Brown trout and ....

Brown trout anglers

Brown trout anglers

catch few fishes

and usually let them go.

Barbless hooks 

make more for wishes

then fish to show
young eyes with wonder.

Brown trout anglers tell tales

distilled from truth

of flashes, almosts and
fish as long as your arm.

But also speak of

otters, beavers and deer

woodpeckers, turkeys and warblers

turtles, frogs and snakes

orchids, iris and skunk cabbage

mosquitoes, blackflies and nettles.

Brown trout anglers

define a river

by its banks

and its water 

and know it remains

the same but
always changing

awaiting their return.

Painted Lady

I smooth the spot

where your barb

used to be

and touch you lightly

with the steel

to keep your edge.

I test your tension

feel the spring in your curves

this time you pass

I tighten the vise

to hold you tightly

then wind the silk

up from your ankle

to just below your neck.

I caress you with fur,

tickle you with feathers

then daub you with varnish.

Blowing lightly cross the back

of your restrained form

I cast you in my mind

to your element

wet and undulating.

I leave you for a while

bound in your perfection

then release the vise

and place you in my box

between the Blue Charms

and Royal Coachmen.

An Incompleate Angler - Confessions of a Second-class Fisherman

"We were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fisherman and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman."

A River Runs Through It - Norman Maclean

I've fished for as long as I can remember, but came to fly fishing much later in my life. I'm still not that good at it, generally fish wet rather than dry and often leave my fly rod behind in favor of chucking hardware .

This "blog" will usually be fishing related may at times digress.