10-07-2014, 02:56 AM
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font][size 3]Hello Friends,[/size]
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[size 3]It's been a while since I've posted. This year has been a year fraught with changes for me – my first divorce, my first major surgery, a new job, a new house. It’s been one heck of a ride and I feel lucky to be left at the end of it, standing on my own two feet in a place where me and Kota can be happy again (then again, Kota is always pretty dang happy, especially when we can get outside and play…something I need to get better at acknowledging myself.)[/size]
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[size 3]Through it all, fishing has been the place where I can truly get out of my head. The one thing I can do and be at peace in beautiful surroundings - and spend quality time with my wonderful best-pooch-of-a-friend. Love you, Kota![/size]
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[size 3]I have always thought that the way you fish can affect your state of mind. Or, also that your state of mind affects how you fish. So, after a few disappointing weeks on the Provo and Weeb with lots of slow action and missed fish, and general "urgghhhhh" in myself and my new life, well… it seemed like time for some skinny water.[/size]
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[size 3]…And the skinny water did not disappoint.[/size]
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[size 3]Oh, how I love it.[/size]
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[size 3]I wrote a similar post a few years ago. And it's having the same effect on me now. [/size]
[size 3][/size]
[size 3]But. Wow. Every little pool that looks like it’s deep enough to hold a fish – well, it usually has a fish in it!Too many are spooked by my approach, as stealthy and secretive as I try to make it... Still, seeing the fish flee, right there before me, has a certain satisfaction to it. “Yes, I was right, a fish was right where I thought it would be!!”[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Some of the approaches I need to make border on acrobatic in nature. Using my arms to lower myself over a precarious undercut bank, or to climb up between the limbs of trees, anything to get myself into perfect position. The bushwhacking, all the scratches and little cuts, bumps and bruises inflicted by the terrain... [/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]There is something inherently more primal, and therefore deeply satisfying, about this. [/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Honestly, when comparing with bigger rivers and their miles of relatively open water - where fly selection, perfect presentation, and strategic repetition count… well, after a while it can wear on me. And I do find myself craving this very immediate, sometimes unorthodox, guerrilla style of fly fishing.[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Flies are not so much cast, but often flung into position. Really, any method which doesn’t catch the surrounding brush or spook the fish can do the job. And, really, any pattern which even vaguely resembles something that the fish would have seen in the last couple weeks is appropriate (I prefer a big ugly Caddis dry with a “Magic Mystery” grey super-soft hackle dropper this time of year).[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]So, some physical work and occasional flesh wounds get me into position. Then, I am there before the hole… perfectly still and silent… the fly is cast. Sometimes, honestly, it’s a “hail Mary”, and, I’m not sure at all if the fly is going to go even remotely where I want it to. But, if everything is right, no more than 5 seconds pass before a fish rises: [/size]
[size 3][/size]
[size 3]Splash! [/size]
[size 3]Tug! [/size]
[size 3]Reel, reel, reeeeell! [/size]
[size 3]Real. [/size]
[size 3]Best. Feeling. Ever. [/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Sure, the fish are not huge. But I will take a 30+ day pretty much whenever I can get it. And a feisty 15” spawning brown out of a creek so narrow that you can straddle with your legs!? Jeez, it feels like a monster to me on a 2-wt and in close quarters![/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Autumn is just getting started, and I can’t wait for the weeks to come! Pictures to follow soon…[/size]
[signature]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]It's been a while since I've posted. This year has been a year fraught with changes for me – my first divorce, my first major surgery, a new job, a new house. It’s been one heck of a ride and I feel lucky to be left at the end of it, standing on my own two feet in a place where me and Kota can be happy again (then again, Kota is always pretty dang happy, especially when we can get outside and play…something I need to get better at acknowledging myself.)[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Through it all, fishing has been the place where I can truly get out of my head. The one thing I can do and be at peace in beautiful surroundings - and spend quality time with my wonderful best-pooch-of-a-friend. Love you, Kota![/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]I have always thought that the way you fish can affect your state of mind. Or, also that your state of mind affects how you fish. So, after a few disappointing weeks on the Provo and Weeb with lots of slow action and missed fish, and general "urgghhhhh" in myself and my new life, well… it seemed like time for some skinny water.[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]…And the skinny water did not disappoint.[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Oh, how I love it.[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]I wrote a similar post a few years ago. And it's having the same effect on me now. [/size]
[size 3][/size]
[size 3]But. Wow. Every little pool that looks like it’s deep enough to hold a fish – well, it usually has a fish in it!Too many are spooked by my approach, as stealthy and secretive as I try to make it... Still, seeing the fish flee, right there before me, has a certain satisfaction to it. “Yes, I was right, a fish was right where I thought it would be!!”[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Some of the approaches I need to make border on acrobatic in nature. Using my arms to lower myself over a precarious undercut bank, or to climb up between the limbs of trees, anything to get myself into perfect position. The bushwhacking, all the scratches and little cuts, bumps and bruises inflicted by the terrain... [/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]There is something inherently more primal, and therefore deeply satisfying, about this. [/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Honestly, when comparing with bigger rivers and their miles of relatively open water - where fly selection, perfect presentation, and strategic repetition count… well, after a while it can wear on me. And I do find myself craving this very immediate, sometimes unorthodox, guerrilla style of fly fishing.[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Flies are not so much cast, but often flung into position. Really, any method which doesn’t catch the surrounding brush or spook the fish can do the job. And, really, any pattern which even vaguely resembles something that the fish would have seen in the last couple weeks is appropriate (I prefer a big ugly Caddis dry with a “Magic Mystery” grey super-soft hackle dropper this time of year).[/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]So, some physical work and occasional flesh wounds get me into position. Then, I am there before the hole… perfectly still and silent… the fly is cast. Sometimes, honestly, it’s a “hail Mary”, and, I’m not sure at all if the fly is going to go even remotely where I want it to. But, if everything is right, no more than 5 seconds pass before a fish rises: [/size]
[size 3][/size]
[size 3]Splash! [/size]
[size 3]Tug! [/size]
[size 3]Reel, reel, reeeeell! [/size]
[size 3]Real. [/size]
[size 3]Best. Feeling. Ever. [/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Sure, the fish are not huge. But I will take a 30+ day pretty much whenever I can get it. And a feisty 15” spawning brown out of a creek so narrow that you can straddle with your legs!? Jeez, it feels like a monster to me on a 2-wt and in close quarters![/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[size 3]Autumn is just getting started, and I can’t wait for the weeks to come! Pictures to follow soon…[/size]
[signature]