Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
This is fly fishing?
I need to get something off my chest: Someone please, tell me how making a fly rod perform like a spinning rod is fly fishing? I mean, when you use a rig with so many swivels and snaps and split shot that requires a roadmap to tie it on, how is that fly fishing? And, why on earth do you need anything but a strong rod to throw the contraption out?
Too, the new so called “flies” that resemble nothing other than create shine and sparkle, are what?
It’s not that I’m opposed to catching salmon and steelhead on these things, I just can’t get my head around calling it fly fishing.
Fishing for big fish requires big equipment and if you want to entice them to bite, or more properly said, move the thing you’re invading their redds with, why not just throw a spoon or spinner do it?
Having amassed more rods and equipment than I’ll admit to having to “She Who Must Be Obeyed,” I’m reluctant to pull out an $800 rod, $75 line on a $300 reel, only to make it simulate a $75 spinning rod and $20 worth of line.
It must be an age thing, because my idea of fly fishing is casting dries on fine tippets or streamers that resemble something that swims in the trout’s realm.
Don’t bother sending messages, telling me I’m a cranky old man, I’ve worked long and hard to get there and I’m going to enjoy it.
By the way, anyone have a “center pin reel” I can borrow?
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
Last Hunt
Ken Geistler lost his battle with cancer yesterday, but not before he took one last deer. Ken was an avid outdoorsman in all seasons and spent his life teaching his son, Kent, to appreciate the out-of-doors as well. Together they hunted and fished every chance they got.
Ken also loved animals – dogs and cats especially. He had one animal or another for all the years I’ve known him and went as far as keeping his garage door partially open so strays could come in and get a bite to eat. Ken and his wife Jane, who preceded him in death, passed on their love for animals to their children, Kent and Jill, who now do the same with their kids – Jill has a small menagerie of her own.
I shot my first buck at Ken’s parent’s cabin on Eight Point Lake in Clair County some forty years ago, and I remember the comradery we shared on that hunt. We drifted apart over the years, but hunts and fishing trips on Eight Point Lake and in the Jordan Valley are good memories.
Ken left a legacy of an appreciation for hunting and fishing and a love for animals. He will be missed.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
Canada, the other place to fish.
Bill Spicer, host of The New Fly Fisher, a Canadian television show that can be seen on cable, was the guest speaker at the Michigan Fly Fishing Club and, for my money, was one the better representatives of the sport.
When I was a kid, going on a memorable fishing trip meant going to Canada. Whether on a fly-in or by train trip, Canada was the frontier where part of the experience was meeting and braving the elements and wilderness …and catching big fish and plenty of them. Bill spoke passionately about fly fishing for salmon, trout, bass, pike and musky in his native Canada.
Over the past few years it’s become popular (due to an extensive marketing campaign) when thinking about big trout in pristine waters caught on a fly, to think about Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and other western states. Don’t get me wrong, I’m on board with that, but what I’ve forgotten about are the tremendous fishing opportunities Canada has to offer: Big fish, wilderness settings and trophy species …just think about five pound brook trout. And pike and Musky too, are unequaled.
It was like being pulled back by a tether when Spicer talked about the St. Mary’s River on the Canadian side at the Soo.
Spicer made the point that fishing for big fish doesn’t have to cost an arm-and-a-leg …especially at the Soo. Though recommending a guide for at least half a day – if only to learn the safe access wading points – and brought proof of the total variety of fish that hit the St. Mary’s throughout the year.
I’m charged. Plans are being made.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
On the move.
Few scenes are more blood stirring than the sight of geese in a winged formation on the move. Last weekend in Northern Virginia waiting for my granddaughter’s soccer game to start, several flights buzzed the field on their way south.
Sitting in a morning funk, wishing for another cup of coffee, the honking and beating of wings of Canadians instantly caught my attention. With more awake reflexes, I would have been able to snap a few more shots of the several groups of formations passing overhead. But this one shot was enough to send me sitting in a blind over decoys, waiting for the geese to pass over and hopefully drop into the decoys.
They also brought back memories of Jake, my yellow Lab, who has been gone for over 20 years, but is still in my thoughts. Jake was a great retriever, terrific pheasant finding machine and a good friend.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
It doesn’t have to look pretty!
Where do fish go to chill out? (No, not stretched out over a bed of ice waiting for someone to come along and wrap them in newspaper.) Where do fish go to recharge their batteries?
I’m told that polarized sunglasses let you see into the water by taking out the glare. And I know that’s true because being an optometrist in a past life, I had the gizmos that demonstrated that. But on most occasions, I can’t see fish unless there are so many they take over the bottom terrain, or they flash, or they raise their fins as though asking permission to go to the bathroom. But I know they’re there watching me, even though I’m too inept to spot them.
I don’t believe fish migrate daily during most of the year. I mean, when I fish, if I don’t find fish, it’s usually because I’m offering the wrong pattern. But let some Philistine come along with a spinner tipped with an angle worm, well, all of a sudden, they’rrrre baaaack!
So what is this ability or desire to stay hidden, ignore great looking patterns that made you stick your chin out and nod with self-satisfaction after meticulously tying it after throwing the ten previous ties into the “seconds jar?”
If fish feed 80% of the time, why aren’t they taking your offerings more? You certainly can’t be unlucky enough to hit the river during that 20% down time every time you step foot in the water. Or, why, during a hatch, when they’re rising, slurping every other Brown Drake, only accidently do they take your pattern – even though yours looks more like a Brown Drake than the real ones?
I might have just answered my own question. It always comes around to my out-thinking myself. I’ve read so many books, seen so many videos, followed so many recipes and used the latest and greatest tying material since the invention of thread that I actually believe I know better what they’ll eat than they do themselves.
I guess it’s like managing a ballgame: You’re in the 8th inning with a two run lead and you go to the bullpen for a closer. Instead of tying on what imitates what they want, you tie on what looked good in the vise, and …well, empty creel again.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
Read the instructions.
Just when I made up my mind to spring for a new e-collar because the one I bought for Seamus some five years ago stopped working, I discovered that they can be reprogrammed. It all started when the transmitter battery went dead.
I didn’t know it when I was using it one morning until Seamus didn’t respond to my beeps. I changed the battery, recharged the collar and still nothing. Finally, after tearing up my desk at home and at the cabin, and not finding the instruction book, I started checking to see if I could find a new one with the same features and range of the one I had. Of course, like everything else, the models changed and it became apparent I was going to have to buy a new one, at significantly more money.
Enter, “She Who Must Be Obeyed” who quietly let her fingers do the walking on her I-Pad and found Collar Clinic in Travers City. After explaining my problem to the nice woman who listened patiently to my tale of woe, she walked me through re-programing the unit I had.
Long story, short. The collar works like the day I bought it and all it took was pushing two buttons at specific times to make it so.
Of course, I need to test it, so, the rest of October is blocked off for “field testing”… Seamus willing, and bonasa umbellus cooperating. We all have to do what we have to do.
The funny thing about the collar not working and neither Seamus or I realizing it; we both went looking for each other. I’m not sure who was happier to see whom, Seamus to see me, or me to see Seamus.
But, that’s what buds do.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
“Old Guys!”
If it’s true that every dog year is equal to seven in human years, then Seamus and I are almost the same age. While out-thinking myself, that little tidbit stuck in my mind and I haven’t been able to shake it.
It’s not that I think of myself as too old to romp the out-of-doors, In fact, I feel better than I did when I was in my 50’s. But when I apply the years to Seamus, well, my prejudices come out about “old age,” especially when I see him run up and down slopes, through brush and bog and do it until I call him off …and the reason I call him off is, I’m the one that’s tired.
Dogs have that constant energy that comes from doing what they do naturally and liking it …if fact, loving it – and doing it without thinking about it. A good example is when I approach a briar patch I look for a way around it unless there isn’t a way that will let me check the contents. Seamus, on the other hand, goes right through it checking out all corners, especially if he picks up a scent. He doesn’t think about the briars and barbs, he just charges ahead and deals with the affects later.
The other thing that separates a dog from a man is the live and let live attitude getting older bourdons you with. Seamus is just as willing to find bonasa umbellus today as he was as a pup and expects me to do my part. (I only bring up the live-and-let-live part because I need an excuse for my poor shooting.)
Young or old, as long as the enthusiasm is there, it’s all good.
See you in the woods.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
Changing Gears!
It’s October 1st and for some of us, marks the transition from fishing for brookies in small streams to hunting grouse and woodcock in colorful haunts that will whither day by day until the trees are skeletal figures of their former selves. It is by no means a travesty, it is a cycle that endures and re-emerges after the cold, white months that are to follow.
The colors that are now peaking are worth the trip alone …and usually makes for chance encounters in the woods, on two-tracks and along paths plotted to penetrate the canvas of natures soul piercing scenes. In other words, we have to share.
There different ways to meet the transformation that is taking place, hunting bonasa umbellus is just one. Those with boats can float the rivers – some open to fishing year-around (no possession) – others open for steelhead and salmon. Which ever method of penetrating the plethora of colors, it’s worth the trip.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
Fly Fishing History
The latest version of Trout Magazine (national) contained an article by Dave Whitlock, titled – The Traditional Wet Fly. It is perhaps the most informative story about the history of ” winged wet flies” I’ve read in years and includes drawn plates of some of the more common patterns that are still consistent producers of trout and salmon.
Whitlock correctly dissects the pattern into parts, making the point that proportion, color and size are important not only to the appearance of the fly, but consequently to the fish they are supposed to produce. Most of the patterns are simulations of actual hatches, but some, like the McGinty, are used as attractors.
Winged wet flies have been around for years, dating back to the origin of the sport. They are still popular in Europe but are hard to find in fly shops in the U.S. Some of the older books on fly tying and fly patterns still show these patterns, but not many tiers tie them. Pity.
One of the most comprehensive collection of “winged wet fly” patterns is in Herter’s “Professional Fly Tying, Spinning and Tackle Making Manual and Manufacturers’ Guide.” A vintage book that is still available and is a window into the history of tying and making tackle with material available before the synthetics came on the scene.
Dave Whitlock, of course, is one of the “Deans” of the fly fishing world. His contributions are legendary and still in use today. It’s a good read. Check it out.
TD
Category Archives: Two Cents Worth
Music to my ears!
If you run a beagle, your ears delight in the yelping and howling of the little hounds as they chase rabbits in and out of cover and eventually back to the spot where they first jumped them – usually at a hole – where, if they get there first, disappear.
Many a dog has cut their teeth on rabbits (so to speak) and not all of them were hounds. Seamus chased a rabbit or two in his time, not to hunt, but to have a good chase. Now, after a time of maturing, he thinks about chasing a bounding bunny now and then, but contains himself and opts or birds instead.
Most bird dogs are quiet as they go about their work, but Seamus, in a fit of excitement, yelps when he finds a covey of birds. The covey has to consist of three or more before he lets out with a yelp, but it’s a definite yelp of excitement.
The sound I like to hear and anticipate when it stops is the sound of the sleigh bell Seamus wears on his collar. I searched high and low to find just the right bell, and finally found it in the Orvis catalogue. I debated spending the money on them, but as time got the better of me, I gave in, paid the money and haven’t been disappointed.
I’ve had dozens of bells over the years for my hunting dogs: Jake, my yellow lab had a cowbell the size usually worn by cows. Duke, my Brittany before Seamus, had a small tinker type bell that worked well for several years. Seamus, however, lost as many bells as the other dogs had put together. That is, until I found these New England Dog Bells.
I know it sounds trite, but they are a necessary part of following a hunting dog.
The Bells, the bells, I can hear the bells.
TD