Fellow denizens

 

These guys took up residence at my place this summer. One guards the backyard. The other two patrol the back porch mostly at night. The toad is a handsome prince that seems to tolerate my presence in his backyard, moving aside to allow me to pass with no complaint and no fear. The gecko on the other hand trust me to get only so close before she scurries off to one of her hidey holes until I've left. The green anole once popped his orange throat at me in a blazing display of defiance as I tried to sit in his back porch chair. I let him have the chair and now check under the cushion before I sit there. I am fond of my little reptile and amphibian animal friends and believe they are here because I refuse to use pesticides around my house. Yes I have bugs, the ones these friends don't eat, but they keep them to a reasonable level as Nature intended...good trade! 

It seems right to live with nature instead of against it. We are all part of the same whole, part of the grand purpose and part of the grand finale if we allow it. Be good to your fellow denizens, share with them what was meant for us all. Give not take, share not hoard, understand harmony with all that lives. I will miss them this winter, happy hibernation good friends.

chic flick with a river running through it

Fly fisherman all over the country may have hit pay dirt with a little lauded flick titled Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a chic flick with a river running through it. Fly fishing philosophies and relationships on the rocks, fly tying and impossible love, good guys and bad guys and a testament to evidence of things hoped for but yet unseen and the tenacity in the lives of men and fish that can foster, this film has something for virtually everyone. So fly anglers grab your significant other and curl up with this movie. It could refine your passion for fly fishing and change your luck in love. 

Shaman knife

Every shaman angler needs a flint knife if for no other reason than to please the ancients should they be looking on. The stone I made this from, Georgetown flint, was a gift from a new friend I became acquainted with just this weekend. He tossed me a large flake he had dislodged from the spall he was working and said, "Here make something with that." To be honest my first thought wasn't knife blade. The first thought was about being embarassed in front of the donor when I turned his gift into lithic debitage, but as I began to work the stone it gave rise to a knife blade figment. The more I worked the more my mind became focused on bringing a shaman's knife to fruition. I dug out the deer antler shed I had been saving for an unknown reason until now and then leather and fur from my fly tying supplies. Some grinding and carving on the antler for a good fit, and finishing touches to the blade edges, the parts were assembled by the end of the day into my first shaman knife. This certainly wasn't my planned purpose for the day but sometimes good things happen if you allow them by staying out of the way. Yet one more example of lending an ear to those small voices that are there to guide you.

Dragon dreams

Dragon Dream

On my last two trips fly fishing for bass I watched sizable bass leap a full body length or more from shoreline waters in an attempt to capture dragonflies hovering overhead. One would think there must be something very appealing about dragonflies for a fish to expend that much energy on a venture so unlikely to succeed. Actually their success rate may be higher than you imagine. I have caught bass whose stomachs were full of dragonflies. I've attempted to imitate the dragonfly with various forms of poppers but never with much success due mostly to the fact the summertime shallows frequented by the dragonflies almost always contain weeds and/or moss making a weedless fly an absolute necessity. Weedless poppers that are actually weedless are hard to come by. Necessity being the mother of invention the solution pictured came to me in a day dream. This simple pattern is made from craft foam, lays hook up in the water, is virtually weedless and the bass love them. The wings are made from crystal flash but other similar materials should work just as well. The downside, due to the wings, the fly tends to twist your leader during the cast so you have to keep your false casts to a minimum. The craft foam comes in numerous colors and is very inexpensive. If you fly fish for bass give it a try on your next summertime bass fishing adventure. I think you will be pleased. If your are not a fly fisherman perhaps you should be.

Dream trip

The past few days I've been fortunate to have experienced some extra-ordinary fly fishing for bass in  two separate lakes. The first I described in my last post. Today I was invited by friends to fish a private lake south of my home that was rumored to contain an abundance of large bass. This turned out to be a professed understatement and I have the sore arms to prove it. High air pressure and blue bird skies are usually a detriment to successful fishing this time of year but not today. Just about everything from deer hair popping bugs to rabbit hair flies to a dicy concoction its creator calls a Christmas Clouser caught quality bass in abundance. Some large bluegill were also reported to have fallen victim to fur and feather. Bass were caught on top, deep along creek channels and shallow against the shoreline where bass were frequently seen leaping from the water in pursuit of big juicy darting dragonflies. Leaders were stretched and some broken and fly rods put to the test again and again. Much thanks to the friends that included me in this outing and the landowner that allowed it. It was a dream like trip and one I will not soon forget.

Deep water poppers

This morning I had an extra-ordinary fishing excursion. We have just passed the summer solstice and the weather is already hot so I wasn't expecting a lot of catching...but hoped there would be a dawn bite that would scratch the fishing itch I've had all week. I think temps may have hit triple digits today...heat index at least. Fortunately I was back home napping in the a/c before that happened. I left the house at five which put me on the water just before sunrise. I had decided on the way to the lake to start out fishing the top of the water column along the shore and as the morning warmed to go to a baitfish pattern and fish the deep side of the weed lines. I was right about the top part but dead wrong about working the shoreline. As I paddled my way across the lake to the opposite shore where I had decided to start the day's angling something slammed my popping bug that was dragging behind the boat in probably twenty feet of water. It was a small bass. My mind told me the strike was a fluke but as I continued to the other shoreline fish began to feed on the surface within casting range so "what the heck" I sailed the popper to the rise and boom another small bass. This one pulled off. I scanned the lake and could see surface feeding scattered all over the middle part of the lake. Ignoring those small voices I've mentioned before I stubbornly began to fish the shoreline I felt sure would hold fish like it had many times before...nada. I kept watching the deeper water and still there were surface feeding fish there. After fifty yards of fish-less shoreline I slapped myself on the side of my head, called myself stupid and gave in to the small voices I had been ignoring and headed for deep water. Right away I started catching fish again by casting to the rises I could reach with my fly rod and popping bug. The rest of the morning I fished popping bugs in the middle of the lake never getting closer than fifty yards to the shoreline...popping bugs in 20 feet of water! The feeding tempo increased to a frenzy by 9:00  and I was catching fish after fish after fish...half of them bass and the balance hand size bluegill and copper nose. At one point my arms were aching so from rapid fire casting and landing fish I actually thought of resting but knew I was experiencing a gift from the fishing gods and didn't want to miss any of it or appear ungrateful. The lesson learned is that sometimes, skill and years of experience can't beat the magic of being in the right place at the right time and listening to those small voices.

RIVERS...

Rivers are my favorite of the water abodes. They are ever changing and filled with mystery. The life blood of terra firma, left alone they will nurture the land from their headwaters to the delta they form at their union with the oceans. Their free form caress of the face of the globe follows valleys and lowlands within their grasp as they seek to return to their sea level birthplace. Their denizens are many, from microscopic to majestic, each following their own path shaped to near perfection by eons of trial and error. Subject to rage but given to peace and tranquility rivers are truly one of earth's treasures.

Shaman angler?

I may have fished with a shaman angler this week. He predicted correctly where the fish would be and demonstrated he knew how to converse with them. Fishing behind this gentleman was like fishing behind a vacuum cleaner. By noon he had seven maybe eight bass up to about three and a half pounds in the boat to my one respectable channel cat that charged one of my crawfish patterns and foul hooked himself in the side of the face.

This angler fished with confidence and had an uncanny gift for knowing when the bass had his offering in its mouth. His concentration was intense and once triggered his reaction was swift and sure.

Many thanks to this card carrying Cherokee for the invite. I hope to fish with and learn from him again.

Inspired angling...

Many have already asked about shaman angling. Put simply it is fishing with original wisdom. Put simply another way it is inspired angling. Inspired put simply is "in spirit". In more depth, it involves listening to the natural and to the inner voices that guide us all, if we will hear them. It's difficult to put in words, difficult to teach, learned mostly through intense first hand experience and overlooked by many. The shaman angler uses expectation and confidence  more than fur and feather to entice the fish. Fish-less outings are not distressing to the shaman piscator. He nevertheless returns with the aim of his quest, a commune with the water, its abode and denizens, but on the fish-less occasion with the added knowledge of what did not produce the preferred result... a jerk on both ends of the string. Shaman angler success may seem magical to some observers but it is simply the consequence of listening and learning. I am not yet a shaman angler but someday hope to be.

Water...

What is it about water? If you've taken a peek at my profile you probably noticed water has a significant influence on my priorities. Oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, or clouds, no matter the form it takes it's pretty neat stuff. Water has fascinated me since childhood. Clouds that floated through the firmament like feathers could hold life sustaining water by the hundreds, maybe thousands, of gallons or harbor the dark destruction of lightning and storms. Rivers and lakes were filled with their own intrigue and there was no greater mystery than what was around the next bend in a river. That mystery still tugs at me each time I am on a river today. One of my favorite dialogues on the significance of water was penned in 1653 by a gentleman named Izaak Walton in a book titled The Compleat Angler which would become the third most re-printed book in the English language....










"The water is the eldest daughter of the creation, the element upon which the spirit of God did first move, the element which God commanded to bring forth living creatures abundantly; and without which, those that inhabit the land, even all creatures that have breath in their nostrils, must suddenly return to putrefaction.

Moses, the great lawgiver and chief philosopher, skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians, who was called the friend of God, and knew the mind of the Almighty, names this element first in the creation: this is the element upon which the spirit of God did first move, and is the chief ingredient in the creation: many philosophers have made it to comprehend all the other elements, and most allow it the chiefest in the mixtion of all living creatures."

Mountain Fork trout...

Wednesday evening's first fish was a spirited thirteen inch butter colored brown trout. By sundown I had seven more trout half of them browns...a great start to the Mountain Fork trip.

After a slow start this fat rainbow kicked off the bite Thursday morning. From there it got better, sort of. I lost three large trout in about thirty minutes.  One I'm sure would have been my all time personal best rainbow but after three beautiful leaps and long runs back and across the large, deep and rocky pool she called home she unbuttoned with a last minute power lunge to free herself from the waiting net. Too much trout for an old man and a size 20 hook.

My guide for the day tried to capture one of those gorgeous jumps on my camera but ended up with only the huge splash she made when she fell back into the river. That scene will fill my thoughts and dreams for some time to come.  I would have released her anyway but it would have been nice to say I caught her. I used my magic to seduce her to take the fur and feather lashed to a tiny hook, she used hers to show me she was no push-over and didn't like being fooled one bit.

Emergers...

Choctaw fur and feathers amulet for conversations with Mountain Fork trout.

footnote: LMF trout did not want to talk to this guy but there were other bones in the bag. Actually I only tried this Wednesday evening. The rest of the week I couldn't argue with the success of other magic so it never got wet again.

Yard work is done...

Yard work is done. The rest of the day is devoted to packing for my trip to the Mountain Fork River nestled in the Kiamichi country of southeastern Oklahoma. Below the Broken Bow reservoir is several miles of year round trout fishing, above the game is smallmouth, sand bass, and walleye. This trip I will be paying the trout a visit. The deep rocky river canyons are dotted with pine and hardwoods that sport brilliant colors in the fall and lush green in the spring...a beautiful place to converse with the fish. Once I've packed and double checked my list I plan to set down at my vise and spin some Oklahoma trout magic with fur and feather and fish talk. Preparing for a trip is a big part of the pleasure and the excitement. Wish me luck and good conversation with the Sooner trout.

Thunder showers...

Photograph by Stephanie Goodson

Thunder showers this morning; a great early morning stimulate. The thunder brings to mind the strength and power of the natural, the gentle rain its promise of sustenance.

Sunrise magic...

Sunrise Heads Lake

There's magic in sunrises. The face of the earth wakes with a warm smile that invokes the spirit voices of songbirds. A lifetime of sunrises has taught me to listen closely; their message may be for you. Understanding that you yourself are as much a part of these awakenings as all that your eyes behold can give your spirit ears to hear voices of nature that can edify and nurture your mind and soul. Be grateful and listen.