Filed under: Reflections — admin @ 3:05 pm
I just got the most recent editions of both Fly Fisherman and Fly Rod & Reel magazines. I don’t know why I get them, I don’t believe I subscribed - they just appear.
I am out-growing these kinds of periodicals.
I just don’t get anything out of them anymore. Most of them are thinly disguised high-brow travel magazines targeting big buck globetrotters planning their next $10,000 fishing trip to Tierra del Fuego.
Many now try to attract readership and re-establish credibility with a featured humor writer (usually at the very end of the pub) to be a main attractant to these rags. Some of the writers are entertaining, but most get old very quickly.
It’s the subject matter I can’t take anymore: British Columbia steelhead, Russian salmon, Argentinian trout. How many of their readers can actually expect to relate to fishing like this? I know I am naive, but I suspect very few anglers today, in this economy, are planning such destination trips. Hurray for you that are!
OK, maybe some of it is for dreamers vicariously fishing through others - not me.
I love fly fishing for just about any kind of fish. It’s my favorite activity and a big part of my overall fishing.
This recent turn-off reminds me of the tournament bass fishing world. Wild gonzo big buck fishing machines popping bass all over, etc. It just doesn’t come close to reality and contorts a beautiful past time into an abstract surrealistic orgy of sorts.
The reality is: fishing is fun and often very peaceful. Fishing is about being outdoors and spending time either alone or enjoying the company of others. It’s one of the few pursuits today where anyone can get some inexpensive equipment and go to a local water resource and simply have fun.
So to you that are looking to send me free fly fishing magazines - save the postage.
Filed under: Adventures — admin @ 5:53 pm
In this area of Minnesota, we are running out of prime surface activity for the season. I figure we’ve got 2 -3 weeks on the outside.
August has been very good as I’m hoping you’re fooling fish on top as well.
I’m still waiting for a good solid ant hatch, but in the meantime, here’s a dandy I popped yesterday on the Mississippi north of Monticello, MN.
A gray popper has been hot for us up this way over the last few weeks and I have no idea why. I know frogs are starting to move and their underside is often a shade of gray.
Filed under: Observations — admin @ 9:52 am
Squatter’s Rights is defined as a sense of possession of land and/or water by virtue of being the first to settle on it or (more importantly) fish it.
Have you ever felt that way about a secret fishing or hunting spot, whether you owned it or not?
- Have you ever ice fished a spot for ten years with few others around and suddenly pulled up one day to see a permanent fish house on YOUR HOLES?
- Have you ever fly fished a secret stream full of hungry trout only to arrive one day to the sight of five cars pulled over by YOUR SPOT?
- Have you ever headed, in darkness, to your favorite duck slough, only to see flashlights and noise made by others who beat you to the spot setting decoys for YOUR DUCKS?
- Have you ever raced through the woods to beat others to YOUR HALLOWED STEELHEAD LAIR as they picked their way along a trail?
You get the idea.
I feel that way about a lot of spots I fish. When I see someone using MY piece of water I become uncomfortable and anxious. I turn into a grouch and treat these interlopers with distance and snobbery, usually reserved for the blue bloods of our society.
Yesterday, as I fished MY spot on a MY local smallmouth river, a western style drift boat floated through with a guide and two customers.
I went right into my Squatter’s Rights “holier than thou” act. I continued to fish pretending to concentrate on my fishing with nary a side glance, ostensibly oblivious to these invaders of MY private realm.
They were clearly enjoying a beautiful day, slipping quietly down MY Mississippi River and well away from MY fishing zone. Clearly, they mistakenly believe the river is big enough for everyone to enjoy. I hate people who think like this.
One of the fisherman had the temerity to ask how I was doing.
I blurted a quick, “Not much”. This is MY standard reply to such party crashers. You see, I know if I treat people this way, they will understand they have trespassed into MY private world and never venture this way again.
Two days earlier there were two Neanderthal-like “bait fisherman” (yes, with minnow bucket in-tow, dragging next to their nuckles), working over MY private stash of smallmouth and walleyes WITH CONVENTIONAL TACKLE, no less! There’s only one word for people like this: TRASH.
How could they spoil the ambience of MY fly fishing paradise by lugging spinning rods and minnow buckets and hassling MY fish? They probably had beer, too.
Don’t they know who I am? Haven’t they ever heard of FlyBass.com?
Why can’t they just leave me alone?
I’ll definitely have to see MY pschycologist again next week to help ME deal with this issue.
