Caddis Chronicles

"There are those who think of fishing as a contemplative sport. A chance to plant hip waders in a sparkling stream, stash a cold drink in the belt pocket and dream of man's mystic connections to the water and the dark shapes lurking below.

They, however, would not be many Alaskans, at least not when the sockeye start making their headlong summer rush up the Kenai River."  LA Times

Combat fishing' pits man against man in Alaska -- latimes.com

Not my cup of joe, but then again, I don't fish to eat...........

I guess this one gets filed under, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime"

As promised, here's a report from the wilds of the Poconos.

Bruce and I arrived late Saturday afternoon and some of the usual suspects were already at the lodge. They had just returned from the river and had mixed success with nymphs, but nothing on dry flies. The river was somewhat high, but clear - as clear as a tannic stained river can be - and in beautiful shape.

We headed up river to fish, while the others decided to hang back for dinner instead of taking advantage of the best time to be on the water. We split up and I slid into a nice long pool. No flies were on the water, but that didn't stop me from fishing a small parachute hopper. My first cast with it resulted in a nice wild brookie taking the fly after a short drift. I continued to fish the dry with no success, so I switched to nymphs. Over the next two hours I took a number of brookies and lost a few others.

It started to sprinkle, so I took a short walk up to where Bruce was to see how he was doing and shortly after I reached him the skies opened up. It began to pour like I've never seen it. We hightailed it back to the car and by the time we got there, we were soaked to the bone. Before the run in the rain though, I did take this pic of a huge hemlock that succumbed to hemlock wooley adelgid .

Saturday night we just hung out at the lodge, listened to the rain, drank some beverages, and tied flies. As usual, we stayed up very late and laughed till we hurt and then slept like babies.

Sunday morning came with bright sun and warm, humid air. After breakfast we headed downstream and found nothing in the air and no fish rising. I took a trio of fish -a rainbow, a brook, and a brown - all on a beadhead Bird's Nest nymph. This one:

The day was perfect, although the fishing wasn't, but all was not lost. We fished until about 5:00, and during that time I caught another fish - yep, one more. And spent some time exploring and watching the hummingbirds work their way among the wild flowers that lined the river.

And finally, a photo from just below a small waterfall looking upstream.

"How many of us really know what is correct when it comes to handling fish? You don't get instructions when you buy your license so how does an angler learn? What have you learned? Note that in this case, no license was required. If you want a photo are you prepared for efficient snap and release? Do you have a plan?"

Unfortunately, this world is full of people (idiots) who don't plan even one minute beyond the present, let alone what they might do if they land a fish they will be releasing.

http://www.wayupstream.com/2009/08/whats-your-plan.html

See you knee deep in the water, with a plan.

Yes, despite the prediction of rain, we're about to head on out to a fairly remote stream in PA to do some fishing later today and tomorrow. The creek is nowhere near any kind of pavement or develpoment, so it stays clear and normal, even after a good soaking rain. The only thing that may keep us off the water is lightening.......and if that happens, we'll sit in front of a fire at the lodge and tie flies, drink wine, eat and tell lies. That's half the fun anyway.

Report to follow.

Here's a good laugh via Moldy Chum. Enjoy.

Check out this great footage of one of the world's best fishermen.



Enjoy.

I know us fly tyers are a little off-center, but do they really think one of us would go this far? I hope not. Maybe they just wanted to re-stuff some old pillows........

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1206343/Collection-300-stuffed-birds-stolen-Natural-History-Museum.html

Here's a wonderful essay on Nature Deficit Disorder from the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/opinion/02kristof.html

Let's all go out and lick a slug!

We could have stayed another month or two....it was great to get away for something other than work. It did rain every day but Saturday - opening weekend at the track - so that was fine. Sort of.

All the rain on the other days prevented me from wetting a line even for a short while. Never even got out on the boat. That said, we had a great time eating, drinking, listening to great live music, watching the races, betting and only losing $15 when all was said and done, and just plain old having fun. After hanging at the track for the better part of teh day, we hit a local post-race watering hole, and then went into town to enjoy the street festival.

A view of the lake from the Algonquin:

A view across the table at the Algonquin of my lovely wife and friend Barry toasting something. I'd like to think it was the mayflies clinging to the windows in an effort to stay out of the rain.

The ponies getting ready for the first race of the day. The weather could not have been better.

And here is the self-described, "Jew in a fox hunt outfit that blows a trumpet at the track", Sam, myself and Karen just after he treated us to some traditional and not-so-traditional bugling of the finest order. This guy is good - even did some Led Zepplin for shits and giggles.

So, that's I did on one of my summer vacations.