Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Postmortem



Arrival home after a steelhead bender... 

Every serious fishermen has a vehicle that they drive everywhere and treat like no other car owner would. For the past seven years, my particular "fish mobile" has been a 2004 F-150. It's predecessor was a 1992 Honda Accord that rocked out 236,000 miles for various members of my immediate family.  However, the truck was a true game changer for the traveling fly fishermen. The F-150 quickly became a second home for me on my weekends and extended holidays.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Swinging for Kings



There are very few moments in fly fishing that can compare to a migratory fish slamming a wet fly on a tight line swing. This moment is only amplified when a king salmon, fresh on his way upriver, decides to have a go and rip the cork out of your hand. Experiencing a big pull has been known to change fishermen's lives and make grown men shake in the knees.  This singular moment has changed our entire style to the point where we cannot experience the tributaries any other way. It literally became a game of swinging or going home.


Friday, October 11, 2013

Solitude on the Swahili Coast

I needed a break. Solitude is surprisingly hard to find on the Swahili coast. There aren't any rivers, ponds or flats you can fish without encountering a whole lot of people just trying to live their lives.
In search of some solitude, I drove 5 hours west to Mikumi National Park to get away. It was a substitute for a weekend fishing trip.

Once there, I drove about 40km through the wilderness to a watering hole I knew should still hold some at this time, late in the dry season. I was not disappointed.


Sunday, October 6, 2013

A Little Slice of Heaven



We headed off the water well after dark and headed back to our campsite to make a fire and cook up some grub. Wood was scarce, so I got to work splitting the timber we had with my Gerber survival knife. Not to make excuses but I was on about 40 hours of no sleep and just fished from sun up to sun down. While setting the blade on another piece of wood, I missed and plunged the six inch fixed blade about a third of the way into and then across my pointer finger. It didn't hurt initially, but as the blood began to gush, the pain set in. Pat and Austin were quick to get to work as I slowly got lightheaded. I obviously needed stitches but when your without cell phone reception, in unfamiliar territory, and it being close to midnight you make do with the first aid materials on hand. Thankfully, I packed a kit and got cleaned up pretty well. Soon, we were cooking some dogs and bacon over the fire like nothing happened. The next morning we were going to work a little slice of heaven.


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Highs & Lows


Last year, two buddies and I decided on a whim to travel westward towards the edge of Maryland and the border of West Virginia to do some camping and trout fishing. It was early spring and unseasonably warm temperatures brought torrential rains which made a memorable trip. We vowed to make it an annual get together and patiently awaited the next excursion. The spring of 2013 came and went due to our inability to plan an agreed upon weekend. Summer began to push towards Fall before we finally made it in early September.