Archive for December, 2010
31
Dec
10
Seriously………
Patience…Healthy eating habits…Much more two handed rod work…Seriously tying smaller flies…A week on East Lake…A healthy heart…Learning how to take better macro photographs…Mid-week excursions on the Deschutes R….Smallmouth Bass to the fly…Recapturing my yard and my gardening spirit…Conquering my deceased mom’s hoarding house (half way there)…Taking care of my 93 y/o aunt (also a hoarder)…Enjoying solitude and a mind at peace…Celebrating my blessings….blogging with continued passion.
31
Dec
10
Happy New Year!!!!
Happy New Year indeed! Baby it’s cold outside. Do wear your hat. New possibilities. New dreams. New challenges. Make this new year different than the last. Make it more than resolutions or short term goals. Self sufficiency. Courage. Love
Titan Rod Vault
The Titan Rod Vault is a lockable 3 rod ‘vault’ that can hold up to 10 foot long rods (broken down of course).
The rods & attached reels are affixed on the outside of the vehicle.
29
Dec
10
Fly Tying: Pinch Wrap
Loren Williams @ FlyGuysOutfitting offers a good tutorial on the pinch wrap. The pinch wrap counter acts the pulling or pushing of the material off the top of the hook shank to the far side of the hook; mostly caused by a loose hold of the material and the torque of the bobbin across the top. The pinch wrap is more of an up, across the top and down move.
Loren Williams Pinch Wrap (SB)
28
Dec
10
Hanging Shoes…Powerlines…Why?
‘heard tennis shoes hanging over a power line meant you could buy crack there.’
‘In some neighborhoods, shoes tied together and hanging from power lines or tree branches signify that someone has died.’
Wired Soles
‘Old running shoes hanging from trees and power lines are ‘gang signs.’
‘Throwing a pair of shoes up into a tree can also be celebratory act. For graduating seniors.’
‘The purposes for hanging shoes in trees can be negative. Stealing the shoes of younger, weaker or overweight children and throwing them up into an inaccessible location.’
‘The shoes can serve as turf-markers, indicating that an area is under the control of a particular gang.’
28
Dec
10
Fly Tying: Classes Now…
If your loved ones gave you a gift certificate for fly tying classes, you are set to begin one of the truly enjoyable parts of the sport. If not, then go to the nearest shops(s) and see what classes are available. Maybe you are a bit late for the January classes, but go ahead and sign up for any series of classes between now and late Spring when the classes tend to fall off. Do it! You may be the worst, the best, in the middle. Doesn’t matter. Take it as a refresher. Take it as a novice. As my original instructor, Doug Stewart, advised…’I am lighting the pilot light. The rest is up to you’. Support your local shops. If no shops nearby, check out community colleges or recreational facilities for offered classes.
Pheasant Tail, Ostrich and Ribbing (SB)
Above, on a late September day, I am studying the dry, early Fall, outlet stream of Strawberry Lake. What I recall about the moment are two things: the outlet was a bone dry rock strewn bed about ten feet wide and more interestingly, you could hear running water. Not a trickle, but a stream, well below the dry stream bed. This was the first time I came upon this phenomenon.
I imagine we all hear of water tables and realize they reach way beyond a creeks pathway. I was perusing the FlyFishUSA site’s weekly newsletter (12-19-10) and came upon a very fascinating post by Rick Hafele re underwater/under stream bed water ways and how they influence insect life survival, especially after high water scouring.
If you can access river levels for your favorite, open streams, then chart optimum levels for safe wading. Call the shop or go on line and check out which gage provides indications of the river going up or dropping into shape. Watch the weather and soon you will have a better sense of when to go.
Sandy River Water Levels (Now & Then) TM/SB
- SwittersB Feeling His Way
At some point in my life, fishing a single handed rod became akin to riding a bike. I recall, after many falls, when I could just do it. Same with the single handed rod. Seems second nature now.
However, a two handed rod is not second nature yet. The other night a mental/physical comparison came to mind. I was at my son’s house. He always has the newest this and that techno toy. The Xbox 360 Kinect toy was activated.
‘Oh let’s do the dance game’. Ha! That will be the day. Most of the men hunkered deeper into their chair, myself included. I am of the persuasion that maybe, I say maybe, after several alcoholic bebidas, I might get up and dance at a wedding. Certainly never the chicken dance. Certainly never solo.
So, I had no intention of standing before my family sans rhythm. Yet, there I was standing before everyone and trying to follow the prompts to dance to Funky Town. Awkwardly and mechanically, with no rhythm, I tried to keep up…but, demonstrated once again, SwittersB has no dancing capabilities (unless primed). I felt, at that moment, the same awkward, stilted, over thinking feelings I have when standing in a river waving a two handed rod in front of peers.
Will it pass? I think so, for the spey rod. I doubt it for Funky Town. The other thing such a game does is show you how out of shape you are. New Years Resolutions coming up (yet again).
