Above and Below: Both have beauty………

A vessel for the rivers…the drift boat is often used by fly/gear fishers in the Pacific NW. It glides just above the surface.

Imagery: Provocation & Seduction

A pencil drawing of a Spey fly with the trailing stinger hook. The Steelhead is enticed, provoked, seduced into engulfing the fly and upon the take turning and jetting away. The stinger hook tries to ensure a more assured hook up with the metal head, steel jawed piece of flexing muscle.

This fly was tied by my son Tony. The same one that drew the pencil sketch above years ago. There is a real, visible sense of the artistic here. Does the fish appreciate that? No…simply predation. Provoked to consume….a gentle way of saying ‘to kill’ another in the food chain.

One of the primary tools for the quest. In this instance, a two hander…a spey rod…as opposed to the ‘normal’ one handed fly rod. Different skill sets to learn. Greater potentials in presentation: distance in casting. Notice the pieces of wood that are now high and dry? They were submerged and the forces of the current have stripped the bark into fans, feathers……..

It has been awhile since I have aggressively pursued sea run trout..Steelhead. I did for many years with a single handled rod (normal fly rod) and did well. Somehow, I got caught up in the machinations of the two handed rod and immediately stopped catching Steelhead. Paying my dues? Hmm? Not sure. I lost focus and intuitively lost interest. Now, I feel I must justify the expenses of gear and catch/release a Steelhead. You will notice I have no pics of a Steelhead and SwittersB to display. Remember my resolutions? Time management, focus, location/presentation, desire.

Beyond My Comprehension…Man in Space

We see these pictures and momentarily say “cool” “wow” and maybe you are like me. I wonder what if this or that happened and the pioneer drifted off into forever space…but really this is the most bizarre, amazing thing to me. I just take this for granted. The quality of the images are amazing too. NASA Images I think I will categorize this under Travel…

Movie making: Behind the scenes….The River Why

I found these older pics from 2011, when a film crew came to a fly shop (NW Fly Fishing Outfitters, Portland, Oregon) where my son, Tony, was working. I have previously posted a pic of Tony with Zach Gilford, who played Gus Oviston in the movie, The River Why. But, I found some behind the scenes images that Tony had gathered in the small fly shop. They show the size and volume of equipment and people involved for a very few scenes at the shop.

Here, in a quiet moment, Zach, Tony and the late and great John Hagan (owner of NWFFO) discussed Gilford’s life and travels.

I always think in terms of movies, who is in the movie. But, the setup and preparation is equally interesting. A fair amount of movies are shot in and around Portland so I see the neighborhoods taken over with big trailers etc. TV shows like Grimm and Leverage film quite a bit in Portland. 

 

Damn Good Gin!!! Dry Fly Gin

So far hard to find in my neck of the woods (Oregon)…but my sweet daughter feeds the flame and brings me a bottle now and then down from Seattle. It is exceptional.

If you can get it…try it!

Travel: Christmas Island Cemetery

I found these two images from a trip to Kiritimati (Christmas Island) a few years back. 

Photography: Tip Top Shape

The New Year: Looking Forward……………

Looking forward to the New Year, I am making certain hopeful resolutions with regard to fly fishing & photography: I want to pick up the two hander again and for once catch a Steelhead on it, not just practice casting…I want to venture forth this Winter, into Spring with some fly fishing trips in Central Oregon (Crooked, Metolius, Deschutes Rivers)…I MUST organize all my gear back into the somewhat manageable concepts of Salmon/Steelhead…Bass…Trout. Now everything has become a mishmash of overlapping rods, lines, flies and I am often forgetting something (back to the checkoff list)…More photography of urban/industrial settings along with the natural environment…exploring the Columbia River Gorge (Oregon) in late Spring/early Summer for Wildflowers and then learning to identify and photograph them…we want to travel to the desert and find those rustic locales to photograph and imagine what was. That’s a good start. I will have to think about the ‘normal’ resolutions re working out, less harmful activities, organizing etc. Seem so boring the day after Christmas Day.

Thanks & Love

Gentle Joy for the Mind: Javier Pérez, Ecuadorian Artist

The work of Javier Perez: Imagination that makes you smile at its simplicity and simple joy it creates………

Fun Stuff don’t you think?