Missed Opportunities

"In every species of fish I’ve angled for, it is the ones that have got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory.  So I say it is good to lose fish.  If we didn’t, much of the thrill of angling would be gone." – Ray Bergman

I don't think any of us can say that we have never lost a fish. I myself am a perfect example of this and trust me when I say that today's trip to the Arkansas River was filled with some of the most heartbreaking losses of my short fishing career.  We have been experiencing some rather unseasonal weather the past week with temps dipping down into the teens and 1 to 4 inches of snow depending on your elevation.  The change of weather seemed to have drastically changed the feeding patterns of the fish, and we were really only able to hook up in short narrow deep runs with extremely fast and white frothy water.  The fast and deep water was holding some decent sized fish but they weren't hitting my stoneflies with any "gusto" and I struggled to get a good hook set and as a result lost at least 5 really good sized fish including one rainbow that went well over 20".  The loss of said fish may or may not have led to an epic temper tantrum such as the Arkansas has never seen....

Regardless of the missed opportunities, I still consider every day that I am able to spend in the outdoors a gift, and I will cherish the memories of these days afield for many years to come.  I am blessed at this point in my life to be living in one of the most beautiful locales that this country has to offer and days like today remind me that it is not always about our successes but the journey to these successes that is truly important.  And I for one plan to enjoy the hell out of this journey.  

                                        One of the few that I managed to get to the net today.

Bamboo and Fishing Small Creeks

As some of you know, I started fly fishing last year and I have become a hopeless addict to everything fly fishing.  I even started tying this year and I am anxiously awaiting the perfect moment in time when I catch my first trout on a fly that I have tied myself from the feathers of birds that the dogs and I have harvested in one our many trips to the uplands. To further fuel my addiction I recently read a book authored by one of my favorite outdoor bloggers Erin Block.  The View From Coal Creek is short book detailing Erin’s experience building her first bamboo fly rod, and after reading her book I was dying to fish a cane rod on my favorite little cutthroat creek.  I researched bamboo rods online, talked with a few folks that had built their own cane rods and I quickly realized that fishing bamboo was something I wouldn’t likely be able to afford any time soon and as such I placed the thought way back in dusty shelf part of my brain where I keep all my other goofy ideas. 

You can buy Erin’s book here if you’re so inclined.  http://www.whitefishpress.com/bookdetail.asp?book=165

Fast forward to last Thursday.  My son and I were discussing our dinner options for the evening when the doorbell rang. After getting the dogs settled down I opened the front door and all that greeted me was the backside of my mailman as he walked back to his truck, but there on my front step was a PVC pipe with a return address from somewhere in California.  I had been expecting a package from the same gentleman for a fly swap that I was running, but this was much too large a package to be flies.  Curious, I took the package to the kitchen and was blown away by what was waiting for me when I screwed the cap off of that PVC.  Inside the package was a note telling me to try the rod and we’d work out the details later, but more importantly the package contained a beautiful handmade 3wt bamboo rod that the maker had aptly named “fishing small creeks.” 

So without further adieu I’d like to introduce to you “Fishing Small Creeks.”  Together we hope to experience everything that little cutthroat creek has to offer….

 

 

 

My little cutthroat creek.

 

February...

February is month of waiting.....  I came to this realization tonight as I sat in the den with the fireplace roaring to my right and my dogs curled up sleeping behind me enjoying the warmth of the fire while dreaming of grouse and quail.  February holds no special place in our hearts.  We long for summer and the joys of wet wading the mountain creeks and rivers of southern Colorado.  We ache for the chill that an autumn morning brings as we crawl out of our tent eager see the chaos that a covey rise brings.  February has non of this and we are left simply to our memories of the previous year.  I hope you'll indulge my reminiscing as I anxiously await the days to tick by until I can watch a dry fly being engulfed by a hungry Arkansas river brown, or listen to the explosion like sound of a covey of quail as they rise before my gun.  February is indeed a month of waiting....

 

 

 

 

Shooting and Marital Mistakes

           One would think after almost 12 years of marriage, 10 of them blissful (just kidding Kristy) that I would have made all the marital mistakes possible, unfortunately that just isn’t the case as I proved last night.  Shooting mistakes can be much the same way…  After 14 years of wingshooting I have no expectations to connect on all of my shots but I do usually keep my average above 65%.  Yesterday proved to be, one of the worst days of shooting in my life and sadly it coincided with absolutely the best day numbers wise of my short Blue Grouse Career.  I know what you’re saying, “we believe you about the poor shooting, but what did you do to end up in the dog house?”  Well my friends that’s simple, getting home late at night is perfectly acceptable provided you text first to let her know.  What is not acceptable is getting home late at night and crawling into bed with two very dirty bird dogs after she just finished washing the bedding.  Yep I am that guy…

The Empty Hulls of Shame

 



I met Shawn early Saturday morning at his clinic as quickly threw my gear and dogs in his truck and we took off to meet Gary Thompson who was taking us to one of his old grouse spots.  I can’t speak for Shawn but I know for certain I was extremely excited to Gary’s old haunt and it certainly did not disappoint, the cover looked extremely birdy with a mixture of aspens, pines, and sage brush with lots of leafy greens and berries for the birds to feed on.  We moved 7 grouse at that spot with Gary connecting on a real nice right crossing shot on a young blue and I threw lead in the air with no results which turned out to be the story of the day for me.  We hunted there till about 2:00 and then Gary had to get on the road back to Wyoming.  Gary was extremely knowledgeable about the area and grouse hunting in general, on top of that he’s a super great guy and I look forward to hunting with him again in Oct in Montana.

I love the Colors of Fall

 

Gary

 



 

Gary's Covert

 

After Gary left Shawn and I headed to another spot that he said had good numbers of birds and I would have a chance to redeem myself after my abysmal shooting at Gary’s covert.  The spot Shawn had was absolutely beautiful with its large expanses of sage brush prairie with stands of aspens that were quickly turning yellow and to top it all off it was back dropped by some of the most beautiful peaks I have ever seen in my time in Colorado.   As usual Shawn’s knowledge of grouse spots proved to be on point and we ended up having some phenomenal dog work especially from Shawn’s lil pocket setter Gretchen.  We ended up flushing 7 grouse and I missed every one.  Shawn killed one but could have easily limited had he not been trying to put me in the best spots to connect.  All in all it was a wonderful day spent with good friends and great dogs and I look forward to doing it again.  Well except the dirty dogs in bed part…

This place was not only beautiful but productive

 

Scout Backing Gretchen

 

 

Shawn

 

 

Kolt

 

Book Review; Andrew Wayments "Heaven on Earth"

                I recently purchased Andrew Wayment’s , book “Heaven on Earth” and was extremely pleased with what I found awaiting me inside.  The book is a series of stories about his life that takes you from his law school days where he found solace from the competition and stress of law school on the water of Potlach Creek to present day where he still finds that same soothing peace on the waters of the “Mini Madison” and all the struggles and strife in between.  The way he describes the peace that comes from being on the water is something that as outdoorsman and outdoors-women I think we can all certainly relate to.   Also included in the book are several helpful fishing tips and trust me, those alone are worth the price of addmission. His ability to spin a tale is second to none and I highly recommend you grab his book and pull up a chair and enjoy a little heaven on earth.

                You can purchase signed copies of Andrew’s book at www.heavenonearthbook.com

They've created a monster

Back in December I wrote about resolutions.  I had four resolutions; Get the dogs into as many species as possible, have my setter steady to wing shot and fall, take more pictures of the dogs, and lastly learn to fly fish.  Like it can go with resolutions I haven’t completed them all. 

Now in my defense it’s not hunting season yet, so I can’t get the dogs into a bunch of different species of birds, and my pigeons aren’t ready to home from our training spot yet, so training isn’t going exactly as planned.   I am doing ok about getting out with my camera when I run dogs, but this post is about the last resolution, learning to fly fish.

Ever since I moved to Colorado I have wanted to learn to fly fish, the problem was I knew absolutely nothing about it.  I didn’t know how to rig my flies, what flies to use, how to cast, basically I knew nothing and was getting frustrated fast, and that’s when a little luck comes in.  I am blessed to live in an area of the country where there is plenty of access to good trout water, but I am REALLY blessed to have had three friends who were willing to help a young guy learn the sport.   Robb Morris, Gregg Stevens, and Shawn Wayment are all guys that I met online on various dog forums that showed interest in helping me out when I mentioned the struggle I was having learning to fish. 

Robb emailed me a document that he wrote (it should be published by the way) that was very helpful in teaching me how to cast.   While Gregg and Shawn both took me out to local rivers and taught me the hands on portion of how to fish those rivers.  And after just a few minutes of instruction I was catching fish.  The only problem is I fear that they may have inadvertently created a monster and I will spend the rest of the summer fishing the local rivers, streams, and creeks instead of getting my Setter ready for Montana….

Fireside Reading

              This year I have been badly bitten by the sporting literature bug.  I enjoy reading these books so much that I have plans of collecting enough books of the genre to have my own sporting library.  I can already hear the protests of my wife, asking me if I really need another hobby.  But I figure there are far worse hobbies for a husband to have.

                It started innocently enough with a book recommendation from a friend, who felt that this book would be just the ticket to cure the boredom from sitting alone in the evenings here in Afghanistan.  A quick visit to Amazon and I had paid my money and waited eagerly for my prize to arrive.   A few weeks later Burton Spillers collection of short stories entitled “Firelight” arrived in the Brigade mail room.  I devoured that book in a little less than two days, and I have been addicted to the genre ever since.

                I read several different books and authors after that.  I continued to order books off of Amazon, and if friends asked if they could send me a care package, I pointed them in the direction of the next book I was thinking of reading.  I would work all day and by the time 1700 rolled around I was ready to call it a day and finish where I left off of titles like “A Tattered Autumn Sky”, “Mostly Tailfeathers”, “The Upland Shooting Life”, “That’s Ruff”, and they barely lasted more than three days at a time.

                My time here is wrapping up and before long I will be home with my wife and kids and the dogs.  Yet I still look forward to my evenings with Spiller, Hill, and Mr. Evans.  I mailed all my books back home the other day and my evenings aren’t nearly as enjoyable as they used to be.  But I have used the time to compile a list of the next 10 books that I would like to read when I get home.  Here they are in no particular order.

1.       “Grouse Feathers”   Burton Spiller

2.       “Tales of quails n such”  Havilah Babcock

3.       “My Health is better in November”  Havilah Babcock

4.       “The XVth Day”  Gene Hill

5.       “De Shootinest Gent’man”  Nash Buckingham

6.       “A Hunters Road”  Jim Fergus

7.       “The Happy End”  Ben Ames Williams

8.       “Life of a Shooting Gentleman”  Catherine Harper

9.       “The Best of Nash Buckingham”  George Bird Evans

10.   “A Dog, A Gun, and Time Enough”  George Bird Evans

       If you like sporting literature as much as I do, I would love for you to list your top ten next books in the comments section.