Caught three nice smallmouth inside about twenty minutes on a dry fly yesterday just before it started to rain. Biggest was about sixteen inches. It's awful nice to be close enough to a good fly-fishing river that you can just grab a rod and walk there. It would be much nicer if it were a trout river but I'm accommodating myself to smallmouth. I landed one yesterday that made three nice jumps and tailwalked a bit. After releasing it, I looked up and saw people stuck in rush hour traffic watching me.
Yes, I'm staying home this vacation. We've spent so much on renovations that we'd feel guilty if we don't reign in our spending now.
It's funny 'cause you walk down the bank and you are about fifteen feet below street level and the riffles drown out the traffic and the ducks and fish are all around you. There were mergansers, a couple of woodies and the ever present mallards including a couple of hybrid mallards. Also a few cormorants. Cormorants a are beautiful and majestic bird that many people hate (probably because they think the poor birds eat too many fish). I saw a beaver shoot some small rapids. You may as well be out in the wilderness if you don't raise your eyes the above fifteen feet. (I think I need a canoe.)
The closest I got to a traffic jam was when I almost stepped on a snapping turtle. I looked down and saw the dinosaur-like tail just in time. We had a sort of a face off because he or she was lounging across the only place I could wade through to get where I was going. I kicked some water at it and it moved away grudgingly. I clearly wasn't even remotely frightened of me. If it hadn't given in, I probably would have had to wade around some other way.
One really neat thing I saw were little islands that have been formed by mergansers disposing of the shells of zebra mussels after eating them. Originally seen as a grave threat, the zebra mussel has proven to be little problem in the long run. On the other hand, the purple loosestrife is a back with a vengeance. Just a few years ago, scientists were bragging they had managed to control the plant. Guess not guys.
That said, I bet it ultimately just fits in the way lots of other imported plants such as the daisy have.
Doing house work today because it is still raining.
There will be a film noir post tomorrow. The rest of today will probably be quiet as I am away from my desk. It seems like a good week to be away as all sorts of awful and portentous things are happening. I don't think western civilization is over or anything like that but some parts of it look decided unhealthy.
I keep thinking of those ten states where men outnumber women:
I am going to ge a few things done here. I need to purge clutter in a big way. Maybe stage an intervention on my own compulsive collecting. Then I'm going to pour a whisky or whiskey (Canadian Club or Bourbon) and read some Gierach or perhaps some McGuane or maybe I'll go traditional and read some Haig-Brown.
Yes, I'm staying home this vacation. We've spent so much on renovations that we'd feel guilty if we don't reign in our spending now.
It's funny 'cause you walk down the bank and you are about fifteen feet below street level and the riffles drown out the traffic and the ducks and fish are all around you. There were mergansers, a couple of woodies and the ever present mallards including a couple of hybrid mallards. Also a few cormorants. Cormorants a are beautiful and majestic bird that many people hate (probably because they think the poor birds eat too many fish). I saw a beaver shoot some small rapids. You may as well be out in the wilderness if you don't raise your eyes the above fifteen feet. (I think I need a canoe.)
The closest I got to a traffic jam was when I almost stepped on a snapping turtle. I looked down and saw the dinosaur-like tail just in time. We had a sort of a face off because he or she was lounging across the only place I could wade through to get where I was going. I kicked some water at it and it moved away grudgingly. I clearly wasn't even remotely frightened of me. If it hadn't given in, I probably would have had to wade around some other way.
One really neat thing I saw were little islands that have been formed by mergansers disposing of the shells of zebra mussels after eating them. Originally seen as a grave threat, the zebra mussel has proven to be little problem in the long run. On the other hand, the purple loosestrife is a back with a vengeance. Just a few years ago, scientists were bragging they had managed to control the plant. Guess not guys.
That said, I bet it ultimately just fits in the way lots of other imported plants such as the daisy have.
Doing house work today because it is still raining.
There will be a film noir post tomorrow. The rest of today will probably be quiet as I am away from my desk. It seems like a good week to be away as all sorts of awful and portentous things are happening. I don't think western civilization is over or anything like that but some parts of it look decided unhealthy.
I keep thinking of those ten states where men outnumber women:
North Dakota, Alaska, Arizona,If I cross California off that list and just think of those places, it makes me feel good about western civilization.California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.
I am going to ge a few things done here. I need to purge clutter in a big way. Maybe stage an intervention on my own compulsive collecting. Then I'm going to pour a whisky or whiskey (Canadian Club or Bourbon) and read some Gierach or perhaps some McGuane or maybe I'll go traditional and read some Haig-Brown.
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