Just Like Me With a Muddler

Post by Nate Kizerian.

Swing the Fly, Issue 3, Winter 2013

Get it HERE.

Coming Soon

This Is a Fishing Blog...

This is a fishing blog, but, as another fisherman asked me the other day about life in general, "What do you do when the river's frozen over?"

Exactly. Not a problem for many people, but for fly fishermen of a certain temperament an existential crisis. And for a fishing blogger, a big challenge.

But there are things you can do. Believe it or not. 

One thing you can do, on the blogging side, is spend more time surfing the web looking for interesting tidbits of art or info that might be of interest to others. That can result in some amazing finds--or lots of filler.

Another thing you can do is catch up on other important aspects of life. There are other important aspects of life. You know, like work...family...that kind of thing. That's good, but let's face it--it's not fishing.

You can also busy yourself with fishing-related activities like, oh, fly tying, for example. You could also clean all your rods and reels and lines, repair and organize all your equipment, and sort and organize all your flies. Which I'll probably get around to after the fly tying. Once I get started on the fly tying.

And, of course, you can keep an obsessive a close watch on the weather and hope for a good, strong Chinook.

Just what the doctor ordered.

Another thing you can do is carefully weigh your fishing options. Your realistic fishing options.  Oh sure, it would have been nice to be wading the flats on a hot, tropical island all this week, but that ain't going to happen. And it would be nice to get a swing or two in on the local river, but that ain't going to happen anytime soon, either.

But I do have an option that actually falls into the realm of possibility. That would be a trip to the nearest spring creek. I'm fortunate to have one just an hour and a half away: Rocky Ford Creek.

In years past the very earliest I have gone is February, but it seems that a January trip this year could be good for everybody concerned.

And what do you know, we're having a bit of a Chinook this week. The river is still frozen, but the snow is gone, and the temperature at Rocky Ford Creek could break 40 degrees tomorrow. So the morning will find me on the road heading south.

Next post will be fishing photos, and--if all goes according to plan--fish photos. In the meantime, I've been reminiscing about last year's Rocky Ford trout....

So wish me luck, and maybe it will be awhile before I have to post another trout puzzle.

Click thumb.

Fin Chasers, #4 2013

Missed this one. Find it HERE,

"A Blessing" by James Wright

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.

"A Blessing," by James Wright, from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose. ©Wesleyan University Press, 1990. 

A New Year's Gift

Here are some samples from a wonderful blog for those who enjoy "nature-themed art and illustration." You can find it HERE.

Andrew Davidson -- Norwegian Christmas

Matazo Kayama

Eyvind Earle

Tyla (Finnish Winter Landscape) by Tapio Pellervo Haili (1973)

Happy New Year!

Wishing you a

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

May 2014 be the best yet for you and yours.

Moving Pictures: "Wyoming Wildscapes II" by Nicolaus Wegner

Here's a late Christmas present for you that you will enjoy opening, trust me...

Wyoming Wildscapes II from Nicolaus Wegner on Vimeo.

Moving Pictures: "Solitude" and "7 Miles Back" from Montana Wild

7 MILES BACK - fly fishing Montana's backcountry from Montana Wild on Vimeo.

Star Wars Comes Alive: Time Lapse Video of the Night Sky Over Hawaii

Laser-tracking the Milky Way over 13,803 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island. Lasers allow the adaptive optics of the radio telescopes to remove the blurring effect of the earth's atmosphere. And they look really cool. And they make me wonder. Light years from now will someone on a distant planet be tracking these lasers as they arrive from the long-vanished Earth?

All Is Calm, All Is Bright

Christmas night, and all is calm, all is bright. I hope your day was filled with cheer, and that all the joy and peace of the season will stay with you for a long time to come.

"A Christmas Carol" by Christina Rossetti

Camels, Heifer Ranch, Arkansas. Photo by Rebecca Stover Roetzel

In the bleak mid-winter
   Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
   Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
   Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter 
   Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
   Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
   When He comes to reign:
In the bleak midwinter
   A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
   Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
   Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
   And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
   Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
   Which adore.

Angels and archangels
   May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
   Thronged the air;
But only His mother
   In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
   With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
   Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
   I would bring a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man
   I would do my part,—
Yet what I can I give Him,
   Give my heart.

Solstice Count Down: Nine Hours

It was cold on Friday, and we got our first snowfall down in the valley. It was timely, brightening things up on the eve of the Winter Solstice.

Now there are just 9 hours until the "sun stands still" at 9:11 AM Pacific Standard Time, and the earth begins its tilt back toward the sun's warmth and light. Today will be the shortest day of the year. At our location, just a few miles from the Canadian border, there will be 8 hours and 16 minutes between sunrise and sunset.

Sunlight on Earth, on the day of the winter solstice.

The north polar region of Earth is in 24-hour darkness,

while the south polar region is in 24-hour daylight.

Gif via Wikimedia Commons.

But then, on Sunday, there will be 8 hours and 17 minutes. Enjoy that extra minute knowing that the light is coming back.

Happy Solstice, everyone.

"What the Heart Cannot Forget" by Joyce Sutphen

Everything remembers something. The rock, its fiery bed,
cooling and fissuring into cracked pieces, the rub
of watery fingers along its edge.

The cloud remembers being elephant, camel, giraffe,
remembers being a veil over the face of the sun,
gathering itself together for the fall.

The turtle remembers the sea, sliding over and under
its belly, remembers legs like wings, escaping down
the sand under the beaks of savage birds.

The tree remembers the story of each ring, the years
of drought, the floods, the way things came
walking slowly towards it long ago.

And the skin remembers its scars, and the bone aches
where it was broken. The feet remember the dance,
and the arms remember lifting up the child.

The heart remembers everything it loved and gave away,
everything it lost and found again, and everyone
it loved, the heart cannot forget.

"What the Heart Cannot Forget" by Joyce Sutphen, from Coming Back to the Body. © Holy Cow! Press, 2000.

Montana Fly Fishing Magazine, Winter 2013

A superlative trip, cover to cover. And the whole time you're warm and cozy with not a trace of ice in your guides. Just click HERE.

Eye Exercise for Fly Fishermen

Once you can see these in 3D, you'll be able to spot any fish holding in any lie in any body of water.

Real Men: Where Have They Gone?

Is the gene pool getting shallower?

Discuss among yourselves.

The Christmas Moon

It's the last--and the smallest--of the full moons of 2013. It's called the Cold Moon, or the Long Night Moon, appearing so close to the Winter Solstice. But I will call it the Christmas Moon.

That doesn't mean this picture is accurate for this year. No, Santa will fly his sleigh under a full moon on Christmas Eve only about every nineteen years. This year he'll be out in the light of a waning gibbous moon. But we can save this picture and use it in 2015--there will be a full moon on December 25 that year.

But this one fits. One could almost imagine it's the night of the full moon in December, 2013, and the world is calm and peaceful and bright, and excitedly anticipating the celebration of the birth of Light.

Solstice Count Down: 5

It's 3 PM. The day since sunrise is seven hours and fifteen minutes old. One hour and two minutes until sunset. I get a text. Regular rides won't work today; I need to pick up one of the boys at school. Before I climb in the truck I look down to the river. The weather has been slightly warmer, but the river is still iced over.

It's 3:10 PM. At the school I look back southwest over the town. The sun is going down almost due south. It still has a few degrees of southern shift to go.

It's 3:20. We get home.

It's 4 PM. I go outside for the sunset. It's the color of summer.

Only 5 days until the solstice.