up his game this past fall and did a fine job. Molly had her chance with grouse and a few ducks and I’ll long remember shooting December pheasants over her and watching her carry the big birds through the deep snow.

Maybe I didn’t catch that arm-long brown trout, and that big bass evaded me again. I did experience some priceless outdoor times that I hope to see again, and besides, they’re all trophies to me. It’s a good life. Happy New Year! 

What we drink...

Coffee. Oh yeah; java, Joe, latte, mocha, espresso. Gotta have it. My mornings aren’t the same without it, and I find myself drinking it through the day, nowadays. I’m a coffee drinker, true, but I’m certainly no caffeine elitist. I savor good coffee, yes, but I drink a lot of gas station stuff ‘cause for one thing it’s usually easy to come by – only in big cities have I seen premium coffee shops at every other traffic light – and another thing is the early morn gal at my usual gas stop doesn’t charge the regulars for coffee. I like that.

 Years ago I bought a travel cup from a gas chain that advertised free refills with that cup. I had the cup long enough for them to quit honoring that agreement and when I reminded unknowing attendants I came off sounding like a whiner, so I kept quiet and paid for my refill. There’s another gas/convenient store that I stopped at every morning for a week while I was working in the area. When the owner was there he'd say “get outta here” when I pulled my wallet out. The following mornings I paid various young gals at the register 30 cents, 50 cents, 70 cents, and $1.06. Each morning there was a group of folks sitting at two tables – you know, the local coffee club – who refilled their cups at will. I suppose they had to raise the price as the week went on to pay for the gang helping themselves to freebies. When you pay a buck or more to refill your own cup that had better be some good coffee.

When I’m in a good coffee shop I know I’ll pay more and I know the reasons why, so I’ll leave a tip. There are a bunch of franchises you all know so I won’t try to name them because I actually only know a few of them. There are other private, local, homegrown shops that not only sell and serve specialty coffees, but usually some good eats, too. I’ve been to a number of them in various towns and have always appreciated friendly service and delicious goods, and I admire the folks trying to bring something special and classy to their community. I wish them well ‘cause I’ll want to stop by next time through.

I live with the belief that coffee was invented to make river water taste better. That’s kind of outdated thinking considering today’s java has to come from beans grown on the right mountain or jungle, by the right people who bring it in on the backs of the right donkeys, to be brewed with only the right spring water. Well then, ok, like I said: I drink plenty of coffee that’s fast, convenient, and cheap. That doesn’t mean it’s my favorite.

Coffee is something of a staple for the outdoorsman. It wakes us in the morning and keeps us awake on those long night-time drives we often find ourselves taking. We drink it during the day to quench whatever that unexplainable urge is to have something tasty in our mouths. The smell alone conjures up memories of duck blinds, deer camps, trout streams and all manner of countless happy experiences. And sometimes you just have to brew a pot of coffee to relax and take time for a break. I keep a sealed strongbox in my truck that contains a pot, some coffee grounds, and a camp stove and I can’t tell you the times that fresh brewed coffee has brightened and fortified the day.

There’s a fly shop motto that proclaims “Fight big fish and drink good beer!” I won’t argue with that but my beer drinking tends to parallel my coffee drinking. I like good beer, that’s a fact, but I often open a brew that’s known to be easily affordable, if you catch my drift. And as far as fitting drinkables for the outdoorsman is concerned I’ll admit that a good bourbon is one of life’s finest and most welcome pleasures. Now wait! I know, I know, some folks favor blended whiskey… think “Crown,” which I’ve been known to partake in, or perhaps a little of the Irish when in the right company. Though while I’ve been known to produce a small flask to celebrate a particularly fine fish that’s been landed and a streamside beer can certainly wash down a hearty sandwich, we’ll keep those libations reserved for end of the day compliments when hunting.

Tony and I partook in some of those evening beverages at an early season grouse camp a month ago and sat around the fire discussing, among other things, good coffee. Tony has access to many of the best known coffee shops and has his favorites ranked in order. I mentioned how I liked our new local shop with their awesome coffees, baristas, décor, and menu but added I really didn’t think I was the kind of guy to hang around a cool coffee shop, no matter how much I like to. Besides, I seldom have the time. Tony agreed that I probably didn’t have time, but he reckoned that I am the kind of guy to hang out there. I took it as a compliment.

         

Birds!

Paul and I called the dogs in and stopped for a break on a hill in one of the prettiest grouse covers you’d hope to see. It was almost a perfect autumn day, the kind you read about in old stories written by the likes of William Foster, Burt Spiller, or Gene Hill. You know the kind, with the sun glowing on crimson maples, gold aspens, and emerald balsams. The kind where a biddable brace of setters cast obligingly ahead, the cheerful bells sounding their whereabouts in the thick cover, falling silent only when one, or the other, or both stop short at the scent of their quarry. How they’d break open their fowling piece to inhale the burnt powder before accepting the tender retrieve and smooth feathers before slipping the dead bird into the game bag. I say “almost perfect” because in those old tales they always seemed to find a fresh-water spring to refresh themselves and canines. We knew our day would warm to the mid-70s so we lugged water jugs in our vests. And those old timers never mentioned picking a dozen deer ticks off themselves and their dogs, like we found every time we stopped to look. Still, that’s the kind of day we were having.

Jack and Scarlett hunted well together and seemed to be finding that quarry around every bend in the trail and at each edge and thicket they came to. We’d elected to run the setters as a brace because we knew the cover was extensive and we’d likely spend the better part of the day in it, which we did. We started in the morning and hours later emerged worn and tired and smiling at a fine day of grouse and woodcock hunting. I myself had used up a pocket full of shells and had one left as we neared the truck when Jack cast right and pointed yet again. I found him solid with a grouse perched on a blowdown three feet off the ground. Bold with over-confidence I stepped to flush and missed cleanly behind as the grouse winged nearly straight away! Paul chuckled at my exclamation of having missed my final shot on what should have been an easy kill. Ok, it was his turn, but we’d each had chances to poke fun at the other’s poor shooting.

A coupla hapless bum shots blasting holes in the sky? Maybe, but back at the truck we each had conspicuous bulges in our game bags – enough for the promise of some fine eating ahead. Easy shots are rare, of course. It’s just that some are easier than others. Even the woodcock are adopting some grouse tactics and hot-footing it under a balsam to flush low and fast from the other side. Waiting for open shots will only bring frustration so you shoot when you get the chance.  It’s great to see the bird fall, and sometimes surprising, but often enough your dog finds the bird you didn’t know was hit. After a fun day of the best kind of sport it can’t get much better.

The mornings are frosty, the Hunter’s Moon is bright, and those finest few colorful weeks are upon us. It’s time for hunting, all right, and the next day I hunted some new cover with Jack and Molly. When it works it makes for some interesting sport – hunting a flushing dog with a pointing dog. Somewhere, or somehow along the way Molly the spaniel learned to honor a pointing dog. I used to heel her into to the point and then “hup” her while I did the flushing. She caught on quickly and now she reliably sits when she spots one of the setters on point. It’s neat. And when we’re hunting a trail and Jack is casting ahead, she doesn’t neglect anything along the course and often produces birds we would’ve passed. We dog folks often say we wouldn’t hunt without a dog, and as much as I enjoy carrying and using a good shotgun it couldn’t be the same without a dog. I’d probably stay home and rake leaves or caulk windows or something. Nah!

We’re getting our first snow of the year today. It’s wet and cold. We found grouse, yes, taking cover under the balsams where it’s nearing impossible to get a shot. Another gunner could have helped, but who wants to hunt in this weather? It didn’t take long before I was soaked and chilled to the bone. We didn’t hunt long, just enough to get Jack’s brush-beaten tail bloody, again. The dogs seemed happy to get back into the truck and so was I – shivered most of the way home. Hung wet clothes in the basement, lit the woodstove and boiled coffee while I oiled my gun. Yep.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Fall fishing

I was sitting on a rock out in the middle of the river doing nothing really, just pondering the surroundings I was in and savoring the clean air I was breathing. I suppose I initially sat down on the smooth round rock to take a little break and maybe tie on a new tippet or something. I really don’t remember, but I know I ended up just taking it in and feeling perhaps just a bit guilty or culpable about it, wondering what I did to deserve such pleasure. Even in the midst of the moving water, now and then I could hear the tiniest “snap” and see a leaf fall into the river. Nice. Later in the day I would explore more of the river and run into a few other anglers, but for the morning I had the water to myself.

Driven by tales of arm-long brown trout and steelhead running up the river from Lake Superior, I took a day during the week and headed for the “president’s river.” Grouse season is open and I had plans for some camping and gunning up north on the weekend, but the prospect of a beautiful fall day on a trout stream was too much to pass up. I did have that non-resident fishing license, after all, and it didn’t seem to be getting nearly enough use.

I fished a section of the river that I’m at least a little familiar with, one that I’ve had success in earlier this year. I plied the deepest holes and runs with small (but not tiny) buggers and nymphs hoping to hook one of those trophy size trout. It seems every fishing story I see is highlighted with a photo of an angler holding a huge, beautiful brown or rainbow and I’d kinda like to be that guy one time. Or maybe a couple of times. Of course I’m never disappointed to catch fish and it’s nice to catch some pretty little trout than none at all… and, as I’ve often said, I’m lucky to get the chance.

I’ve made a few fall fishing trips in the past, usually in canoe country for walleyes but for the most part I’ve spent my autumns carrying a shotgun and following a bird dog around in the woods. Jack and Molly are crazy for the hunt and they’ve provided me some decent shooting the times we’ve been out this fall, enough for a couple of good meals, but I can’t get the fishing out of my head. And I’ve been pursuing it with the fervor of not being able to get enough of a good thing and knowing it’s coming to the end for another year.

Last week I paddled into a Boundary Waters lake to try for some walleyes as I had a hankering for an old time fish fry. You know the kind: where you dredge nice thick fillets in some type of batter and fry ‘em quick and delicious and gobble them down alongside some spuds and maybe a fresh garden salad so you can have at least something healthy with the meal! I didn’t use the fly rod. This trip I fished deep, with hard baits and jigs and it felt good to be in a canoe in great country once again. The walleyes weren’t biting, however, but the northern pike were active and I landed a bunch.

                                                                                 

Two days later it was back with Scotty in his Fishcat floating a new river (at least to me) fly-casting large deer hair divers for pike and musky. I’ve caught a couple of muskies before but never on a fly rod and this was the first time I’ve targeted them. I had tied a few flies that I hoped would work and are the largest flies with the most material I’ve ever tied, but they were still on the small side compared to the creations Scott knotted to his wire leader! The muskellunge is the fish of 10,000 casts, so I wasn’t all too sure how this was going to go as far as hooking a fish would be. We did have a short discussion about that, wondering if false casts should be included in the total – because there is plenty of false casting trying to launch a ball of fur and feathers into a stiff wind. And that brings up another similarity I’ve noticed with drift boats and canoes: no matter which way you’re going, it seems you’re always going into the wind.

Well, Scott had checked out another part of this river before and had actually caught a couple of muskies. I don’t know how many casts it took, but presumably somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty thousand, if legend holds. Anyway, while the fishing may have been a little slow, and the wind a little strong, we did beat the predicted storm and had a great day on a gorgeous autumn river. We caught northern pike, and yeah, we caught muskies on the fly! Put a price on that!