Do Fly Fisherman Have Fantasies?

The answer.....oh, yeah!

So I emptied the hot tub this past weekend, scrubbed it out and then refilled it. You would think most people would think about the things they would like to do in there, once it was up and running, as they worked on it. You know, like sitting in it after dark on a cool spring night with the woman, some red wine, candles around the perimeter, music, and a black-blue star lit sky softened by a half-moon hanging just above the tree tops. Now that's the ticket!

Most people, but not this one. Been there, done that. Yep, it's fun...

But the whole time I worked on it, I couldn't help but think about how damn cool it would be to cover the bottom with sand, gravel and rocks, fill it with water and put a dozen or so trout in there. I'd put flat, slate-like stones on the seats so they would be like unwater ledges. Plants from the local trout stream would be a must. And some dace (little minnows), snails, a few water logged branches and maybe even a couple of frogs from the pond. I'd also turn off the heater, and unhook all the jets but the two opposite the filter intake, so I could run the motor on low and create a nice current. In the winter, I could run the heater on low, like 50ish, and keep it from icing over. How cool would that be, a little trout stream/pond on my deck.

We could hang out next to it and watch the trout, listen to music and drink wine or beer, feed them, test flies on the water, and talk to my wife about how cool the trout and the pond are, and isn't she glad I decided to turn the hot tub into a trout aquarium?

What do you think, Karen?

OVER MY DEAD BODY! That's what she'll think............

It was fun while it lasted.

Life is Good. See you in the hot tub, honey, and don't mind the trout, they're people, too.

Fly Lines - If You've Seen One, Have You Seen Them All?

For those of us that believe the fly line is only a relatively small factor in the performance of a fly line, Singlebarbed sums it up well.

Part 1 of 2: Is the fly line industry running out of superlatives?

Life is Good. Do you want the most out of your fly line? Learn to cast properly, and save your money.

Spitting Arrows

Life is Good. Sometimes spitting during a meal is acceptable.

Would You Rather Catch a Brookie That is a Jock or a Couch Potato?

Like we have a choice.........or do we catch the ones that most closely match our own personality?

i.e. If we are slow and deliberate, do we only catch the couch potatoes? If we are spastic, and move quickly as we fish up or downstream, do we only catch the jocks?

Or, is it the other way around? You know, the "opposites attract" principle.

Thank God, we will never know.....but it is fun to think about.

Another good one from singlebarbed..........

My Brook Trout has a first name

Life is Good. Get off the couch and go FISH!

New England's War on Science

If you ever needed proof that politicians are nothing but short-sighted beaurocrats, this is it.

From the "Let's keep them happy at least until the next election" files, we have this beauty from blogfish. When the fish are depleted to near extinction thanks to their myopic egos, these anti-science politicos will be long gone.........but what do they care? They won't have to answer to the sons and daughters of the fishermen they think they are pleasing now when they have to permanently beach the boat that has been in the family for generations, because the fish are gone.

blogfish: New England's war on science

What the hell happened to a government "for the people, by the people", and looking out for the next generation?

Life is Good. Let's hope someone in power gets a good pair of physic binoculars.

Going Barbless Should Be Global

In recent angler surveys by Oregon and Washington fish management agencies, a larger proportion of the respondents practiced catch-and-release fishing. Anglers are embracing live release fishing as a conservation measure. It also does not substantially deplete fish numbers like a kill fishery, and provides at least the expectation that the fish will survive to reproduce or be caught again.

The use of single barbless hooks complements the growing interest in catch-and-release fisheries. As these studies show, their use reduces sublethal and lethal impacts on juvenile and adult fish.

Read about it in a recent paper for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife:

http://www.nativefishsociety.org/documents/BarbedandBarblessHooksLitReview408.pdf

I always thought using barbless hooks was a no-brainer; a common sense kind of thing. I guess some people need more convincing than others, and besides, a good study once in while that shows us we're not nuts is always good.

Life is Good. Take off your barb...........

Thanks to NJpatbee, who posted this on Gardenstatetrout.com

A Van Gogh Sky

After dinner tonight I went out on the deck to sit and finish my wine while Karen spent some quiet time with Julia. No lights. The air was still, the trees bare, and the sky a deep blue-black, moonless, and filled with twinkling, pale blue stars. And the best part? Not a sound, nothing. Not a car, a dog, a rustling leaf, or any other noise that might otherwise interupt an idle mind.

The Big Dipper.......yeah, it's upside down, but that's what it looks like right now from this latitude/longitude of the hemisphere.

Life is Good. Check out the sky.....there's nothing like perspective. We're little, tiny beings in a great big universe. Cool.

Dick's Gonna Waterboard a Trout!

So the American Museum of Fly Fishing has postponed the annual fund raising dinner that was to happen in NYC on March 5. It now has been postponed to the fall of this year, date to be announced. Do you think the museum is hoping Dick's heart will give out by then and his map will be eliminated, thereby relieving them of the need to uninvite him, which may result in any range of possible consequences?

This guy is almost as easy to joke about as Dan Quayle was........



Life is Good. Just because you're given power, that doesn't mean you'll use it well.

Impressionist Dubbing Fur Blending

Here's a humorous, but very informative post from Singlebarbed for those that prefer mixing their own dubbing blends..........or anyone that ties or fishes with fur and feather on steel. I've always mixed my own blends to get the desired (read - what makes me confident in my minds eye) color and texture of of my dubbing. Hey, an artist mixes his paints on a palette, we just use a coffee grinder to do the mixing..........I wonder how the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel would look if it were done with various blends of animal fur????

Click away:
Nothing makes the fur fly like using the wife’s coffee grinder

Life if Good. Or weird, if you don't know from fly tying.

All Steelhead Should Be Returned To Whence They Came

With wild steelhead levels diminishing in just about every Pacific watershed, I do not understand why in the world the F & W brains don't make all wild steelhead fishing C&R. Wait until you read about this knucklehead and his record catch/kill. Do we really need to kill a fish to prove anything? How about a nice picture or two (holding the fish just out of the water - not over your knee or by squeezing the crap out of it) and maybe a measurement or two, and then let it GO? If you need a mount, send off the pictures to repro guy and have it done that way.......and help our struggling economy at the same time. Anyone that thinks holding a world record makes them a hero, needs to rethink their values. Can you say, malcathartic?

Read all about it here, courtesy of the Trout Underground, click away:

Fly Fishermen Catches, Kills World Record Steelhead; Intertubes Erupt

Life is Good. Let the damn fish go!

Trout in the Classroom teaches city students about nature

Trout in the Classroom is a great program that is thriving in New Jersey as well as many other states. Click on the link below to see how its doing in CA:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trout9-2009mar09,0,3026080.story

Life is Good. Some fish stories are true..............

Pecking Order - A Short Poem

Food for thought from Wayupstream.

http://www.wayupstream.com/2009/03/pecking-order.html

Life is good. We're all the same in the end, so get over it, you're no more special than the rest of us!