Basic Fly Fishing - Part 1

Last summer I decided to sign up for a "basic" fly fishing course offered through the local community college extension course catalog.  It sounded simple enough-- learn about flying fishing, practice casting, catch a fish.

As soon as the class started, I knew there was far more to fly fishing than tying a hook to a line.  It sounded like a college Entomology class-- the study of fresh-water insects, their eggs, larva, pupa, emergers, dunns, spinners-- particularly the life cycles of the May Fly, Baetis Fly, Caddis Fly and Stone Fly, plus some mosquitoes, grasshoppers, ants and crane flies. 
It was overwhelming.  So, I decided to study and break it down into its basic essentials-- all to make it easy and enjoyable.  Here's what I learned.

(1) Mayfly, Caddis Fly, Stone Fly and Other Insects.  There's a lot of talk about these different flies.  There are hundreds of variations of each type, but once you sort through all the technical information, it comes down to this--

MAYFLIES (once hatched and out of the water and flying around) come in different colors, but essentially they are (a) sort of small-- averaging about a half inch-- and they can be recognized by (b) their wings, which sort of stand up like the sails on a sailboat, and (c) the three long tails.  See the first picture at the top, which is a Mayfly.  "Mayflies" also include BAETIS FLIES, which are just another variation of Mayflies.

CADDISFLIES (once they are hatched out of the water and are flying around in the air) are (a) about the same size as Mayflies, but maybe a little bigger, and are recognizable by (b) wings are swept back and (c) the two long antennae.  The second picture is a Caddisfly. 

STONE FLIES (once they hatch and are out of the water and are flying around in the air) are (a) much bigger than than Mayflies and Caddisflies, being an inch or more, (b) the wings are back against the body, and (c) there is a prominent forked tail.  The third picture is a Stone Fly. 

I purposely found pictures that show a man's thumb or finger for perspective. 

MIDGES (such as small gnats and the small mosquito and its cousins) are of interest to the fly-fisherman , as are OTHER "fresh water flies" such as the larger dragon (damsel) fly and the crane fly.  These flying insects also have lives that start as eggs in the water.  TERRESTRIALS are ants, beetles and grasshoppers (insects which live on the land, but might fall or get blown into the water by the wind).  But, most of the fly-fishing talk discusses the Mayfly, Caddisfly, Stone Fly and "midges." 

(2) Most of the action is under the water. I always thought that insects grew up on land and sometimes flew over a lake or stream, and that's when the big fish noticed the flying insect and jumped out of the water to eat the insect in the air--  all the fly-fisherman had to do was dangle a line over the water with a look-a-like artificial fly tied to a hook, and the fish would jump into the air and swallow the hook.   

It's not that simple:  These "fresh-water flying insects" spend most of their lives underwater! The Mayfly is underwater about 364 days of the year, the Caddisfly is underwater about 11 months of the year, and the Stone Fly might be underwater for 23 months out of 24.  These insects only leave the water to reproduce, and then they die. 

That will be the subject of Basic Fly Fishing - Part 2.



"Keep A-Goin' "

Keep A-Goin'  by Frank Lebby Stanton (1857-1927) is probably my favorite poem.  I read it to my children when they were young, and I read it myself when needing inspiration.  If you can't remember the words to poems, or don't like to memorize, all you need here is to remember the title-- Keep A-Goin'. 

Keep A-Goin'

If you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin'!
If it hails or if it snows,
Keep a-goin'!
'Taint no use to sit an' whine
When the fish ain't on your line;
Bait your hook an' keep a-tryin'--
Keep a-goin'!

When the weather kills your crop,
Keep a-goin'!
Though 'tis work to reach the top,
Keep a-goin'!
S'pose you're out o' ev'ry dime,
Gittin' broke ain't any crime;
Tell the world you're feelin' prime--
Keep a-goin'!

When it looks like all is up,
Keep a-goin'!
Drain the sweetness from the cup,
Keep a-goin'!
See the wild birds on the wing,
Hear the bells that sweetly ring,
When you feel like singin', sing--
Keep a-goin'!

Frank Stanton was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1857.  Stanton's father was a printer, then Confederate soldier, and later a farmer.

Remember that all the years of growing trouble between the North and South erupted in civil war on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery opened fire on Federal Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later, and Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back.

Frank Stanton started his education in Savannah, Georgia, but his schooling was cut short by the Civil War (1861-1865). 

Recall that Savannah fell to Union General William T. Sherman just before Christmas in 1864 following Sherman's famous "March to the Sea."  It was from Savannah that Sherman telegraphed President Lincoln, presenting the City of Savannah as "a Christmas gift." 

In 1869, at age 12, Stanton apprenticed with a printer, and later got into the newspaper business. He went on to work as a columnist for the Atlanta Constitution until he died in 1927 at the age of 70. 








One of Stanton's works most widely quoted during his lifetime was a quatrain titled "This World" and it is reportedly on his tombstone in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery:

This world we're a'livin' in

Is mighty hard to beat.

You get a thorn with every rose.

But ain't the roses sweet?

"Gaddafi" the Movie

 

Muammar Gaddafi (1942 - 2011) is now gone.  But, isn't it just a matter of time before Hollywood starts to cash in with "Gaddafi" the Movie?  So, it got me to thinking-- What movie star should be cast to play the role of Gaddafi?  Here is my nominee for a Drama- Micky Rourke.

But, Hollywood might not stop there.  Recall the old movie "The Producers" with its opening song "Spring Time for Hitler"?  Or how about the recent movie, "Cowboys and Aliens"? 

So, here are my other nomiees:

Comedy-- John C. Reilly

American action hero gone bad-- Nick Nolte.

Science Fiction-- Gary Busey

Musical-- Gene Simmons

Western-- Richard Boone (deceased, but a good actor like him). 

"The Old Man And The Sea" of Cortez

 

What do Ernest Hemingway and I have in common?  We are both wearing the exact same style of fishing shorts in these two pictures.  Check out the shorts. That's Hemingway on a fishing boat some place in the Caribbean, and that's  me with the captain of a small fishing boat in the Sea of Cortez, just out of Cabo San Lucas. Or, could it have been in the Arctic Ocean, looking at the way the captain is dressed for cold weather? 

In June we went to Cabo San Lucas for a wedding.  Some of the groom's family made arrangements to go fishing and invited me.  I'd long thought about going "deep sea sport fishing" but never did.  This was a chance.  That, plus the romantic idea of joining the likes of writer and "tough guy" Ernest Hemingway. 

 


Cabo San Lucas is certainly beautiful and warm, with blue sky and water and lots of sport fishing.  Cabo San Lucas is located on the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, on the same latitude as Hawaii.  It's approximately 1,000 miles south of San Diego.  It is now definitely a tourist destination. 


 


 
Although the Sea of Cortez is named after Spaniard Captain  Hernan Cortez, his navigator Fancisco de Ulloa is credited with discovering Cabo San Lucas in 1537.  It has a history of pirates raiding Spanish ships taking treasures back to Spain.  A fort was established there and the area was opened up to further exploration.  In 1730 a Jesuit mission was built.  The biggest obstacle to development was lack of a steady water supply.

That's one of the things I wondered about when I got there-- Where does the fresh water come from?  I have since learned that the

Laguna Mountains to the north produce about 30 inches of rain each year from the clouds.  The rain feeds into the underground Rio San Jose and accumulates underground and in nearby estuaries.  The stored water is then treated for consumption.  At any rate, the fresh water problem has been solved in Cabo San Lucas.

Staring at the surf we noticed flying manta rays. There were quite a few of them close to shore.  For game, people fish for all types of marlin, sailfish, and sometimes sword fish.  There are also dorado (mahi mahi), yellowfin tuna and several types of shark.  We were going to fish for the tuna.

 

We were picked up on the beach by a couple of small boats and then we bought some live bait from another small boat anchored out.  You could see many local residents relied upon tourists fishing, just as many worked in the tourist hotels.

We started fishing for the yellowfin tuna, and we caught some before too long.  Apprently, that's not always the case.   While the water had a little bit of chop to it, particularly where the Sea of Cortez collided with the Pacific Ocean, it wasn't so bad that I got sick-- only pretty queasy. 

After catching a few tuna, the chop was getting to us gringos and we decided to turn back to town.  But, on the way the captain spotted a marlin and asked if "we" wanted to catch it.  We said okay.  This is the way it actually worked-- the captain got his engine running again (it had broken down and we had bobbed up and down in the waves for a while as he tried to fix it, breathing the gasoline fumes, which didn't help a whole lot), quickly got in front of the swimming marlin, got a stiff pole, and then baited a hook and threw it over in front of the marlin (while I steered the boat for him, thankful for having something to hold on to).  Sure enough, the marlin grabbed the bait and was hooked-- all thanks to el capitan.



Sam, the other adult in our small fishing party, had caught and reeled in marlins on other trips to Cabo, so he asked if I wanted to reel in this one.  Wanting to save face and act like Ernest Hemingway, I agreed.  That's when I started identifying with "The Old Man and the Sea."  It didn't take days to reel in the marlin, but it still seemed like a long time to this queasy, thristy (my mouth no longer had any spit in it) ol' man.  I never felt like giving up-- but maybe secretly hoped the marlin would break loose and free me. 

Hemingway's short story "The Old Man and the Sea" was written by Hemingway in Cuba in 1951 and published in 1952.  Apparently, it was his last major work of fiction produced and published in his lifetime.  Born in 1899, Hemingway commited suicide in Ketchum, Idaho in 1961, at the age of 61.  Anyway, "The Old Man and the Sea"  is one of Hemingway's most famous works.  It was made into a Hollywood movie starring Spencer Tracy in 1958, and into a television movie starring Anthony Quinn in 1990. 

"The Old Man and the Sea" centers upon Santiago, a Cuban fisherman who has had a string of bad luck.  One day he goes out and finally catches a fish, hooking a monster marlin.  Santiago respects the marlin and battles it for a couple of days in a test of wills, holding on while being pulled by the marlin out to sea.   Santiago finally wins and the too-big-to-get-into-the-boat marlin is tied to the side of the small fishing skiff as Santiago returns to shore.  Of course, sharks attack and eat the marlin, so Santiago returns to port with only the large skeleton tied to his small boat.  But, at least all the townspeople see that he his luck had returned and he had caught a very large fish.  He's not a "has-been" yet. 

In the Hollywood movie, Spencer Tracy at times almost looks possessed.  Note that in the pictures, Spencer Tracy and I are wearing almost the exact same shirt.  The similarities don't end there, however.  While there is no picture of me, battling the marlin for probably less than 20 minutes, with the exact same possessed expression of a desparate man who had been fighting a fish for days, I'm sure it was there on my face to be seen.  (Instead of a fishing line, imagine pulling on a five-mile long drinking straw with the other end in a tall, cool Diet Coke on ice.  That's what I was imagining). 

Would I do it again?  Well, probably not-- although later in the month a couple of friends and I went out on the Pacific Ocean off the Washington coast, fishing for salmon, which will be the subject of another post. 

Land Ho!

National Debt Made Real

A stockbroker sent me an email with a short illustration as to why the financial status of the US was recently downgraded.  I imagine the following is floating around the internet.  Yet, it's a perfect explanation in easily understood terms:

Why the US was downgraded...

U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000 

Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000

New debt: $1,650,000,000,000

National debt: $14,271,000,000,000

Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000

Let's remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:

Annual family income: $21,700

Money the family spent: $38,200

New debt on credit card: $16,500

Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710

Total budget cuts: $385.

Does this clarify it?

Pretty enlightening, that example.  The complaint that we are indebting our children and grandchildren makes more sense.  The family debt must be paid off by future generations in some fashion-- whether by more taxes, printing of money (inflation), more borrowing (borrow from Peter to pay Paul), or transfer of assets to our creditors (China), or a combination of all.  While we have eliminated "debtors prison" in the United States, it can be seen that we are imprisoning future generations (i.e., we are taking away their choices and liberty) and leaving them to find a solution. 

Camping in Capitol State Forest

A couple of weeks ago our family decided to spend a weekend camping together in the Capitol State Forest near Olympia, the capitol of Washington State.  It is multi-use Washington State Department of Natural Resources land open to the public since 1955.  It's a working forest with active timber harvests throughout the year.  There is hiking, camping and hunting.  The northern half of the forest is also open to motorized off-road vehicles, while the southern half is open to horseback riding.  800,000 people visit the forest each year. 

While not everybody could make the trip, there's something about getting family together to spend some time in the woods and sit around the campfire.  There are no televisions, no radios, no computers, no cell phones, no electricity.  It's a time to just be family and talk. 

There is a lot of logging in the forest, but those plats are re-planted.  The campsite we picked was nestled in the tall trees next to a little stream.  But, the stream must be pretty powerful during the winter-- look at the size of the root ball on that fallen tree by the stream. 

This is a picture of a crayfish found in the stream.  We put it in a potato chip bag long enough to take its picture, then we put it back in the stream.  One of its claws was just growing back.  The stream had some minnows, but no fish of catching size.

One of the things I wanted to do was make a pot of strew over an open fire, sort of a joint effort.  Check out the cutting board made of a cedar plank.  When my kids were little we'd go camping and use sticks to eat beans out of cans heated over the fire.  That was intended to be a lesson in resourcefulness.  Compared to that, this stew was top cuisine.  That's daughter Sheila cutting the potatoes



There's something comforting about putting logs on a campfire and staring at the flames and embers.  It must go back tens of thousands of years.  It can be soothing.  Some of the wood was damp.  Somebody once said "Whoever believes 'where there is smoke, there is fire' has never tried starting a campfire."  We bought a few dry logs back towards town and that made all the difference.














That's son Scott setting up the chess board.  Can you beat that arrangement?  Even the moths wanted to get into the game.

The Capitol State Forest is pretty big.  To the east out across the valley you could see the Cascade Mountains.  To the north you could see the Olympic Mountains on the peninsula.  (Click on the lower map above for detail).

While we may not camp every weekend, and not every year, to go camping once in a great while is good for the family and good for the soul.  It also creates memories.  That's granddaughter Dani using a spoon instead of a stick.