To Update or Not To Update

That may not be THE question, but it can be A question sometimes. It's been on my mind for a long time now. I'm not talking weeks or months; I'm talking years.

What is it that I should maybe update? My fishing vest. I've had the same vest for something like seven years now. It is an amazing hand-sewn work of art with wonderfully well put-together pockets and storage spaces, and is made of the finest and most durable materials known to man. No, I'm joking. It's a $35 special from Bass Pro or some other big box store; I can't remember exactly where.

I am fully aware that the cool kids no longer wear vests, but that's not why it's been on my mind. I'm sometimes a bit counter-cultural and shun fads until they are no longer cool. Hence why I have not moved away from the vest to the chest pack. The other reason I haven't updated is because I have a system: I know exactly where in my vest each and every item I require is located. But I can't help occasionally wondering if I should get a new one since what I've got is so old and cheap.

Newer vests have nicer pockets, waterproof sections, zippers that aren't broken, velcro that still works, and padded neck areas to avoid rubbing your neck raw. This vest, however, has character. It's got seven years of fish goo, sunscreen, dirt, and other nefarious chemical elements soaked into its every nook and cranny. It may have been a piece of garbage when I bought it, but it has become a work of art over time.

So of course I won't be updating this multi-faceted tool. I will continue to rock this eyesore until something structural irreparably breaks. My apologies to those I meet on the river and even more so to those who get stuck fishing with me. But it's all about enjoying the time on the water, catching some fish, and drinking some beers; it's not about looking good. Luckily for me...

Fruits and Nuts

I have to apologize for the lack of updates throughout the week on my beachfront trip. The wireless in our lodgings was frustratingly spotty. It went out every day for hours at a time. Plus there was beach, ocean, and sun calling me. And a hammock.

In addition, I was lacking the requisite ammunition for a good posting: photos. Now wait, that's not because I didn't catch anything! Although I admit I didn't catch much. It is because when I pulled my waterproof camera out of my luggage I found it missing a bunch of parts that were rattling around in the bottom of my bag.  And of those parts: the ever important power and "take pic" buttons. Somehow a little screw-on cap over these buttons rattled loose and it all fell apart.

With a little ingenuity, however, I managed to put the buttons and cap back on. I even managed to screw down the teeny tiny Torx head screw with a kitchen knife. But only to discover that the "take pic" button had a bit of a plastic nub break off. And of course that plastic nub was the bit that pressed the electrode down to register a "push." I could turn the camera on and navigate through stuff, but no matter how hard I pushed the button it wouldn't snap a shot. Ugh!

So I tossed it back in my bag, and considered taking my phone along with me on the boat but decided it wasn't a good idea. Instead I'll insert a few photos that I stole from the internets and pretend as though they are mine.

The result of the trip was a disappointing and somewhat expected 0 fish caught on my own. I really didn't have enough time to give myself a real chance here. I spent about an hour one morning chasing a few bonefish around the flats outside our lodging and that's it. There were a handful tailing in the turtle grass shallows around where we were staying. I spooked them a number of times but never got a bite. The next day was with a guide and the day after was a snorkeling trip too early in the morning to add in fishing. Thus, only one morning of a few casts at a few fish.

The guide outing was another story. We saw about one billion fish, but I remain unconvinced that my guide knew what he was doing other than knowing where the fish were. And with me knowing nothing about how to fish for any of these fish, that was an issue. I felt like we were spastically chasing them around the flats constantly rather than making any sort of intelligent approach to a pod of fish. I felt like every time I got a cast to them, they were already aware something was pursuing them and were moving on.

Nonetheless, I did catch a couple after a few morning hours of chasing. Once the skunk was off I gave the guide permission to take me out to chase around some permit, which I figured I were much less likely to yield a catch but would be fun to try for. And that's where we spent most of the afternoon hours, again chasing fish around until they vacated the area. Doing so seemingly with no real plan other than: Fish there! Fish where? Right there, hurry they're swimming away!! Cast Cast Cast!!!!! Strip Strip Strip!! (to my non-fishing readers, strip basically means reel-in in fly-fishing-speak)

Of course, I have to admit that I really struggled to double haul an 8wt rod with 9wt line out 40+ feet in 2 back casts or less with 20mph cross or headwinds. So certainly some of the blame of my lack of fish numbers is my own lack of ability and experience. In fact the majority lies there. But I don't tell myself that so I can remain proud of my inabilities.

Salty Preperation

First off, apologies for the long absence here. Not much fishing has been going on due to travels, skiing, rain and blown out rivers, and other weekend festivities. That of course is about to change or I wouldn't be writing this. You see, I don't write this blog because I always have something to say and because I have a neurotic need to grab other people's attention. I write this to reflect on and look forward to my fishing outings. It's the same reason I read your blogs, vicariously of course!

And today I find myself with about 5 hours in the Houston airport waiting for my connection. I apparently did a poor job of booking flights, but if memory serves me right my only other option was for an earlier flight in first class. And I don't make enough to afford first class travel, at least not yet. Someday maybe. So here I sit waiting for a flight that is a long way off.

I'm off to a saltwater destination, which is something I've never done before.  I tied up a few flies in weeks prior and stopped by my local fly shop this week for advice and tying inspiration. I've got a good collection of flies that I will use this one time; I don't expect to lose a ton or to come anywhere near running out, nor do I expect to use these regularly in the future. But I have time to kill and I brought along my vise and a handful of materials. What else can I do? I already donated some time to work on a day off and I can only read for so long before boredom and ADD force me to move on.

Stay tuned this week for updates in real time. The trip is not 100% fishing, but I plan to get out every day for at least a little while. Some of it will be DIY, one day will be expensive and probably much more fruitful. I very much look forward to it.

Foiled

This marks the second, or maybe third year in a row; I can't really remember anymore. F3T has screwed me again. I love you F3T! You are highlight of my entire year! I sit in the dark of my room the other 364 days a year waiting for you to come back. Why do you keep avoiding me like this??

Well, maybe I'm not that extreme, but I do love the show. It's a great mid-winter reminder of how refreshing summer fishing can be, and for some of us it's a nice reminder of how refreshing fishing in general is.

But with that said, I will sadly be out of town yet again for the Portland showing of the Film tour. I don't think I'm quite devoted enough to drive down to Corvallis for the show the following weekend....but I might be.

Everyone else out there should watch the schedule and plan on attending.  It's a lot of fun, everyone attending is generally happy and excited, and free gear is given away. You can't beat free gear.

http://www.flyfilmtour.com/

Ode to Plebians and Peons

Once a year every year for the past three years I have been gifted a wonderful early Christmas gift. This is indirectly and graciously given to me by all the peasants on their holiday journeys to visit friends and family. I too am about to be on such a journey. I take plenty of trips every year, and never ever get seat upgrades. The reason is that I am just about the very bottom of the bottom of the barrel of fliers with airline status. Each year I attain just a few miles over the minimum for status and thus am among the dregs who are qualified for upgrades (but never actually get them).

But this time of year when the airport gates are packed to the brim and people are packed like sardines into the ballistic aluminum cylinders, the ratio of important people to the rabble decreases. And it decreases sufficiently for an important person like myself to achieve that much vaunted upgrade to first class.

But at this point I have to say, I really don't think first class is all that. It's certainly not worth the money. Sure you have a little more space. Sure you get free drinks. Sure you don't have to wait for the bathroom. But big deal. Of course this is coming from someone who's 5'7" and 140lbs soaking wet. I fit quite nicely into the tiny airline living spaces provided in coach. Of course it's nice to get to hobnob with the elites of society once a year and pretend that I am actually someone; when it's free.

And here I come huge aluminum cylinder filled with recycled air. Be good to me.

Personal Stimulation

I have a new ride that I'm struggling to get a handle on. Big cars are a bit unwieldy and not very responsive so I feel weird driving it. This is what it looks like:

Here's what my old car looked like:

Just kidding, it looks like an old, dirty version of this, except VR6 rather than TDI and a broken antenna:

And everyone who knows me well is instantly curious why I would now have this boat of a car. I've been planning a car purchase for quite a while now, and here I am driving around something that is the last car I would add to my list of consideration.

So why the land yacht? Well, on my drive home last night I noticed the temperature gauge in my car creeping up beyond the its position halfway up the dial.  And by the time I got home it was in the red and steam was beginning to billow out of the engine. Fortunately it at least waited until I was home to blow up on me. This morning I located the nearest autoshop, drove it over, and luckily arrived just about the time Mr Jetta was about to overheat again. 

Being unsure what the prognosis would be and thinking it might cost nearly as much as the car's worth and adding in the fact that I am planning to buy a new car very very soon, I figured I'd rent a car for today and maybe through the weekend for some shopping. A quick call to the enterprise just down the street provided me with a positive response and they drove over to pick me up... in the land yacht pictured above. 

Apparently the prolonged sub-zero temps we've been suffering through lately has put a lot of people in the situation I find myself in, and this was the only car they had left so I got it at a bargain basement price. 

I also found myself in a similar situation earlier this week. I had a plumber out to do some work that I've been putting off for quite some time. In chatting with him it turns out that they're also incredibly busy repairing all sorts of busted and frozen pipes. 

There are a ton of depressing ways to look at our current cold snap, mostly involving personal discomfort.  But apparently the tiny silver lining to this massive thunderhead of doom is a forced economic stimulus. Plenty of people are being forced to shell out extra unplanned cash for bare necessities they (I) took for granted. You're welcome economy. I'm glad to have participated in your stimulation.

Now can I get my money back through massive economic growth next year and a gargantuan raise, please? Tit for tat, you know.

Snow Day!

Blue moons are much more common in the Portland area than snow days. Yet today, we have one. Sort of. 

On my drive in to work this morning I was struck by the ridiculosity of what I was hearing on the radio. A couple of schools closed, a few more with delayed start hours, and all of Portland's school buses were on "snow routes." I know what you're thinking: it must be pretty bad here but not horrible since most schools will still be open. 

Well, you'd be wrong. It's blizzard-like out there! Just check out how bad my drive in was:

I was lucky I made it in. And yes that was just about the worst of it.

In all seriousness, I feel sorry for kids in Portland. I remember how glorious real snow days were. Waking up with a foot or more of snow on the ground with more coming down. Sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast and eagerly awaiting the list of school closures on the radio or TV. Then rejoicing when we heard our school called or saw it scroll by on the bottom of the TV screen.

At which point we immediately donned all our winter gear and ran outside to play. Snowmen were built, driveways were voluntarily shoveled into a single pile so that a sweet fort could be constructed, sled races ensued in the back yard dangerously down the hill and through the woods. Eventually we'd get called in for lunch, which none of us really wanted and it required the enticement of marshmallows doused in hot chocolate for mom to get us to even think of listening.

Then of course we'd hurriedly scarf down our mallows and lunches and immediately put all our coats and gear back on to go back outside and finish off the day. We'd stay out again until near dark when it started getting too cold, we were wet from melting snow and sweat, and honestly were getting way too tired for the excitement to punch through any longer. Later that evening we'd all lay down in bed, but not forgetting to say our prayers, prayers for more snow and another snow day tomorrow!

I hope you're enjoying your winter!