One of the great things about fly fishing from a kayak is that you can cover a lot of water in virtual silence. As such, you're inevitably connected to the environment in ways you don't really sense when riding in a power boat or wading.
I got into some Spanish mackerel off of South Padre Island the other day and hooked a jack crevalle that towed me a mile out in my 'yak. The sharks were working the Spanish over the sandbar and I could see them clearly. Wonderful day of fishing. Kayaks are the way to go in saltwater, whether in open water or back bays.
I like to think I’m as passionate about dog training as any other DIY guy out there. Heck, my wife thinks I’m half nuts because on most nights I’m up late reading—rather re-reading—gun dog books. And in the morning I’m up at sunrise to go train before work. When I'm asleep I usually have nightmares about Pritch running wild in a dove field or eating our ducks one after the other. But this morning I hit the wall.
I'm an absolute zero when it comes to dog training. I bought some basic puppy training book when my yellow lab Chester was a tiny pup and crate broke him, house broke him, trained him to sit and fetch, and gun broke him. When he was old enough to hunt dove and ducks, his abilities were uncanny. I had nothing to do with that, but he has made me look like a pro in front of my birdhunting buddies for years now. I love that dog. In fact, I have a notion to buy a puppy now that Chester's old, and have HIM train the little one...
Just back from a wild adventure in the Everglades with my buddy Al Keller. We not only caught the backcountry slam--tarpon, snook and redfish--from kayaks... I also came away with what has to be the greatest camp meal of all time.
Fresh-caught snook fillets, slow-grilled over a smoky buttonwood fire (the wood is key). A little olive oil, salt, pepper, and at the very end, a spritz from a fresh key lime.
My ancient half-brother never packs foood for an offshore day of fishing. He takes limes, onion and hot sauce and makes ceviche, which is fresh fish soaked in citric acid, which cooks it. He'll filet a blackfin tuna, throw the chunks of meat in the bag with lime juice and throw it into the ice chest.
Ice cold ceviche on a hot summer day of trolling in the Gulf. Voila. Although granted, it's not a camp dish, but pretty nifty.
I'm on my way to the Everglades for a few days of high adventure, camping, kayaking and hopefully catching some snook, redfish, and/or tarpon. Every time I go saltwater fishing, however, I bring a baitcaster along. I'd rather catch a fish on a pinfish in dirty water, than get stuck with just a fly rod when the fly thing isn't happening. And sometimes it doesn't happen.
Aw, fishing's fishing. It can be done with style as long as it's in context. Floating a fly on a trout stream in the rockies is a fishing classic. Doesn't mean you have to go all snobby and live a life of celibacy from the spinning tackle. Topwaters for Texas redfish? Absolutely. Tarpon taken on the fly or with a number 13 circle hook widened out in the vise are equally thrilling. Spanish mackerel on lures from light spinning tackle... Like I said, it's about context. Soaking bait all the time is lame. Using it as a last resort is OK.
Over the weekend I helped out at a Pheasants Forever Mentored Youth Hunt. PF, I should mention here, is my favorite of the single-species groups because they spend all their money locally, do good habitat work, and support youth hunting and shooting of all kinds. Anyway, it was my job to run three groups of kids through some shooting instruction before they went hunting. I’ve done this before, and I learn more from watching the kids shoot than they learn listening to me.
This is good advice Phil. My first weekend out for dove I was throwing the gun up to my shoulder like a spaz and missing so many birds for it. And Mjenkins above speaks the truth, which I learned as an adage they taught us in the Marines: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Our drill instructors drilled that one into our heads and guess what? It's good advice as an 'anti-spazitive.'
I moonlight as a fly guide. It's one of the best jobs I could imagine.
Granted, you bake in the sun, or freeze in the wind, and sometimes those fish don't cooperate. No doubt, you can make a lot more money as an orthopedic surgeon or a trial lawyer. But the thing is, when people come to see me on the river, they're always in a good mood. When people go to see the doctor or the lawyer, they're usually not in a good mood.
I'm with buck. Extra time to fish would be really nice. Three day weekends are a nice. Except weekends, esp. three-day kind, are packed with other anglers.
When I first got interested in shotguns, Orvis offered custom Aya doubles from Spain. I only saw them in the catalog, never in real life, but I yearned for one in the worst way. I even sent away for the order form, where you could specify finish, stock dimensions, grip style, etc., and spent way too much time designing dream guns I couldn’t afford. Although they were out of my price range, they weren’t exorbitant, at least, not when compared to other custom doubles. It seemed feasible I might own one someday.
Besides the visual appeal, the promise of gorgeous handling is what gets me excited about beautiful shotguns like the AyA.
I first saw an article about these guns when I was in USMC School of Infantry back in 1995, and I've thought about them off and on since. Because I hunt bobwhite quail here in South Texas, I might be able to justify buying one.
Mass produced guns are great, and American joes like myself are pragmatic and utilitarian, which is why a sweet little Spanish copy of a $50,000 English gun might just be the ticket. But I'm also looking at some of the fine, (relatively) affordable American shotgun builders.
I've always felt that the main attraction with fly fishing is not so much about the fish as it is about the places, people, and wildlife you encounter along the way.
Of course, some encounters are better than others... some are downright dicey.
In Norway the moose (called "elg" over there) are a real problem to motorists on the winding roads. Norway is still the only place I've actually seen a moose, and yes, it was on a road.
I was very disturbed by a video I saw on the news of a cow moose stomping a man to death on a street in some city in Alaska. I saw that when I was in college back in 1994.
Somehow, moose look twice as menacing as the occasional Brahma bull I occasionally come across hunting whitetail out on the ranch.
The Los Angeles Times’ Andrew Malcolm (who I’m guessing will not be celebrating National Hunting and Fishing Day) found a little irony in President Obama’s recent salute to hunting and hunters, suggesting he sounded a bit like a certain former governor:
Remember that Democratic candidate for president -- what was his name? -- who complained to those elite San Francisco donors at a supposedly private mansion gathering about bitter small-town Pennsylvanians who cling to their guns and religion? . . .
I walked out my door yesterday morning to a squealing rabbit. Went for a look and found a Texas Indigo snake devouring a rabbit, except it wasn't trying to swallow the thing whole. It looked like it was going for the spot between the hind legs and sort of cleaning the rabbit out from the inside, rather than take the whole thing in. Damnedest thing I've yet seen, and all in all,looked rather painful. Nature's tough, death has its sting, and so does any fight, even when we release the other guy, be it fish or man.
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Fins to the Left... Fins to the Right...17
One of the great things about fly fishing from a kayak is that you can cover a lot of water in virtual silence. As such, you're inevitably connected to the environment in ways you don't really sense when riding in a power boat or wading.
I got into some Spanish mackerel off of South Padre Island the other day and hooked a jack crevalle that towed me a mile out in my 'yak. The sharks were working the Spanish over the sandbar and I could see them clearly. Wonderful day of fishing. Kayaks are the way to go in saltwater, whether in open water or back bays.
Ever Hit the Dog-Training Wall?11
I like to think I’m as passionate about dog training as any other DIY guy out there. Heck, my wife thinks I’m half nuts because on most nights I’m up late reading—rather re-reading—gun dog books. And in the morning I’m up at sunrise to go train before work. When I'm asleep I usually have nightmares about Pritch running wild in a dove field or eating our ducks one after the other. But this morning I hit the wall.
I'm an absolute zero when it comes to dog training. I bought some basic puppy training book when my yellow lab Chester was a tiny pup and crate broke him, house broke him, trained him to sit and fetch, and gun broke him. When he was old enough to hunt dove and ducks, his abilities were uncanny. I had nothing to do with that, but he has made me look like a pro in front of my birdhunting buddies for years now. I love that dog. In fact, I have a notion to buy a puppy now that Chester's old, and have HIM train the little one...
The Best Camp Dinner Ever22
Just back from a wild adventure in the Everglades with my buddy Al Keller. We not only caught the backcountry slam--tarpon, snook and redfish--from kayaks... I also came away with what has to be the greatest camp meal of all time.
Fresh-caught snook fillets, slow-grilled over a smoky buttonwood fire (the wood is key). A little olive oil, salt, pepper, and at the very end, a spritz from a fresh key lime.
My ancient half-brother never packs foood for an offshore day of fishing. He takes limes, onion and hot sauce and makes ceviche, which is fresh fish soaked in citric acid, which cooks it. He'll filet a blackfin tuna, throw the chunks of meat in the bag with lime juice and throw it into the ice chest. Ice cold ceviche on a hot summer day of trolling in the Gulf. Voila. Although granted, it's not a camp dish, but pretty nifty.
Pick Your Poison: Chuck Bait or Get Skunked21
I'm on my way to the Everglades for a few days of high adventure, camping, kayaking and hopefully catching some snook, redfish, and/or tarpon. Every time I go saltwater fishing, however, I bring a baitcaster along. I'd rather catch a fish on a pinfish in dirty water, than get stuck with just a fly rod when the fly thing isn't happening. And sometimes it doesn't happen.
Aw, fishing's fishing. It can be done with style as long as it's in context. Floating a fly on a trout stream in the rockies is a fishing classic. Doesn't mean you have to go all snobby and live a life of celibacy from the spinning tackle. Topwaters for Texas redfish? Absolutely. Tarpon taken on the fly or with a number 13 circle hook widened out in the vise are equally thrilling. Spanish mackerel on lures from light spinning tackle... Like I said, it's about context. Soaking bait all the time is lame. Using it as a last resort is OK.
Bourjaily: Slow Down To Speed Up19
Over the weekend I helped out at a Pheasants Forever Mentored Youth Hunt. PF, I should mention here, is my favorite of the single-species groups because they spend all their money locally, do good habitat work, and support youth hunting and shooting of all kinds. Anyway, it was my job to run three groups of kids through some shooting instruction before they went hunting. I’ve done this before, and I learn more from watching the kids shoot than they learn listening to me.
This is good advice Phil. My first weekend out for dove I was throwing the gun up to my shoulder like a spaz and missing so many birds for it. And Mjenkins above speaks the truth, which I learned as an adage they taught us in the Marines: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Our drill instructors drilled that one into our heads and guess what? It's good advice as an 'anti-spazitive.'
Why Being a Fly Fishing Guide is One of the Best Jobs in The World8
I moonlight as a fly guide. It's one of the best jobs I could imagine.
Granted, you bake in the sun, or freeze in the wind, and sometimes those fish don't cooperate. No doubt, you can make a lot more money as an orthopedic surgeon or a trial lawyer. But the thing is, when people come to see me on the river, they're always in a good mood. When people go to see the doctor or the lawyer, they're usually not in a good mood.
I'm with buck. Extra time to fish would be really nice. Three day weekends are a nice. Except weekends, esp. three-day kind, are packed with other anglers.
Bouraily: Aya Shotguns and Dreams (Nearly) Fulfilled28
When I first got interested in shotguns, Orvis offered custom Aya doubles from Spain. I only saw them in the catalog, never in real life, but I yearned for one in the worst way. I even sent away for the order form, where you could specify finish, stock dimensions, grip style, etc., and spent way too much time designing dream guns I couldn’t afford. Although they were out of my price range, they weren’t exorbitant, at least, not when compared to other custom doubles. It seemed feasible I might own one someday.
Besides the visual appeal, the promise of gorgeous handling is what gets me excited about beautiful shotguns like the AyA. I first saw an article about these guns when I was in USMC School of Infantry back in 1995, and I've thought about them off and on since. Because I hunt bobwhite quail here in South Texas, I might be able to justify buying one. Mass produced guns are great, and American joes like myself are pragmatic and utilitarian, which is why a sweet little Spanish copy of a $50,000 English gun might just be the ticket. But I'm also looking at some of the fine, (relatively) affordable American shotgun builders.
Fly Fishing with Mr. Moose16
I've always felt that the main attraction with fly fishing is not so much about the fish as it is about the places, people, and wildlife you encounter along the way.
Of course, some encounters are better than others... some are downright dicey.
In Norway the moose (called "elg" over there) are a real problem to motorists on the winding roads. Norway is still the only place I've actually seen a moose, and yes, it was on a road. I was very disturbed by a video I saw on the news of a cow moose stomping a man to death on a street in some city in Alaska. I saw that when I was in college back in 1994. Somehow, moose look twice as menacing as the occasional Brahma bull I occasionally come across hunting whitetail out on the ranch.
Obama Blasted For NHFD Proclamation Speech40
The Los Angeles Times’ Andrew Malcolm (who I’m guessing will not be celebrating National Hunting and Fishing Day) found a little irony in President Obama’s recent salute to hunting and hunters, suggesting he sounded a bit like a certain former governor:
Remember that Democratic candidate for president -- what was his name? -- who complained to those elite San Francisco donors at a supposedly private mansion gathering about bitter small-town Pennsylvanians who cling to their guns and religion? . . .
Andrew Malcolm writes like a city boy.
Do You Care If Fish Feel Pain?40
This just in, courtesy of my friend John Kirk. A recent study apparently suggests that fish might indeed sense pain.
I know, I know... It's not really a breaking news item. After all, PETA and others have been on the "don't hurt the sea kittens" soap box for years.
I walked out my door yesterday morning to a squealing rabbit. Went for a look and found a Texas Indigo snake devouring a rabbit, except it wasn't trying to swallow the thing whole. It looked like it was going for the spot between the hind legs and sort of cleaning the rabbit out from the inside, rather than take the whole thing in. Damnedest thing I've yet seen, and all in all,looked rather painful. Nature's tough, death has its sting, and so does any fight, even when we release the other guy, be it fish or man.
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