Last Fish of 2006

I hit the water today for a couple hours. Mostly I wanted to test out my new Olympus 720SW waterproof digital camera (a Christmas gift from my wife), but I also just hadn't been fishing in a while. It was overcast and not too cold so conditions seemed favorable. But it was another slow fishing day.

I did get this little beauty though (pictured above). Hey, is it just me? Or does this little rainbow from today look an awful lot like the Little Kern River Golden Trout shown on Dave's Species List? I know it's not, but I thought the resemblance was uncanny.

Now back to the camera. This is a nice camera with a really large screen, the whole thing is about the size of a deck of cards. It's shockproof and waterproof (you can take pictures up to 10 feet deep and it can stay underwater for an hour), so even if you don't use it for underwater photography, it seemed like the perfect fishing camera. I was excited to try it out and I will say this, even though I knew it was waterproof it was not easy putting it under the surface, it just didn't seem right! But it does work. The water today was a little murky, but when I got that little rainbow on the line I just held the camera under and snapped a half dozen shots. Although this one's not great, it is the best of the bunch, and it's plenty good enough for me to be encouraged. With some more practice and some gin-clear water, I think it's capable of some really cool action shots.
So that's it for 2006. Happy New Year everyone! I hope there is very little time between your last 2006 fish and your first 2007 fish. My new years fishing resolutions are to practice my casting much, much more, and to catch three new species this year (steelhead, striper, largemouth bass?).

NYC Striper Fly Fishing

Cool shot taken by Lincoln Karim over NYC's Central Park of the earliest known form of fly fishing. Article here.

I want one of these. Badly.

I've always loved old wooden boats. I have old grainy home movies of relatives at a lake in Wisconsin, tooling around in a Chris Craft over forty years ago. This boat, though, is brand new. Best of both worlds: you get the nostalgic looks of the old wooden classics but a fiberglass hull and a nice, reliable V8. My father in law is a dealer for them down in Florida and although they are surprisingly affordable, I'm afraid it will just have to stay on my wish list for now. But we'll be down there in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to cruising in it. If you want more information about these, email me and I'll get you in touch with him.

Roughing it.

I have a lot of respect for people like this guy, Dave, who is documenting his quest to catch native species of trout in California here on his blog. Here, he describes one trip where he hikes for fifteen miles to fish for one species. That'd be too much for most people and plenty for the rest. But Dave then adds a 3-night backpacking excursion through rugged California mountains, dodging lightning storms, watching out for rattlers and shooing scorpions out of his firepit.

Then there are guys like Zach, who took a harrowing trip to Brazil to fish the Xingu river for peacock bass, but ended up with all sorts of bizarre beasts on the line including piranha and something called a sabre-toothed payara that absolutely looks like it should be long extinct. The first several days he and his fishing party were there, they did not fish for peacocks, because the water was very, very high and the peacocks would be hanging out under the flooded trees. Which, of course, is where the anacondas hang out.

My point in all this, is that I love the outdoors. But I am starting to realize the stark difference between loving the outdoors and being a real outdoorsman. My idea of roughing it is to hike several miles, battle some briar bushes, head back to the car a little too close to dark and, a couple times a year, stay in a really awful motel to rest up and do it again the next day. But my roughest nights still always include beer and advil and food and cigars and cell phone calls and a few channels on the TV.

Who knows, a new year is nearly upon us and it's resolution time. Maybe this year I'll venture out a little farther, sleep in a tent, rig my 3-weight by campfire light and really rough it every now and then. I don't doubt it will be good for me. As long as I don't venture into scorpion/anoconda territory.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays from Flyfishin' to the many nice people I've met through this site. I hope you and your families have a safe holiday season and that there's new fishing gear under the tree! Next year will bring more fun, more friends and more tall tales from the water...