John Merwin's blog post the other day referenced a book by Pat Dorsey (Tying and Fishing Tailwater Flies). So I thought I'd follow up with an "On The Spot" interview I did with Pat at the recent International Sportsmen's Expo in Denver.
Pat and I are old friends. In fact, back when we were in our early thirties, I was co-authoring a book on fishing guides, and Pat was one of our first "volunteer" subjects. He showed me Cheesman Canyon, the Williams Fork, and Dream Stream section of the South Platte in South Park. And he did it for gas money, despite the fact that we didn't have a publisher committed or anything (it was an excuse to go fishing). The book turned out to be Castwork, which boosted my outdoor writing career. It's out of print now, but you can read excepts at MidCurrent.
Last fall I had the pleasure of following the entire length of the Rio Grande River, from headwaters in Colorado to the terminus in Texas at the Gulf of Mexico; fishing, rowing, and following two guys on motorcycles the entire way. I was on a Field & Stream assignment with Digital Director, Nate Mathews, and his father, Bruce Matthews, who is the executive director for the North Country Trail. I was following in the chase vehicle with my camera equipment, boats, fishing and camping gear.
The story was published in this month's (February 2012) issue of the magazine. In the mag there were 25 images published. I took over 8,000 images over two weeks. I thought heck--let's show em some more… Here's the second half of the trip. The first batch of outtakes can be found here.
Last fall I had the pleasure of following the entire length of the Rio Grande River, from headwaters in Colorado to the terminus in Texas at the Gulf of Mexico; fishing, rowing, and following two guys on motorcycles the entire way. I was on a Field & Stream assignment with Digital Director, Nate Mathews, and his father, Bruce Matthews, who is the executive director for the North Country Trail. I was following in the chase vehicle with my camera equipment, boats, fishing and camping gear.
It's time for another caption contest. Hopefully, you all know how this little game works by now. We put up a goofy photo and you write your best captions for it.
Next week's winner is going to win a pile of goodies, courtesy of our friends at the Fly Fishing Film Tour. We will announce the winner next Thursday, Jan. 26.
The winner will receive two free tickets to the Fly Fishing Film tour (in the city closest to him or her), a gift certificate for ANY Scientific Anglers fly line he or she wants, two F3T and Upslope Brewery Pint Glasses, two Film Tour hats and a Scientific Anglers Waterproof System X fly box. Not bad, eh?
After careful thought, I have decided to award the prize (The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing) to Kyle Deneen.
He wrote: My cat Schizmak, (I just wanted to put his name in there because its cool) is a long haired Russian Blue, when the winters are around I take his under coat and use it for some of the best dubbing I have ever used. A cats undercoat will make the best "hairs ear nymph" but I guess we should now call it the "cat hairs nymph." Also my buddies and I from Fat Guy Fly Fishing found out that my back hair makes great dubbing after my wife shaves my back.
I've always said that the best aspects of fly fishing are the 360-degree views around you and the people you share them with, rather than the fish themselves. I certainly respect and admire a strong focus on the mission at hand. But in my book, if you aren't looking around, you're not really getting the most of your fishing.
As such, I've been taking a lot of photographs (Romano is coaching me) in recent years. Curiously, most of my favorite fishing images don't have any fish in them at all. I call them non-fish fishing photos. Clouds that look like iron and light hitting the canyon wall just so--those things.
It is with great happiness that Uncle Deeter announces the arrival of Mabel Romano, who entered the world at a healthy 8 pounds 2 ounces a few days ago. She, along with her mom, Ellie, and dad, Tim Romano (my Fly Talk partner) are all doing just fine.
Apparently, we have another Fly Talker (well, for the time being, a Fly Goo-Goo/Coo-er) in the fold. And I can tell you that Tim has transformed flawlessly into a proud father. For the foreseeable future, Fly Talk posts might be a little heavy on the Deeter side. I hope you understand.
After my usual slogging of the inter-webs I thought I'd share three entertaining videos today with the fly talk faithful. The first is called "Bulls on Top" from Shallow Water Expeditions. It's a season's worth of insane top-water Louisiana redfish eats, the second is a very strange, but gorgeous video of classic salmon flies from Ukraine and the third is a humorous look in time-lapse of fly inventory day at the Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig, Montana.
You know a celebrity, professional athlete, or any variation thereof has reached fever pitch in the media when their very name works it's way into your everyday lexicon.
I have no idea how many times I've uttered the word Tebow and gotten down on one knee in solidarity and in jest the past few weeks. It's been a number of times for sure. I thought there was no way possible I could work him into a blog post though. Trust me I have tried.
Then I received this email and photo from good friend and carp slayer Will Rice yesterday.
Subject: So I Tebow'd this carp...
"...on the bank of the DSP (Dirty South Platte) less than a mile from the Stadium on game day... and the Pats still won. What the hell?"
With Santa set to take off in only a few short days, I know many of us fly anglers are shaking in our boots. We tried to be good all year, but we might have slipped now and then. Many of us simply don't know which list we're on, "naughty," or "nice."
Well I know Santa Claus. He's a friend of mine. In fact, we fish together (we usually make a tarpon junket to the Keys in May). And he told me what to watch for:
If you threw rocks in the river (or lake) when your buddy was fishing, that was naughty. If you took at least one person fly fishing who had never done so, that's an automatic spot on the nice list. Dropping a size #22 parachute Adams on the surface of your child's goldfish tank is naughty (even if you are on a carp kick).