Ouch and Gross

One picture will say it all.

It actually looked a lot worse yesterday and felt even worse the day before.

My apologies for the non-fishing related post and for the gross picture of my foot.

Spring Cleaning

First I must remind you what my current dry fly box looks like.  Or did look like before I did a little spring cleaning.  Here it is:

It came a little early, but I got what I publicly demanded for my birthday.  Or at least one of the many things I asked for.  And now it looks much more organized.  The two downsides now are 1) that it actually now appears like I have fewer flies, and 2) I have more space to fill so I need to tie some more!

Trouts and other fishes, here I come.

Oh, and thanks LM&M for the gift.

Dilemma

So I've gone back to tying flies this past week. I haven't really sat the at the tying desk for quite some time other than a few instances to tie up some steelhead monstrosities.  And then only because I had donated most of my supply to the riverbed.  But the air is again beginning to whisper about good times in Montana.  Fish to be caught, sun rays to soak up (weather permitting), good company to be had, and all that good stuff.  That air has blown me back to my fly tying desk.  Not because I'm in desperate need of flies for a looming trip, but because I'm excited about a somewhat distant trip and tying up some flies is one fun way to release that excited anxiety.

The problem, however, that tying flies has created is that my new creations don't fit in my dry fly box.  You would think that means I'm well stocked, but you would be wrong.  My dry box is pretty small and there are a lot of bugs in the world that trout eat.  Sure, eight and a half times out of ten I have what I need.  But those last one and a half times of ten are monumentally frustrating.  Those are the times where there are fish surfacing all around me, eating fly after fly in the darkening half-light of the encroaching dusk but refusing my offering time and time and time and time and time again.  That's what I'd like to be prepared to avoid.

This brings me to a dilemma.  I have way too many dry flies to fit in my fly box, but the whole point is to have all these patterns on hand.  

There are two possible solutions.  One would be to spend countless days on the water and drastically improve my angling skills to the point where I only require a couple patterns.  The other would simply require I acquire a new and larger fly box.  One of those is easy and one is hard.  Can you tell which path I intend to follow?

My birthday is coming up.

Hint hint.

Creep-meisters

Last week I was expecting a package and wanted to have it left at my front door. In order to do this I went to UPS's website and signed up for an account. That's when things got a bit creepy. To my knowledge I have never given certain bits of personal info to UPS, yet info they already have!

I'm not usually overly concerned about Big Brother or the lack of privacy we all suffer from these days, but this did leave me feeling just a bit exposed.

What on God's Green Earth?

What on God's green earth is this thing I have created? Well, after a few weeks of steelhead fishing my steelhead fly supply is getting a bit thin. Not that I've been breaking off so many steelhead, though, unfortunately. It's just a matter of time before you donate each bit of gear to a rock or something else on the bottom of the river. All but a few of my store-bought steelhead flies, by now, have met such an end.

And being new to steelhead fishing I have no idea what constitutes a steelhead fly. What I have gathered so far is that it really doesn't matter. It's sort of like a carp fly: as long as you can get the thing in front of a fish, you've got a chance regardless of what is tied on the hook. Within reason, of course. And I'm sure there will be those who argue I'm wrong and they may well be right.

So I sat down this week to tie up some random flies with whatever materials I had lying around. Here is one of the monstrosities that I produced. It's probably better that the fly is out of focus.

Spin guys: you are the problem

Now before you get all hot and bothered, let me explain my title. I decided on that title for two reasons. One was that it is controversial and will ruffle feathers and that's the way to get people's attention. I apologize for lowering myself to such low levels, but what's a blogger to do? The second reason was a number of experiences I have had on the rivers since moving to Oregon. And in Oregon there are zillions more spin guys than there were in Colorado.

Now the disclaimer. No, I don't think all spin guys are the problem. That would be unfair. Plus, I am sometimes one of you and I am not the problem. Even though I'm sure I occasionally drop something and leave it behind, I make a point to always pick up some riverside trash and take it home with me. That way even though I'm sure I sometimes accidentally litter, my net affect is to the good.

But I have noticed over the past 2 years how much trash there is here on Oregon rivers and what kind of trash it is. You might say "no, you can't say it's all the spin guys," but I'm fairly sure it is. Firstly, I can't remember the last time I picked up an empty tippet spool or any other sort of packing for fly gear. Secondly, sure, there are always beer cans which could come from anywhere. But I very often find things like bait containers, hook packaging, other random spin gear packaging, and worst of all gobs of tangled line. All spin gear, never fly gear.

After seeing all this trash I have come to the conclusion: spin guys are the problem.

Not all spin guys!!  So please don't go crazy on me. I'm sure most of the spin gear fishermen are just fine, tidy, and clean. But why is it that ALL of the trash I find is either beer cans (neutral origin) or spin gear packaging and line? Just last weekend I picked up what seemed like an entire rig of bright green line that someone had made a mess of and decided to leave right on the bank. It was not the sort of thing that maybe someone had in their pocket that snagged on a bush and was accidentally left behind. It was largely in a pile on the rocky bank and a lot of it had been cut into small pieces. And this weekend I picked up a couple of empty containers for some sort of tasty goo to coat bait with.

The moral of the story is not to say spin guys suck. Although they do! (joking)  And I hope I don't sound too pretentious in this post. I have no problem with spin guys because they're spin guys. I have a problem with anglers who dirty up the beautiful places we all share to enjoy our hobby/sport/pastime.

The other moral is that I should move back to Colorado because rivers are way cleaner there.

I am genuinely curious why it is that spin guys generate all the litter. I suspect it has something to do with the type of people that are attracted to spin fishing rather than fly. It's a little simpler than fly fishing (although really not much).  It's a little easier. And apparently it's dirtier.

There is a real moral to this post, though. I'm just not sure what it is.  I guess that's what the comment section is for.

I am leaving the comment section open for the enjoyment of all! But I will be deleting anything deemed too unruly or stupid.

Good things are brewing

  

Good things are brewing.