Sunday, November 28, 2010

Pike fail

If catching a fish was just a bonus, you wouldn't work so hard trying.

You would be able to list at least one other reason for the drive, one other destination that wasn't a body of water, either flowing or still, that was actually a planned part of the trip.

I can say that the trip was a success because we got to the destination, fished and came back but the fishing was a failure and I got my ass handed to me by the wind. Throwing a 12wt warm water intermediate line is like throwing braided steel cable when it is below freezing and the gusts keep blowing your line out of the stripping net. I didn't really plan on using it, but it was the only thing I brought that could push into the cold wall of air.

We will be back for spring pike for sure and at least now I know what the lakes look like.

Ice Coffee
Frozen man-parts at Ashurst Lake
A little poon-ice
Upper Lake Mary
Getting ready in the parking lot
Black and red didn't work, and nothing else did either.
A little ice on the guides
It's my fathers left-handed Galvin... I don't reel backwards.
With a couple pointers Kyle handles a camera pretty well.

I would like to thank Paul and the guys at Babbitt's FlyFishing in Flagstaff for the hookup on the hats and the lake tips, "If it ain't chartreuse, it ain't no use."

Good to know.

-Alex who at least now has a huge box of flies ready for next year.

Monday, November 22, 2010

last minute tune-ups

I heard the dryer running as I walked to the back of the house with a wet load of laundry in my arms. Kyle was kneeling down near the exhaust vent that pumps warm air into the walled back patio.

"You got much time on that load?" I asked as I approached.

"There is nothing in there," he said. "I am drying the heads on my flies."

I looked around the basket in my arms and saw he was holding something long and fuzzy up to the vent.

"That's kind of a waste, dontcha think?"

 "Well, we don't have a hair dryer."

"I have a heat gun."

"That will ruin the fibers," he said as he wiggled the flies in the hot air.

"You don't think that running the dryer on high with nothing in it to dry your flies is a waste of energy?"

He scratched his bald head and looked up, "Well, at least I am doing two at once."

...

vacuum dubbing
The truck is about half packed, and food items need to be bought but at least my floor is clean. I remembered to pack my ball warmers this time.

I feel ready, and the lakes wait about 5 hours away. I just hope the pike are still feisty enough to come out and play.

It has been years since I have been snowed on while fishing, and I am kinda looking forward to it.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Dropping Off Flat Tops

Driving north on I-10 in Alex's truck, dropping off some kitchen gear that was borrowed:

Kyle- Damn it's starting to get chilly, If we go on winter trips in the mountains and such it might be snowing, I think I better hit goodwill and other thrift stores to get some warm clothes.

Alex- Dude, you lived in Colorado for 2 years and spent time in the bone chilling winters, what happened to your warm clothes from Colorado?

Kyle- I got fat.......er

Thursday, November 18, 2010

some kind of a record

3/0 pike-glisi

As I pulled the table up to the couch and sat down I felt renewed and full. A few hours previous I dined on New York steak, sauteed vegetables in pasta with a creamy-parmesan sauce and shrimp scampi. It felt right for working with Puglisi fibers, and sipping a pino that may or may not have spent a little too long in a hot car seemed fitting... Aaron took all beer home so there wasn't much of a choice, anyways.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Head start round 2: and nothing on earth can save you now.

I could tell you that I was hungry and that would probably be the truth but at the moment I really can't remember. All it took was a mention in passing and I was moving for my keys... 

...and there is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of a McRib binge.

They brought it back. Again. And made a big deal about it. Again. Damn them. But I can't blame it all on the preformed patty, the bbq soaked onions or the pickles as I had already moved the vise out of the way and was reclining on the couch, but I am pretty sure there was a round two on the horizon but now I am not so certain.

A quick double-dose of cheap light beer is starting to bring me back around, but I still feel like some part of me may be slipping away and working its way south to fight the good fight.

The whip finish tool is just out of reach. If I could get to it, maybe I could use it to snag that pack of hooks and a bobbin. My finger tips tickle the thin cool metal. Maybe all is not lost. Maybe I can find the will to continue, string a few more together, pave my way towards preparedness with feathers and flash.

Andy Dufresne said that hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things... but he probably never ate at McDonalds.

Monday, November 15, 2010

A head start

I grew restless at the bench and that was good for nothing. My back was hurting and SeƱor ham-egg-potato-cheese beckoned from the corner where the woman knows that it's only "the green" salsa in the bag for this guero.

I saw the first one float by when the headlights kicked on lighting the brick wall of the carport. One is easy to deal with, but then there were two, then three. My God! How did they all get in the truck? I started waving madly grasping and groping to catch the suckers before they could feast on my flesh and I got one of the little bastards but as the dome light flicked on I saw that it was just a bit of schlappen fuzz. Damn. Things get strange sometimes and I had to get moving.

When you are not sure what to expect you need all the artillery you can muster. I may even be optimistic and consider this a head start.


But the burrito comes first.

There are pike that need to be caught and a hungry man is easily distracted at the vise.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

"You boys been suckin' any heads?" The Mayor asked. (not stupid john mayer, goddammit)

Good in the Gumbo Mumbo Jumbo, and even fried up in some hot spring-roll-on-cream-cheese action packedness.

Seined from the River Black and spiced as if the devil himself was on the guest list, the talented crew of the Whiteyville kitchen tear in, ripping thumb-flesh for your dining pleasure, and it's your turn to do the dishes, bitch.