SCHOOL DAZE

Photo by Robbie Robertson, Transylvania Times

Yesterday afternoon I met Ryan Harman and a “student” from the Asheville VA Hospital for an afternoon of fishing the Davidson River. Ryan is the area coordinator for Project Healing Waters and Thursday was the day that we would put some of his teachings to use on the water. Ryan has been diligently working with the local Wounded Warriors...teaching them the basics of fly fishing and fly tying in monthly sessions held over at the local hospital. Kevin Howell, of Davidson River Outfitters had reserved one of his favorite private water beats for us, and we did our best to take full advantage of his generosity.

Normally I’m somewhat of a loner when out on a trout stream. Not that I’m unsociable, but I usually like to cover a lot more water than my companions...so I’m always headed downstream looking for that perfect run. Not so on Thursday. Without crowding him, I wanted to stay as close to Ryan Harman as I could. Ryan is on the NC Fly-Fishing team and is an avid competitor on the trout fishing circuit, so by observation or direct teaching, I wanted to soak up all the knowledge that I could.

After watching him coach his student from the VA to a couple of nice Rainbows (she had to leave early), Ryan and I had the beat to ourselves. He knew the water intimately and was very generous in pointing out the likely holding areas. We leap-frogged each other through a few runs...each of us managing to land a few nice fish. I was having good luck with my standby black and yellow marabou and Ryan was tearin’ them up with an assortment of dries and droppers. And yes Jerry, I managed to catch one on your infamous “Nub Worm.”
The fish were averaging around 16 inches...until I managed to tie into a monster. A big Rainbow of at least 24 inches took the marabou and headed straight to the gnarly roots of a downed hemlock on the far bank. As would be expected this big boy knew the stream even better than Ryan. Having been warned that Kevin would have me tarred and feathered if I showed up on his river with my 2 weight, I was using a 9 foot 6 weight. And since the trout were not at all leader shy, I was using 4x tippet. Believe me, I pushed the rod and tippet to their max and was able to pull the fish out of the snag. The fish jumped and headed downstream, and like an idiot full of misplaced confidence I was sure that I could turn him. After all...I’d muscled him out of the snag hadn’t I? Well it turned out that the tippet was stronger than his mouth and the fly came out. Opps! Slack line. I blew it.

Later, as we were getting out of our waders and replaying the afternoons events, Ryan said that he had watched the whole thing and was screaming (to himself) “Cut him off! Run out into the water and head him back upstream!” Well I must admit that that had never occurred to me. Ryan went on to explain that when competition fishing and you have to land that big one, you’ll do whatever it takes to direct the fish to where you want him...and “getting in his way” can be very effective. So, in addition to many other lessons learned yesterday afternoon, this one is REALLY carved in stone. Thanks Ryan. I’m already looking forward to my next class!

(Here is a link to a news story on our trip to the Davidson. My thanks to the Transylvania Times and Robbie Robertson for the good coverage of Project Healing Waters. www.transylvaniatimes.com )

Mea Culpa

I know, I know...and those of you that are counting also know. I’m behind. When I started this year long fish-a-week project it was wintertime and the big decision I had after dinner each day was... do I watch House reruns or work on my art project?

Well, it aint winter anymore and the grass needs mowing, the weeds need pulling, the roses need planting and the fish are biting! And I’m wondering how I’ll manage to create a fish a week. Yes I’m behind. I know, and it’s bothering me. But not bothering me enough to cancel tomorrow afternoons trip to Davidson River or this weekends camping/fishing trip with the grandkids to Cascade Lake. I’ll catch up on the art...I promise I will.

TROUTFEST 2009

Shirley and I arrived home about 9:30 last night from Troutfest. If, from where you live, you can get to Townsend TN in anything less than a week's drive...put it on your calendar now for next year. They call Townsend “The Peaceful Side of the Smokies” and indeed it is. Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and the other entry points to the National Park are fine if you want to shop, ride go-carts and fight traffic. But if you want the mountain scenery and laid back attitude of the real southern Appalachians this is the place to be. And when you throw in a professionally run event for fly-fishers, it can’t be beat. The folks from the Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited put on a great weekend.

Name dropping
This year I have had the great pleasure of meeting the legends of fly fishing. I got to spend some quality time with Dave Whitlock while attending the Fly-Fishing Show in Atlanta. Bob Clouser’s booth was next to mine at the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival, and Joe Humphreys and his wife Gloria spent the good part of a memorable afternoon in our booth at the Project Healing Waters 2Fly event at Rose River Farm. These are all quality guys! Friendly, unassuming and willing to impart their wisdom and experiences to comparative novices like myself. The last “celebrity” on this year’s “hit-list” was Lefty Kreh, who I hoped to meet at Troutfest. I would have been sorely disappointed if Lefty was not of the same caliber. Well, Lefty did not disappoint. Another great guy, which only proves what we already knew: There aren’t a better group of people in the world than fly fishers – especially those at top!

And speaking of great people, situated next to our display at Troutfest was Dan Sharley and his wife Betsy. If you haven’t seen Dan’s incredible fish art until now (see the image to the left and the new link to the right) you will be seeing a lot of it in the future. Bold colors...great design... absolutely beautiful artwork...and a fantastic guy to boot. We really enjoyed sharing the big tent with Dan and Betsy.
And last - but certainly not least - thanks to all of you that stopped by our booth! The best thing about these shows (in addition to selling some art) is the chance to see some new faces and get to know some new friends. We look forward to seeing all of you at next years show...if not sooner.

If there is anything as beautiful as a trout it’s a Formula 1 race car. My apologies to thoroughbred horses and beautiful women, but my fascination with racing began about the same time that I took an interest in fishing.
The technology, the speed, and the sleek, graceful designs are what draw me to it.

Today on the Midcurrent http://www.midcurrent.com/news/2009/05/fish-art-whats-your-carbon-fin.html site I found the ultimate combination of my passions through a link to the website of Alastair Gibson, a former F1 chief mechanic and team leader. Photorealism it aint, but it sure is cool. Check it out.

WEEK 7

Golden Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita
These little creatures might be the reason that catch and release became a way of life for trout fishers. Originally found in the high elevation waters of the Kern Plateau in southern Nevada and eventually transplanted to numerous high country lakes, the Golden Trout is a beauty to behold. Many years ago we fished for them in the Beartooth Wilderness out of Cooke City, Montana. A jewel of a lake named Star had a decent population, but as I recall, we were skunked. Just as well...we’d have probably cooked them for dinner.

The pen and ink version of this was done a couple of years ago as one of my very first P&I efforts. It seemed a shame for him not to be seen in his full glory, so over the weekend I dressed him appropriately. For the black and white version follow the link http://www.clearwatermemories.com/pen_ink_full/6.html

WEEK 6

The Brookie that you see above was done in preparation for my showing at this year’s TROUTFEST which will take place over in Townsend, Tennessee on the weekend of May 16th and 17th.
Troutfest is a Fly Fishing Exposition and Fundraiser held in the Great Smoky Mountains. All profits earned from this event minus some seed money for next year’s event are donated to Great Smoky Mountains National Park Fisheries Department for brook trout restoration and other fisheries projects in the park. The Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited sponsors this event as their major fundraiser and annual festival. This year the event will be one of the largest venues for fly anglers in the Southeast United States and it should be great fun!
www.troutfest.org

There's something in my eye

Earlier in the day one of the Project Healing Waters organizers set up a very high-tech speaker on the end of my display table. I was at the 2 Fly Event at Rose River Farm over the weekend. As I talked to the events participants that wandered by ...both pro-guides and the vets that were there... the speaker just set there silently.

Probably two hours later the music started. Suddenly there appeared a rather scruffy lookin' individual in a tattered cowboy hat. He moved close to the speaker, cocked an ear towards it and stood there listening. I could hear the music but really didn’t pay that much attention to it. I was more focused on the cowboy. He stood silently listening with an occasional nod of his head - in obvious agreement with what he was hearing. Although the cowboy clearly wasn’t, I’ve seen the same look from an inebriated cowboy or two in the bars I frequented in my youth. You’ve seen them too...in rapt attention to the jukebox as if the song were just for them.

Well the song ended and he walked away. I would see him again later. At the closing of the day, at the beginning of the awards ceremony, he was introduced. They said his name was Sam Tate and that he was going to sing a song or two for us. And sing he did. Since I quit listening to popular music about the time that some fool invented disco, I had never heard of the guy. Turns out that old Sam has a pretty good reputation among country music fans...Song Writer of the Year... and I heard later that he was listening to a recently recorded version of his song, The River Just Knows as he stood by my table.

So Sam sang his song and all of us that could stood and clapped. We all seemed to develop that eye irritation about the same time too.

You owe it to yourself to link to the music:
www.projecthealingwaters.org/html/videos/video.html
THE RIVER JUST KNOWS
4 a.m. comes awful early
And I was dead on my feet
But if you're gonna catch the biggest fish
You gotta lose a little sleep
I packed my gear and a couple beers
And I headed for my favorite spot
But I cursed my luck
When I saw his truck
Right where I pulled off
Was hopin' to have the river to myself that day

'Cause the river don't talk
The river don't care
Where you've been
What you've done
Or why it is you're standin' there
It just rolls on by
Whisperin' to your soul
It's gonna be alright
The river just knows

The way the sun bounced off the water
I could hardly make him out
But I could see he had a fish on
A big ol' rainbow trout
The fight went on forever
And as they headed down my way
I saw his military haircut
And the new scars on his face
Right then I knew
What brought him to this place

You know the river don't talk
The river don't care
Where you've been
What you've done
Or why it is you're standin' there
It just rolls on by
Whisperin' to your soul
It's gonna be alright
The river just knows

He held the fish down in the water
And he coaxed it back to life
He said 'I'll help you get your wind back
'Cause you helped me get mine'
And all I could think to say was 'Welcome home'
But I think that river said it best on its own

'Cause the river don't talk
You know the river don't care
Where you've been
What you've done
Or why it is you're standin' there
It just rolls on by
Whisperin' to your soul
It's gonna be alright
The river just knows
Just knows...

I’ll be heading up to the pristine waters of Rose River Farm, on the eastern slope of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains this weekend for their third annual 2Fly Tournament for PROJECT HEALING WATERS. And no, I won’t be fishing, but I have been invited to display a number of my prints and sculptings... and I’ll be providing a limited edition print for the raffle as well. I’ll be displaying my wares and hopefully selling a few pieces to help this great organization with their fundraising efforts.

If you don’t know by now, PROJECT HEALING WATERS is dedicated to teaching fly fishing and fly tying to aid the physical and emotional rehabilitation of wounded and injured members of the Armed Forces returning from the present conflicts, as well as disabled veterans of past wars. Check them out at www.projecthealingwaters.org

Something a little different

Cutthroat Sculpting
For those of you that are new to my work, you may not know that my first foray into angling art was in the sculpting realm. For about two years I focused on doing traditional 1/2 body clay sculptings...and I also did a good number of vignette pieces like the Cutthroat shown above. I still do them, but not as often as before.
My website shows a few more styles and examples, if you are interested.

Crazy People in Rubber Pants
It began as a very unexpected invite. Unexpected, but greatly appreciated. I was to join a group of highly educated professionals on a famous Pennsylvania trout stream for two days of camaraderie, wine, beef tenderloin and hopefully a trout or two. For the most part, my soon to be friends were known to me only by their expensive professional pedigrees. Don’t get me wrong...I’m not against pedigrees. I had a Brittany once that had a good one. Fine dog, indeed. But back to my story.

Upon arrival at the famous but unnamed cabin, I climbed the steps to a front porch decked out like an Orvis shop. Many company stores would have been envious of the display. The latest hi-tech rods, vests, waders, boots, fly boxes, landing nets, fly assortments, leaders, tippets, hats...you name it, they had it, and the guys standing around admiring and comparing their well designed display and personal accoutrements were talking about bugs...I think.

I hadn’t heard Latin to that extent since I mistakenly entered the wrong, very wrong, classroom back in my high school days. I’m certain that they were talking about the bugs in the famous unnamed stream, because I’d occasionally hear the word “trout” or “fish” interspersed in their conversations. I should add that this famous unnamed stream was not an inexpensive place to go. It was private water of the highest quality, so I was certain that it must contain some very special bugs, and my comrades were obviously fascinated with them.

It started raining that afternoon. Rained all night...not hard really, but enough rain to give the stream some color. This didn’t go over well with my new pals, but it excited me. For you see, I have never been into matching the hatch. I’m into throwing big ugly things at big pretty things, and the water that was suddenly not gin clear, suited me to a T.

The next day, as they trudged along the stream lamenting the lack of bugs, I was in a literal hog heaven. It was a day that I’ll remember for a long, long time...but it was going to get better towards sundown.

Around 6PM the sun broke out just as I was fishing my way back to the cabin. I could see my forlorn friends standing on the porch, sipping their Chablis when what looked like a fog rose from the water. I heard the hollering and saw each of them frantically rummaging through their vests looking for what turned out to be....would you believe, butterfly nets!

What followed was a site to behold. Five grown men, decked out in their rubber pants (as my wife calls them) giggling and shouting like school-girls as they scampered across the yard to the stream swatting the air with delight as they captured, compared and commented on their marvelous bugs.

I must say that the mood of that bunch improved considerably, as they spent the remaining few hours of sunlight catching up to my total for the day. I was worn out by then anyway, allowing me to sit comfortably on a handy park bench and witness the spectacle. Crazy people in rubber pants. Yes we are.

WEEK 5

OK...We needed to see some color here, so here is my latest effort. These pages were getting a little too black and white. If not for my commitment to add a new image a week I might not have added this one. It is my first effort at doing a trout in its element...underwater. It was an interesting challenge and a concept that is gonna take a lot more work before I am satisfied. But hey, when I started I warned you - and myself - that there would be a lot of experimentation and that some of them might not be fully up to par. So here it is. I learned some good do's and don'ts and I know that my next effort at an underwater trout will be a lot better.

Do NOT eat these!

It has long been known that many humans think they can think like a fish. Every lure manufacturer knows this. Just like my wife is a sucker for any packaging that has an old Victorian look to it, we fisher-folk can be suckered just as easily. We see a lure...we think. “Wow! That thing is gonna catch some fish!” Take the famous Dardevle Spoon for instance. Has anyone ever seen a red and white minnow? I don’t think so, yet they’ve sold millions of them. We obviously like red and white stripes and the Eppinger Manufacturing Company figured that out years ago – in 1912 in fact.

But knowing that we like red and white spoons, do they really think that we’re going to find their product just as appetizing as the fish do? Check out the warning on the label.

WEEK 4

This little Brown was designed to be the companion piece to the Rainbow I completed and posted last week. I had two long and skinny frames that were just looking for the right trout.

FISHING REPORT
Took my nine year old grand-daughter Gracie down to the pond on Sunday night. I had checked it out the evening before and saw that the bluegills and bass were along the shoreline in a definite pre-spawn mood. But alas, Gracie and I didnt see a fish. A front was moving in and it put them all back out in the deep. We got in some quality fly casting lessons, howerver. And speaking of that front...it's below freezing and snowing hard as I write this. AIN'T SPRINGTIME IN THE SOUTH GREAT !!!

Anti- RANT

APPRECIATION
Many of us will find time during the Easter weekend to spend a little time on our favorite trout stream, and as you do, try to focus on more than just catching fish. Take in the beauty around you. Appreciate it. Savor it. Really look at it. And most importantly, consider its Maker. Be grateful.

Every day that we spend on the water we are blessed. We are in the perfect place to consider the wonder of God’s creation. What on God’s earth is more beautiful than a crystal clear trout stream? And how could He have done better in creating the streams’ inhabitants?

He designed all of this and put it here for us. He could just as easily created nothing but piranhas and all of the water could be chocolate syrup. But of course He didn’t. That wasn’t the plan. Then again, if He hadn’t followed through with the rest of the plan...the plan of Salvation... it’s doubtful that any of us would be able to enjoy it. That plan came together about 2000 years ago this weekend. Think on that.

RANT
Well, this just figures!
I start a blog three weeks ago with dreams of glory and riches and today the Federal Trade Commission comes along and says that bloggers can be held liable for statements that they make about products.
"If a blogger received a free sample of skin lotion (make that "Helios" rod) and then incorrectly claimed that the product cured eczema (make that "landed a 15 pound Brown") the FTC could sue the blogger for making false representations."
There goes my product sampling plans! I guess ORVIS won't be calling. And what if the FTC pushed it further and stuck to the letter of the law and held that we would "be held liable for misleading claims" ??? All of them ???
That would shut down every trout blog in existence!

"FRENZY"
Last week in an earlier post I mentioned the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival. Well, for the third year in a row Shirley and I will be attending what must be the best organized, best run and most fun festival on the planet. Beau Beasley (fly fisherman, author, entrepreneur and firefighter)and his crew really know how to put together an event.

I have the honor this year of being their designated "Festival Artist" and while it is certainly an honor...it comes with a bit of pressure. The Festival Artist gets to provide the artwork they use in their promotions and advertising, but the original artwork is also auctioned to the highest bidder at their lavish VIP Dinner and Banquet. The monies received go towards funding their important conservation efforts...so I had to do my best work!

The image you see above is what I came up with. Hope you like it. I tried a very "minimalist" approach to my subject, letting the imagination fill in some of the details. Titled, "Frenzy"...can't you just imagine the entomological smorgasbord these two healthy rainbows are feeding on?

"Frenzy" will be reproduced in a limited edition of 75 signed and numbered prints, many of which will be raffled at the Festival which will be held April 18th & 19th on the banks of South River in Waynesboro, Virginia.

www.vaflyfishingfestival.org