My Thoughts......

Spring is coming

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:26:30 -0500

Today finally felt like the old man winter is behind us. I spent the day fishing with my dad and Andy on a favorite stretch of a favorite river. The character of the water reminds me a lot of the Poudre River in Northern Colorado. Lots of riffles and runs, a couple deep pools and some wonderful tail outs. The rocks on the bottom of the stream are hued in orange, red, and green. After the spring floods, when the silt has been swept further toward the Gulf of Mexico and the breeze is once again soft, seeing those rocks is a gentle reminder summer is on it’s way.

Early spring is a wonderful time of the year. Watching the earth wake up again after a long cold winter continues to be one of my most favorite, and most anticipated, things. The robins are back and the cardinals are loudly singing. Stoneflies and midges hatch. Soon the first grass of spring will push it’s way through the muddy ground and the trout lilies will wag their heads. Blue Winged Olives hatch. After that the turkeys begin to gobble in the roost, morels appear and trillium line the forest floor. Dark caddis hatch. Oaks trees finally leaf out, morels fade and phlox color the hillsides. Pale Morning Duns hatch. And then the mountains call.

Spring is wonderful indeed.

2009 First Wet Line

Sun, 4 Jan 2009 20:22:27 -0600

Yesterday I fished for the first time in 2009. Needless to say, it was very cold. I generally forget that even when the temperature gauge reads 20 or 25, the January wind makes it much colder. So, I didn’t bring enough clothes and shivered for much of the afternoon. I broke off a couple times and re-tying an entire rig was more than trying for my dexterity. Note to self: wear giant down parka whenever fishing in January or February.

Andy, Gear and I fished on Hay Creek. The section TCTU improved last summer and it was absolutely wonderful. I’m very proud of the job our chapter performed. After a year of two, once the river floods one or two times and nature does her thing there won’t be any evidence of the improvement. Not surprisingly, all the anglers we saw on the water were fishing the improved section! Next year TCTU is going to improve another couple thousand feet of Hay Creek. That way we can spread the anglers out a bit next winter.

Hike on the Kinni

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 10:52:47 -0600

So, Bella and I got out on the Kinni yesterday. Fishing is closed, but I absolutely had to feel sunlight on my face. Plus the forecast called for show and I was hoping for an opportunity to snowshoe. Unsurprisingly we didn’t get enough of the white stuff for snowshoes but Bell and I had a great time nonetheless.

Walking along trout rivers in the fall and winter sans fly rod is a great time to discover new holes and observe trout behavior without focusing on catching them. And it helps with cabin fever - it’s only December and I have cabin fever. Shit. Yesterday I found two holes I’m excited to fish. One probably contained 500 fish. It was new since the last flood - the result of a woody debris structure that formed. I particularly giddy to float a fly through it.

Bella loves the Kinni valley. I think it’s her favorite place on earth, she starts crying when we get about two miles from the parking lot. She can run and chase deer and smell all manner of little animals. Seeing her happiness and freedom down there (along with the fact that it’s probably one of the most productive trout streams in the nation) is a big reason I want to help protect the river and make sure it’s free, clean and open to everyone. With all the bad things we’re giving to our grandchildren (a mountain of debt, western landscaped destroyed by oil and gas development etc.) it’s only appropriate we give them a small piece of a formerly wild river river in the condition we found it.

Check you www.kinniriver.org and become a member of the Land Trust.

Winter Stonefly Nymph

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:26:19 -0600

Some of my best winter fishing days have come on the Upper Kinnickinnic casting small winter stonefly nymphs. I re-found this pattern in my notes this evening. (I can’t believe it almost passed into history!) This has been a killer pattern for me in March and April. I tied a half dozen tonight.

Hook: TMC 200R #20
Thread: Black 14/0
Tail and Legs: Dark Brown Goose Biot
Body: Black Beaver dubbing
Rib: Black copper wire (X-Small)
Wingpads: Turkey

Hint: apply Dave’s fleximent to the turkey feathers. It provides some elasticity and helps durability.

Thanksgiving 2008

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:55:25 -0600

I spent the lions share of the long Thanksgiving weekend in Chicago with my sister Beth, her husband Sean and their new baby (my nephew) Ray. In addition to eating and drinking too much we christened Ray on Saturday. Ray (Raymond Carl) is named after Sean’s deceased father Ray and my deceased grandfather Carl. Not only does Ray have a lot of my grandpa’s features but his christening in the Catholic church, to which grandpa was devoted, made me think a lot about the man whom I admired.

Grandpa was the person who taught me to fish. Or at least he’s one of the first people I remember fishing with. I have a very clear memory of him driving away in a little fishing boat on Rainy Lake. I was too little to go fishing and was terrified sharks would eat him. When I look back, grandpa didn’t like fishing as much as he liked being with people in a boat. In fact, he was a pretty poor angler. But a hell of a companion. He told me stories of the Great Depression and of the Great War. Of his youth and my distant cousin Cashmere. Inevitably, he’d end up tangled or snagged. What I wouldn’t give for one more day in a boat with him.

Ray is his link to eternity. And to hold little Raymond an look into my grandfather’s face was pretty special indeed. He is going to grow up in Chicago, so it’s likely he won’t be an outdoorsy person. He’ll fish with my dad and I. He might even learn to like fishing (we’re breaking Sean in slowly). But when is all said and done he’ll probably be a better boat companion just like his great-grandpa. His first day fishing will be amazing - for sure.

Winter = Fly Tying

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:31:39 -0600

To me, winter is all about tying flies. And for whatever reason I’ve tied more flies in the past two weeks than in the previous year. I think it’s because I finally feel like I’m at least somewhat caught up on my life. That is to say I don’t feel busy anymore and that leaves a space for me to tie flies - to meditate.

The best part of tying flies, to me, is thinking about next year’s fishing adventures. Tonight I tied #6 tan stimulators. Last year at our Spot in Wyoming tan stimi’s were the ticket - and I of course gave away most of mine so I had to guard my few with vigor. So, tonight I tied a dozen and thought about all the good times I have with my friends over campfires. Talking to Karl. Drinking good tequila. Eating freeze dried meals. Rehashing about old times - and hearing all the “big” stories for the umpteenth time. (I’ll never get sick of the Jaquimo story. Never.) Swaying to sleep in my hammock gazing out at a million Rocky Mountain starts. Listening to the creek as I wake up in the morning. Feeling the amazing summer sun on my face. See, fly tying isn’t about creating a fishing tool. It’s about re-living the past and planning the future.

Next summer I’m going to take a bunch of time, hopefully two weeks, and road trip Wyoming. No plan. Just an idea of where I’m going to drive and the rivers I want to fish. I’ll load up the car with backpacking, fishing and car camping gear, point the car west, hop in with Bella and drive. Then, next fall I’ll have all those memories to get me through another long Minnesota winter.

Back to the BWCAW?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:55:04 -0600

So, tonight I had a couple cocktails with Jeff, Rob T., and John. We sat at a great little bar (Busters on 28th - amazing burgers) and discussed camping and canoeing trips past. Their group of friends is pretty amazing, they have some great stories. Fishing, paddling, campfires.... Rob W. feeling the fear. Stories of eagles soaring across lakes, torrential downpours, and fishing line floating on the wind. All of which make me giddy to get back to Wyoming.

I was invited to hit Tuesday Island in June or July. I’m honored to be invited and hope to make it happen. I haven’t been to the Boundary Waters in several summers - I hope it works out.

Weekend at Gooseberry.

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:20:32 -0500

I’ve spent the last several days in Gooseberry State Park in Northern Minnesota. It was a wonderful trip for several reasons. First, there were NO bugs. - and that is saying something for Minnesota in June. My dad was along for the ride as were Clay, Mark and their boys.

Clay and Mark don’t have much camping experience so it was a weekends of firsts for them. It was cool to see them have a good time in the woods.

On Saturday we section hiked a piece of the Superior Hiking Trail Trail from Splitrock Lighthouse back to Gooseberry, roughly 7.5 miles. The Superior Trail is an amazing resource and everyone was thoroughly impressed. The young boys had a hard time the last couple of miles, but they were troopers about it and didn’t complain.

Norther Minnesota has received a ton of rain this spring and it the rivers are swollen. As a result all the waterfalls in the area are breathtaking. I have got to spend more time in Northern MN.

It’s almost here....

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 00:20:33 -0500

I can’t wait to get back to the mountains.

I’ve got two and a half weeks planned hiking around the Bighorns and the Winds in August and September and they can’t some soon enough.