Round One Goes To The Fish

These fish are incredible.

The boys can keep their Bass, Tarpon. Bonefish, Permit..etc...

There is nothing on this earth that can whoop ass like an October Steelhead.

On the walk out yesterday I was amused by the irony that the fish are at their sporting best in October on the first push,... right when my game is covered in rust.

...And my 'A' game is really not that good anyway.

LOL


This was the first trip out and after hearing gaudy reports from my closest Steelhead cronies I was all a-jitter with images of leaping chrome and primed with hope of a creel number that only a good water October day could provide.

Not quite...


At least at first.

I have got to stop bitching about people...
But there were a lot of them....some of them were actually camped out in there.
Infuriating..but I have to admit ..that would be awesome!!
LOL

I fished nothing but what I expect was first ,second and probably third water all morning...
Very frustrating.

Just when I thought that I would out hike them I would turn the corner and there would be another group of knuckleheads.
Lots of pressure but to be fair everybody I ran into went out of their way to make the river a civilized place to fish.
I didn't see a fish on a stringer all day....dare I hope?....have we turned a corner collectively???
..doubtful..

Even with all the people I didn't see anybody hook anything...except me...
;o)
Heres hoping that Morin's previous days education saved a few lives from some clumsy efforts...

All the obvious spots had been smashed and by 11:00 I had only managed to go 4 for 4...
I was happy to be out and finally doing it but sickened with the thought that I was once again a day late and a dollar short.

More Irony...
I guilted Morin into trying to get the previous day off work only to have my own leave denied by the Philistines at work.

At the next round of bargaining I am going to fight for special non discretionary steelhead leave based on river graph numbers.

Picking up scraps...

I was happy for those cocksuckers but my vanity would make it unbearable if I returned with anything but an exceptional day under my belt.

Thank Christ that at 11:00 I stood over water that almost nobody fishes and that could possibly be the best holding water on the river right now.

It is amazing how the river changes from year to year and this 30 ft stretch has improved greatly from last year.


I don't think it had been fished that day by anyone because I couldn't get a drift through there without my float being scuttled by a lightening finned beast...

For an hour and a half I fought the best that river or arguably this world has to offer sportfish wise and for the most part had my ass handed to me....
I lost a couple of huge fish...real heartbreakers....but I also put some beauties on the bank.


I had made a promise to my family that I would be home by 2:30 pm and I had what I estimated to be a 1 hour plus brutal hike out so at 12:30 I broke the rod down and walked away from the hottest steelhead water I have ever stood over....

OUCH!

OUCH I SAY!!!

Great day ..Now I am lovin Life..

In the immaculate words of Harv the shitstain....GAME ON!

Roaring Start.

Well, it has been a while.
I am not sure what the reason is for lack of BLOG entries.

It is not that my life hasn't been full and I believe I am reasonably happy...but I don't believe in forcing things and I have had no real desire.

In my last post I spoke of my Mid Life crisis.

Still there...still haunting me. It is a real drag actually. I liked things better when I was sure I was going to live forever.
It sure made going into work a lot easier.

Oh well
Fuck it...

Morin threw out the offer for a fishing trip this weekend...one which I couldn't accept.
:o/


Owen had a city wide Cross Country Track Meet on Saturday. Which was yesterday.
I wouldn't miss that for anything.
He has really developed into a fine athlete and I have to be careful not to turn into maniac Dad.
He loves to run ...and he is gifted.

THAT IS MY KID WAY OUT IN FRONT

I approached a Division 1 scholarship runner that I work with and asked him for advice.
Owen is 9.
His advice was to just leave the kid alone at this age and let him find the love for it naturally.
That sounded beautiful.
But I think I may have let him down.
Owen was heavily favoured to win this event, but as per the Norland curse woke Saturday morning sick as a dog.
Interesting though...as recent as two years ago he would've begged to stay home but Saturday my boy begged to compete swearing that it wouldn't stop him.
Tough.

...Even tougher when he came in 2nd...out of about 120 kids from across the city.
He led the whole way and lost by inches to some kid who out kicked him in the last 100 metres.
I found out the day before that this kids dad trains his son with a stop watch 2 - 3 times a week.
Hmmmmm..........guilt...guilt.....
No excuses but Owen would've won going away if he'd been 100%.
Like I say... I don't want to be psycho Dad but next year I think we'll crank it up a notch beauty be damned.
The kid was heartbroken....and he was so smashed at the end that he couldn't stand. He has been on the couch ever since with fever sore throat and cough.
I have never been more proud but I can't shake the feeling that I should've helped him be a little more prepared.

Man I love that kid.
When he rounded the corner in first place I could hardly see.
Fuck.

Another reason why I didn't fish was that today is my 12 yr Anniversary. Had to be home for that.

These have been the best years of my life...by far.


I may take a run at the old lady tonight.

:o)

I drove up to Bayfield on Friday.
There had been a smattering of rain and the graph hadn't given me enough reason not too.
It was a waste of time and roe. A dry river full of suckers and Salmon Kelts.

Beautiful though....and a walk through the woods was BIG medicine.


It is right on the edge...

A few more blasts of rain and she should be ready to go but there is very little in the forecast.
That is PAR...and I fucking hate par....

Running water...there have been so many greater than I that have waxed poetic about the wonders of it...good for the soul...
I need rivers...
Fuck coughing and fuck work....

I have another GIG coming up in a few weeks...
For the life of me I cannot get excited about it. I am no good at multitasking and right now all I can think about is fishing.
RAIN......

Untitled from Gene Norland on Vimeo.