More Pictures From the Event

Where the hell is the fishing stuff, you ask? Well, I haven't been fishing lately and this is all I got....and besides, it's great stuff. I'll be fishing in the salt the next few days and hopefully I'll have some fine stories to report. In the meantime, Karen thought I should share a few more pics of her choice.......

Here we are just after the ceremony, Leigh, Me, Julia (Karen's daughter), Karen and my buddy Hunt. My other daughter Megan, had to be in L.A. for a job she just took after graduating from Miami U.

Leigh and I having a moment......she just made a very funny wise crack about her dad.

And lastly, Hunt bringing the Heineken out to the gang on the front porch.....have beer will travel.
Life is good. Our regularly scheduled program will resume in a moment.........anybody see my fly rod?

Boat Found

Today Dennis got a call from Ken Tutulo, the owner of Baxter House Fly Shop in Roscoe, NY, telling him he found his boat. It was a ways down river from where it had been moored, resting on the shore. Seems the anchor had come untied when a surge in water flow occurred a couple of days ago, and the boat drifted down river before settling on the edge when the flow came down. No damage to the craft, and Ken is holding it on his property until Dennis can pick it up.

Life is good. Especially when your drift boat is like a boomerang.

Have You Seen This Driftboat?

A friend and the owner/admin of North Eastern Fly Fishing.com (click on New Jersey Fly Fishing below), Dennis Cabarle, recently purchased a drift boat. He floated down the West Branch of the Delaware River with it last Friday. The boat was moored at the bottom end of the West Branch Angler and he was told today that it is missing.

It's a 2002 Clacka Craft WF 16.Registration #: XEP00284E202. Faded out there is, "Outback Outfitters" or "Outback Outfitters Guide Service" on the side of the boat.

If someone tries to sell you a boat and you notice a matching registration number or the registration is scratched off, please contact the police. He only had it a few weeks and although it was only his for a few weeks, it has great sentimental value.

Life is good. And it will be much better when Dennis gets his boat back.

Married.....to the Best Woman in the World

Saturday was the big day. No, I didn't catch a huge fish, I got married to a wonderful woman. The weather was perfect, all our friends and family were there (except my daughter Megan who had to be in L.A. with her new job) and everything went great. Happy does not begin to describe how I feel now. Here's a few pictures.

Here we are at the start of the ceremony and everyone is cracking up because I was looking for my fly rod......there's fish in the pond!

Just after the ceremony, that's my sister in the pink and my daughter Leigh in the yellow.
Brian and my sister Barbara, sister Christina, bro John, and Christina's husband John protecting the booze and just getting started....
Some of the folks at the start of the reception.....the food was on the way. Yeah, we served the beer in bottles......we lost our bartender when we dumped the caterer. That's my mom, center behind the flowers, 80 years young.
Cutting the cake, gotta have a pic of the cake cutting. It was carrot cake with cream cheese between layers and egg-cream icing on the outside.....decadent stuff. It was gone.......
Of course, when you cut the cake, you have to eat the cake.......no, we didn't smash it into each others face.....
And what would a wedding be without dancing................
It was a day to remember. Family, friends, good food, music and loads of fun. We're off to our mini-honeymoon Saturday at the beach in Avon, NJ for the week (yup, I plan on fishing), then later in the year we're off to .........

Life is good. Mind if I go fishing, dear?.....................of course, honey, after you paint the house, clean the garage, and give me your credit cards....is there a SALE anywhere today?

Caterer......With 3 Days To Go, and Other Thoughts

Does anyone read this stuff? Do I?

Anyway, you know the stuff I wrote about the caterer we WERE going to use for the wedding this Saturday? Well, he's toast. Let's just say he took us for fools and he totally miscalculated. I don't have patience for that crap and the last thing I want is for Karen to get stressed because some idiot thinks he has carte blanche. We had a back up just in case, and it paid off. So, we have a new caterer all set to go. Same food, same number of servers and so forth, and a much more reasonable cost.

Enough of that stuff.

So, does anyone know who this Michael Phelps guy is? Seems he should have been born a fish. Think about it...........you cast your fly and he comes up and takes it. Then its off to the races, a world record race at that. First he does the butterfly, then the freestyle, and as you go to land him he takes off again doing the breast stroke. Do you think he would jump a few times like a rainbow or a salmon? Or would he dog it, digging for the bottom like a brown trout or striped bass? I do think that when you landed him he would still have his cap on with the little American flag on the side and his name, and a medal or two hanging from his neck just to show you that you caught a winner.......just make sure if you do catch him, that you release him. His mother would want it that way.

And speaking of fishing, man, I can't wait until we get some water. I haven't been trout fishing since Montana. Of course, the wedding and plans have had to come first, so no big deal. Maybe I'll fish the pond after the ceremony..........can't do that, those are my pets. The fish, the frogs and now the lily pads are in bloom. Beautiful flowers. And then there's the other aquatic plants that are also in bloom - long, slim purple blossoms that have hummingbirds coming to taste their nectar every evening. Awesome birds they are.

It's great to take a seat on one of the rocks near the water and just sit and watch them as they move from bloom to bloom. Their wings moving so fast you can't see them. But you can hear the quiet vibrations like a dream holding them in place as they dart into and out of the blooms, methodically taking the liquid sugar that fuels them. They are easy to see with their shimmering irridescense, like a magnet to the eye. Maybe one or two will visit when we are having the ceremony............

Life is good. When are we going fishing?

Fast Forward...

Man, its been one busy month, but only four days until the BIG day. Very exciting stuff.

Last week Karen and I went to Boston for a few days and combined work (mine, she is a student) and pleasure. My daughter just moved to Boston, so it was a great few days. I got to take care of clients, hang out in one of the best cities for hanging out in, and I got to see my daughter in the evenings. What more can a guy ask for? ......fishing?

The Boston Garden and suspension bridge to the "Tunnel" from high on a roof top......
We had a blast. After spending one morning with a client, Karen and I went down to the waterfront and the historic area. Lots of people enjoying the nice weather. Late in the afternoon, we decided to take a load off our feet and enoy a beverage at Dick's Last Resort. What a hoot. The waitresses and waiters not only wait tables, but they are there to bust chops......well, most of them at least. Ours was a little up-tight, but others had fun with their tables. Here's one table next to us. These guys were visiting from England, and they had as much fun with the waitress as she did with them......
Each hat had something different written on them........some clean and funny, others off-color and funny - none of them out of line. There are all kinds of bars and eatery's in the area - Quincy Market/Fanueil Hall. Check it out.

So the big news is, Karen and I will be getting married on Saturday...4 more days! The mayor of Tewksbury is performing the ceremony, which will be next to our pond. And then, the party will begin.........you may recall my comments about the caterer......well, he's still a pain in the ass! What can you do? As long as it goes well, nothing to worry about.

Here's a pic of my bride I took while in Boston.....

Life is good. And even better when you find the right person to share it with.

Day 5 - The Henry's Fork

What can I say about the last day of the trip except that I wish we had gone back to the Madison River. Not that I didn't catch any fish, I did, and some nice ones. But try as I might, I just can't get into fishing a river that's as huge as the Henry's Fork, over 100 yard wide in many spots, where people feel they have to fish in your waders to catch fish.

Yep, no one within a quater mile of me one minute, and catch a couple of fish, and suddenly I'm surrounded by a couple idiots. One guy got within 30-35 feet of me, and then when I politely asked him if he could give me some space, he told me I should have some manners.

That was around 6 o'clock or so. When the third guy came wading over I had enough. I made it clear to the three of them that they needed a class in stream etiquette before I made way back to the bank to go somewhere else. And that was the problem, by now half the world was fishing here. I looked up river, and down, and there were people every 50 yards or so. They came out of the woodwork! Not my cup of tea. I walked a ways downstream and found a pod of trout rising well away from the masses and waded out to them. After a few casts I hooked a nice fish and landed it shortly afterwards. Another 15 minutes later I hooked and landed another, and then within 5 minutes or so I had company!

It was unbelievable to say the least. Mind you, trout were rising up and down the river as far as the eye could see, yet these bozos.....new bozos, not the ones a mile up river......had to practically jump in my waders. That was it for me. I headed out of the river and walked up the bank to the car where I opened a beer and munched on pistachio nuts while I waited until the others got back. I did get to enjoy a wonderful sunset though.

Bottom line, this river gets way too much national and international press on a steady basis........sometimes you can love a river too much.

Life is good. Just don't fish the Henry's Fork if you want some solitude.

Day Four - The Madison RIver

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

That is what we had to do when we arrived at the Madison River on day four. It was early afternoon, the air was hot and dry, and the wind was whipping a across the bench land of the Madison Valley flattening the tall grass. A long trail of dust blew high and far behind the car as we drove along a dirt road that runs long the base of the southern side of the valley about 10 miles up river of Ennis.

We pulled off the road at a spot we know that requires a 1/2 mile walk through a treeless, grass, cactus, and rock filled field before reaching the river. Paul and I rigged up and headed to the river, a bottle of water in each of our hands. Despite the wind and hot sun, the valley was a beautiful as ever. The cactus were in full bloom, the yellow, tissue-like flower petals surrounding the orange stamen and a pale green pistil center. Sun-dried grass awns scratched at my bare calves above my wading shoes. The deep blue sky a background for the high and snow-covered mountains that hug the broad valley. I love this place, it's as home as anywhere I have ever been.
When we got to the river the wind was blowing hard downstream. Paul tied on a terrestrial and began fishing the river edge, working his way downstream while using the wind to cast his fly on the water ahead of him. I sat on a large, moss covered rock at the top of the bank and watched, finishing my water and enjoying the view. After fishing our way downstream for a couple of hours we made our way back to the car, and sleeping Joe. Neither of us caught anything of size, but we had fun.

We hopped in the car and headed up river toward the slide checking out various spots, as the plan was to fish the evening hatch after got something to eat.

About six o'clock or so we settled on a spot a couple of miles below $3 bridge where a high bluff sheltered the river somewhat from the wind. Fortunately, when we got there, the wind had settled down to a light breeze. Paul headed up river and I down. Turned out we hit it right. Caddis were hatching and the fish were on them. I worked the banks with an Iris caddis and had a field day, barely stepping into the river except to land a fish occasionally. By dark I had caught dozens of trout, 2 browns and the rest rainbows. One of the browns was long and lean, taping out at about 21-22" or so.

The sun set around 9:45PM. Just before it did, it threw its last rays of light on the mountains beyond, giving the valley a nice warm glow. Once those rays left the land though, the temperature dropped like a rock.
Life is good. Sometimes its even better....