bad knee, bad neck, good fishing

Saturday : trout day - after putting up with pain from a badly arthritic knee and a C-7 neck nerve for over a month, I decided to throw caution to the wind and test my body on the waters of the Spring River.  My neighbor Blake and I set out Saturday morning around 7 AM and made it to my friend Art's place on the river by 10 AM.  The water was about 6" higher than normal and  a little cloudy - and this means faster and more trickier to navigate the rock bottom.  I pulled my wading staff out and ventured very slowly into the stream having nightmares about stepping into a hole and screwing up my knee again, but by walking very slowly, I managed to get to the "rock" in the middle of the stream and cast an olive woolly bugger to see if trout were hungry - and they were.  I had decided to use a sinking tip line for the first tiem and it was very apparent to me that I needed a lot of practice with sink lines and streamers because I managed to hook and loose more fish that I netted.  Also, the 27" trout that had bewen caught and released just a week earlier was nowhere to be found.  To add insult and misery, it started to drizzle - didi I say that it was about 34 degrees also? after getting tired of loosing flies and remembering to keep the rod tip up stupid!!, I switched to my floating line (this gave me an excuse to slowly get out of the weather and down a cup of java offred by Arts wife, Ms. Pat - God bless her.)  Went down into the stream again armedwith my floating line and my other go to fly - the much maligned Y2K - but what the hell, trout loved it and the fishing picked up since the rod tip up thing was firmly in my brain now.  Only regret that while trying to pull my net from the back of my vest, I bumped my brand new MSFF hat into the river.  Hope someone down river finds it and puts it to good use. Now to the best part of the trip.
Sunday - smallmouth bass day: Blake wanted to go after smallies on Sunday by our friend Tom's place (or what is left of it after the 2008 flood took everything but the slab away.) Water looked high and there were some serious holes, deep holes around a large shelf. I wimped out and told Blake I would just hang out and watch him - that is, until he made his first cast and nailed a 12" smallie - that was it, the hell with the knee, I suited up in record time and dragged my crappy knee unto the shelf in front of a big hole.  Out came the sinking line again, had to get the fly down deep for the fish, and proceeded to catch my fist small mouth bass ever.  What a trip!  those buggers hit the fly and take off like gangbusters.   The day ended with me  tagging a 15" fat smallie that I had to coax from under the shelf so I could net him.  I had pictures of me tripping and going into 6 ft deep water but luck prevailed and I bagged my fish.  I am hooked on this critters now and can't wait till spring top hit the Southfork and go after bigger smallmouth.  Weird also is that I pulled a rainbow out of the same hole, which people say can't survive this far down on the river - well Mr. rainbow must not know this or is like me, and gets lost easily.

Hey like Rob http://rob-abadbackcastandotherinanemusings.blogspot.com/ my blogging friend says, I have gone over to the "dark side" of smallmouth fishing but I just say that this just a new variation of my addiction to catching what I can with a fly rod.  Keep your lines tight!!!

Bum knee, bummer shoulder, a vise, turkey, football and other ramblings

After surviving getting my knee drained twice, living with a severely messed up shoulder (from sleeping on one side to avoid pain on my bum knee,) I have found the perfect low impact activity for these Thanksging days, so I set up my vise and proceeded to tie up whatever flies I was low on.  So far, olive bead head woolly buggers (you can't never have too many of these if you fish Arkansa), Y2K's (fly of last resort but a sure thing to catch trout on a riffle), and Mideon midges (similar to zebras).  Still to tie, crazy charlies, gotchas and kwans (for the April trip.)  In between tying, we managed to fry a large 17 pound turkey without setting anything on fire, including ourselves, and got in 3 football games to count, with the big one still to come Saturday (LSU vs Arkansas).  We now have enough turkey leftovers to OD on tryptophan for the next 3 weeks.  I have also reorganized my midge and wet fly boxes, and help Katie hang Christmas lights.  Yes I am ADHD and can't sit still too long.  I have managed to do all this due to great time management (you'll know what I mean of you are an LSU or Ole Miss fan) and the fact that Black Friday in Memphis scares the hell out of me so staying home is a good option.  Why is it that every time one starts on a new pattern, inevitably someting you do not have is required?  Now I have to wait 5 days to get my ice chenille for sweet ernies.  Next all I need is two more shots in my knee of some 90 weight stuff called synvisk made from some part of the rooster ( this is some of the stuff that they do with what is left over from making fly hackle) and I am ready for the Little Red December 11.  Good thing about river water is that if you wade in past your knees, the 50 degree water numbs them and fishing is great till they thaw out, which is when the pain and Advil make their retrun appearance.

Long Key in April, can Cuban coffee be far away?

Just reserved a spot on Long Key for what may be my first encounter with a bonefish.  Now all I have to do is get a tent, camping gear and tie a bunch of flies that the critters may or may not like.  Luck has it that Rob, who is indirectly responsible for this madness by interviewing Fly Fish Chick, will also be there to guide this trout bum in the fine art of chasing/spooking bonefish on the flats.  Maybe I can wrangle a kayak (too far to bring mine plus it will not fit on the overhead compartment) so I can get around with some added mobility.  There is something about the sea that brings this island boy to his roots and can't wait to hit Miami, Cuban food and then head for Nirvanna on Long Key.

hahhh my first post - the road to blogging

don't know how I got here but through an addiction to tight lines and bent rods, here is my initial steps inspired by following fly fish chick's adventures into the blogosphere