Outdoor adventures, particularly trout angling
Okay, I admit that I’m having a man-crush on my Tacoma. I feel like a little boy who got the Christmas present he had been harassing his parents for since Halloween. I could easily succumb to the temptation to run away to distant places every weekend. Maybe that’s what happens to a truck owner after driving Dodge Dakotas for 18 years.
Continue reading “Cold Creek Getaway in Fish Taco”
This is the time of year elementary students are cutting, painting, and creating all sorts of Thanksgiving papers that their moms and dads will affix to various kitchen appliances and cabinetry in celebration of the things the child is thankful for. You never really know what your youngster might write on these papers, particularly if their teacher doesn’t attempt to influence their selection so as not to embarrass the parents. You can imagine parents across the country rhetorically asking, “What the hell are they teaching my kid?”
Continue reading “Dacey Reservoir in the Late Fall”
I took a long day-trip to Illipah Reservoir in White Pine County. It has been four years since I last fished Illipah, and it has always intrigued me as a fishing destination. I don’t exactly recall how I came to learn about Illipah. It may have been my brother Neal who first told me about it, or I could have seen it in the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) brochure and website. I do know that former Las Vegas City Manager, Larry Barton, fished it frequently in the late 1990s. Several times I heard him describe the Illipah fishing with great enthusiasm. Larry was a fly fisherman as well, so his commentary seemed to have more significance for me.
Continue reading “Illipah Reservoir, White Pine County”
Ever notice sometimes how those experiences you anticipate often fail to fully come to fruition, particularly if it’s something you’re really looking forward to? Fueled by your imagination you envision how wonderful the experience will be and the pleasure you’ll derive from it, especially when your brain builds upon prior awesome remembrances.
Continue reading “Dacey Reservoir, Nye County, NV”
There’s a good reason, actually several good reasons why I like traveling to fishing destinations on weekdays. First, the fishing is always less crowded on a weekday, which enhances the feeling of solitude as well as the susceptibility of the fish to take the lure (trout don’t like boats constantly traveling overhead and the persistent “plunking” of lures into the water). But there’s another aesthetic benefit, at least if you consider wildlife viewing integral to the overall aesthetic experience. Traveling when there are few “other travelers” always increases the chance of seeing wildlife in their natural habitat. Then of course, there’s the guilty pleasure of either being retired or stealing a day off when traveling in the middle of a workweek.
Continue reading “Dacey Reservoir, Nye County, Nevada”
For about two decades I’ve been very fortunate to be a part of a Christian Men’s Group. My experience has been that men need the fellowship and counsel of other men, men who can hold us accountable to keep our promises to our God, wives, children, neighbors and work associates. Men tend to use the Lone Ranger approach when dealing with hurts, wounds, and sins. We don’t exhibit emotions like our female counterparts, and we believe it’s less manly to seek the help of other like-minded men. Instead we prefer to work it out by ourselves. As if we could abstain from looking at our situation objectively without the bias of our own selfishness and pride. That’s why the Bible tells us to seek the council of other followers in 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15.
Continue reading “When Two or Three are Gathered at Wayne Kirch”
On October 22, 2015, I suffered a heart attack while fishing Dacey Reservoir. Although I’ve made a few trips to Cold Creek since my heart attack (about 40 miles northwest of my home), this trip to Wayne Kirch Wildlife Management Area (Kirch WMA) was my first substantial fishing trip, a 360 mile round trip consisting of six hours of driving. Truthfully, I was glad to make the trip and I felt no anxiety about returning to the scene of the incident. Putting aside the three stents that opened my blocked heart arteries, I really believe my conversion to a full vegan diet has made a significant improvement in my health, and I’m confident I’m getting a handle on preventing any future incidents.
Continue reading “Dacey Reservoir: A Return to the Scene of the “Incident””
Okay, I admit to having had such a good time fishing my 7.5 foot, 4 weight rod at Cold Creek last week that I decided to return with my little 6-footer today. I’ve written before that I’ve built two 6-foot fly rods in my life primarily because of Cold Creek. Catching wild 7-inch Rainbow and Brook trout in thin water (or the more obscure trout like Golden, Bonneville, or even Redband wherever they are found) is not much fun on an 8-foot rod, but can be blast on a 6-foot rod. In the early 1980s I built my first small-creek fly rod from fiberglass specifically for tiny water like Cold Creek and Beaver Dam Creek, and replaced it with a graphite version in 2009. I’ve used the new graphite rod to land 16-inch trout and 12-inch bass on Haymeadow Reservoir in the Wayne Kirch Wildlife Management Area (it has more backbone than the fiberglass). I was very, very pleased and impressed by the performance of that rod, although as a 3 weight it can’t cast well the larger flies that I prefer on the big waters of Kirch… even the 7.5 foot, 4 weight has difficulty with larger weighted nymphs.
Continue reading “Six Foot Rod for Twelve Inch Trout”
If you’re a regular reader of my blog you know that I’ve been ignored by NFO Scadden regarding a warranty repair to my Outlaw Escape. After conducting a little research I contacted Richard Stuber at Big Sky Inflatables to discuss their Water Master Grizzly, and how it compared to what I saw as deficiencies in the NFO Escape. I first became aware of the Water Master in 2005 or 2006 while watching the Trout Bum Diaries vol.1 that featured these fishing rafts. Richard said the Water Master would not only provide me with a more reliable boat that will last the next 20-plus years, but that it would hold and row much better in the wind than the Outlaw Escape. The larger tubes and their 360 degree contact with the water cause the boat to sit much higher on the water while maintaining a large footprint. Big Sky offered a “real” lifetime warranty on the raft. I couldn’t resist; I always wanted to be a Trout Bum anyway.
Continue reading “Maiden Voyage of Water Master Grizzly Interrupted by Heart Attack”
I am a John Gierach fan, have been ever since I discovered his “Sporting Life” column inside the back cover of “Fly Rod & Reel” magazine. I started reading him about the time that Nick Lyons stopped his “Seasonable Angler” column in the identical location inside “Fly Fisherman” magazine (at least that’s my recollection of the timing). I now own about five of his books, which are really compilations of essays on angling for trout and a bunch of other things to do outdoors. I will own all his books someday, but for now I have enough to re-read them every year or so.
Continue reading “2014: No Shortage of Good Days Here”