almost a year.

almost a year since I've posted here.

last seemed to be me absorbing the VP position.

Well, nowI'm el Presidente'.

Dang.

I mean, dang.

It is overwhelming.
It is a huge responsibility.

I think I'm up for it.
Pretty sure I am.

This first few weeks,
wow.

What they don't tell you.
Or, maybe it's what you tune out,
so you can tell yourself, fool yourself,
into thinking....

"I can do this."

I. can. do. this.

I'm gonna learn so much thru this,
about myself, about people, about life,
about this big blue marble we call home.

One hell of journey,
this thing called life.


Which is why.

Why it's so nice to just unplug,
rig up a rod and go fishing.

Never forget what it's all about.
Punch out, and just go fishing.
(Or spin the pedals,
or take the camera for a walk.)

It's all the same in the end,
don't ever forget why.

Or that fire will burn out,
for sure.

just a quote..

Sums it up quite well, I think.

I think of trout as an affair of landscape-not something in it, but something of it. In Chinese, the term for landscape, shan shui, means literally "mountains and water." Roughly speaking, if you rub a mountain with cold, flowing water, you get a trout. 

-Christopher Camuto

man.

oh man.

that seemed to be a good,
decent post I just lost...

anyways...as I was saying.

as I have said?


It's official now, has been I guess.

I'm VP of CVTU.

VP of a nationally recognized,
award winning chapter of TU.

(big breath)

yeah.

For me, it is a big deal,
it's not exactly unexpected,
but it is an accelerated schedule...
(thought I'd have another year or two)

So, anyways, whatcya gonna do?

Roll with it, do the best that you can.
What else is there to do?

Recollect back to the third, fourth?, grade
and doing a report on water pollution.
One of the few 'gold stars' I remember.
Have always had a thing for clean water...

But Dad is a pilot and I wanted to design aeroplanes.

So I learned how to do that...but aeroplanes ,
are just things. Just, things.

And my Dad is also a fisherman,
and so am I, always have been,
same as him.

And we need clean water for that.
And we need clean water to live.

Period.

So, as scary as it is, as daunting as the task
may seem, it's a path I gotta follow, it's a path
I want to take....it's gonna be interesting,
that's for sure.

teh rut.

Not that I'm necessarily in one,
but they happen.

What do you do about it?

?

We're getting into July, some streams get warm,
those streams lose their reliable spring hatches.
Reliable fishing becomes less so.

Dog. Days.

They're 'bout here dontchyaknow?

So do you keep pounding the water,
trying to match those springtime numbers?

Or do you take a step back?
Reboot, re-prioritze things?

Couple seasons ago, I woulda been out there,
bouncing ants off the overhanging Letort grasses
from the heat of the post work day 'til the
sun went down...but dang, it sure is hot out there.
(And have you seen my belly recently....)

Now, it's a harsh realization..amplified by
a recent typical Sunday spin, I need to
get in the saddle, I need to put my feet
on those pedals, and make 'em turn..

I. need. to.

Turn, turn, turn.

It's summertime man, it's
vacation time ya know?

The trouts like cold water.
The water gets warm 'round
this time of the year.

So take a break,
then come back
to it fresh,
rejuvinateded.

Just Breath.

I've got my eye on a bike ride to do
and my girl & I just booked tickets
for our trip out to Montanny in Sept...

The time for clickin' the mental fish
counter is done for now, got other things
to tick off that list, official things to ponder,
and it's summertime, spread the love, let's enjoy it.

The trouts ain't goin' nowheres,
but I'm sure I'll keep in touch
with 'em, you can count on it.

busyness

Life can get busy, you know?
I have ideas for things to post,
then they get lost during the
sometimes long drive home.

They'll resurface,
that's how it works.

Like I may have mentioned
previously, Trout Unlimited
is taking a bigger role in life.
I'm probably gonna be taking
on a much bigger role in it...
(there's still some thinkin' to do).
It's been an interesting 'ramping
up' over the last couple years,
to say the least.

Catching up on leadership manuals,
absorbing online versions of seminars,
learning about 'best practices' and
figuring out how all that works in
the real world, does it work?

So it's nice, it's so nice when
there's a chance to actually get
out onto the water, cuz that's
what all that work is about.

It's about the water.  And sharing it,
and preserving it, conserving it and
hoping (ensuring?) there'll be a next
generation to follow in these shallow
footsteps we leave behind.

Last week was the Youth Conservation
Camp at Allenberry.  It's a good thing to
see, it's rewarding to be a part of it. It
was eye opening yet again, being just
a bit more involved than last year.

Sure, it's a 'summer camp' type thing
I guess, but it's strenuous, what these
kids go through.  Lots and lots of
classroom time, balanced by some
much needed time on the the stream,
for everybody involved I'm sure.

I helped out with the evening fishing
sessions, ghillie-ing for the kids, offering
advice, a helping hand...basically being
a guide for the night.  Very interesting
experience, guiding, working with kids,
things I rarely do.

But like I mentioned, it's all about the
water...rejuvenating, refreshing cold water.
It's rewarding to share it and sometimes more
so just to experience it.  Sneak away for
some solo time just to find out what's there.

So thankful that I often find these
beautiful creatures there, leftovers
from the Ages of Ice....

I grew up playing down in the creek,
I can't imagine ever not doing so, and
I sure hope our's isn't one of the last
generations to do so.

The Game.

What game do you play?

Bike racing was easy, you toe the line.

Someone with a microphone and a

stopwatch yells "GO!"

And then you see how fast it takes to

ride from A to B to C and back to A, 

for the most part.  You can challenge

yourself by the rig you chose to pedal, 

but the basics are pretty much the same.

Who can get round that loop the fastest?

Fishin', this fishing stuff is different.

It can give the same satisfactions, but 

methods, paths, are different. How do you 

satisfy that competitive streak? What, who 

are you competing against, how do you keep 

score? If at all.....

I don't find fishing to be competitive, but it 

sure can be. You see the grainy old grinning 

pictures of bushels of fishes..

"Look how well we did!"

There is the ego, the one upsmanship.

All of that is there buried in those long ago

smiles.  And you can see the posts online; 

'Caught a 21"er last night on a blahblaahblah' 

or 

'Fished a Class A, brought 30, 40, 50 to hand.'

ooooooo, aahhhhhhh.

(not that I'm 100% ego free mind you...I do have my proud moments)

Last wknd bumped into a fella on the stream,

standard etiquette dictates that you ask:

"How you been doin' this morning?"

"Caught 16 so far, couple browns, one @ 13 1/2", 

the rest brookies. You?"

"uhhmmm, yeah been catching enough to

keep it enjoyable, dozenish or so I guess....kinda 

lost track...beautiful morning eh?"

Truth is, I usually quit counting after I catch 3.

Three is enough to eat, three satisfies that root 

core reason to be fishing in the first place, can

I feed myself if need be?

Sometimes I keep track up to 5 or maybe 6.

Though one night on the Letort I brought 12, or 

was it 14?, to hand...now that was a remarkable 

evening. Will never forget that one and as far as 

I know, that's the most I've ever caught in one 

outing, anywhere...I just can't/wont keep track.

But anyways, so I'm not much of a fish counter,

or measurer.  Sometimes I wonder if I should'nt 

cut that pointy bit off the hook of the fly and 

just be satisfied with the take. Maybe that's a little 

toooo zen and shit though...

I'm satisfied that I made the cast, that I rose to the 

challenge of making that technical presentation.  

Waving that fancy bendy stick 'round just right 

does take some skill after all.  Dropping that fly 

into the proverbial teacup, with that just right

amount of slack in the leader & line to get that 

ideal drift.  Inducing that unflinching unquestioning 

take from that peabrained evolutionary instinctual 

relic, it is quite the challenge at times.

And that's the game I like to play. 

So don't expect to see too many trophy grip n grin 

pics 'round here, that's just not my style, just not 

my focus right now. Not that I don't like catching 

some big trouts here and there when I can, when 

luck is on my side. But the tried and true methods 

for that just aint my cup of tee. Throwing those big 

meaty flies on 1, 2 or 3x with 6/7/8 wts, swinging 

sink tip lines down deep or at night.... might be 

something to try as a novelty, but I doubt that'll

ever be my day to day goto.

I prefer lighter lines strung up on nicely crafted,

sweet casting bamboo sticks.  Be stealthy, find 

that trout on the feed and make that cast,

up under those branches or across these glassy

currents, getting that fly to drift oh so prettily.

That's my game for now and the rewards 

are often simple and always beautiful, 

I've earned my trophies elsewhere...

At the VIce

Been workin' some of those longer
hours at work lately, ahhh the day job,
nothin' like consistent 50+hr weeks, but
I'm finding the groove, for what it is.

Leaves me pretty drained during the
week after punching the clock from 6 'til 5.
Been unwinding with some light chores
around the house, mowing my fresh little yard
with my fresh little electric mower, rewarding
in its own right. And of course sneaking out
to fish when the sleep schedule and those
chores allow. (Do still pedal a bike on occasion,
you shoulda seen Jill bunny hoppin' those Swatara
logs on Sunday!)

But sometimes it's daunting to gear up for
post workday activity, motivation can be
lacking when the eyes are heavy, ya know?

So I've been passing an evening here or there
sitting at the vice, tinkering with patterns, filling
already full boxes. Whatchya gonna do?

Have never tied with golden pheasant, turns out
that that's the tail of the original Adams from 1922,
one of my favorites (and also used in the uber classique
Royal Coachman series). The Adam's has evolved into
the modern standard, now a Catskill style tie w/ blended
hackle fibres for the tail & upright hackle tip wings, which
is what I tie for the CVTU Youth Camp we host. Three
dozen size 16's with a half dozen or so rejects will really
help ya dial it in...

I bought a golden pheasant head a little while back,
so may as well use it.  The original pattern calls for
hackle tip wings, tied in forward and semi-spent for
the wings, then split those tails (or not) with a bump
of thread, the dubbing aint the ideal grey wool, but
close enough for now...I imagine some hungry trouts
will find these delectable.

And then on Saturday the fellas were talkin' about a
pattern they'd slayed 'em on in Montana last fall, the
'Purple Haze.'

'Just an Adams, but purple...' they said.

So I figured I'd try my hand at it and whipped up a
couple of 14's & a couple of 16's with what I had
laying about. I imagine a brookie will eat it, hell
they'll eat just about anything if you can feed it
to 'em just right...only one way to find out  guess.

Swapped out the Pearsall's black silk for purple, dubbed
with cinnamon ice uv instead of the grey, fun fly to tie.