Not Dead Yet

 Above: a copyright free image from the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

Part of the social distancing policy for we hermits involves social invisibility. 

Since the last post, I've been fishing the Madison in Montana, and have been up north in Michigan camping and fishing a dozen times. Somehow, posting the trivial narrative of my adventures seems meaningless.

 

I am alive, tying flies, and planning for next year. 

 

I have also started some pursuits in astrophotography as trout and stars both like clean air in remote locations away from a population, its lights, and its pollution of all sorts.

 

This year my Christmas gift giving list only includes  only vaccinations (shingles, pneumonia, flu, covid I & II, and a booster). Give the whole set. Keep your fishing partners alive.

Until the spring sunshine sees us all in better states of mind and health ...

Happy Holidays.

Trout Family

 

At left, my trout family. Picture courtesy the Lovely Courtney.

We make our own way upstream. We look for cooler water. We try to find a place with cover and food.

These are my trout guys. On the right: Big Bear. Next: The Senator. Third from the right is Mike who is part steelhead whisperer. Third from the left is his brother Mobes whose wedding we had the pleasure of attending this weekend. (Welcome Debs). The guy wearing the tablecloth from an Italian restaurant is the Wilson. I'm the guy on the left who minutes before shed his sport coat due to the 85% humidity and spousal dancing obligations.

We're out of uniform being reasonably cleaned-up,  mostly shaved or at least trimmed, questionably sober, and sans waders.

It is important to have  trout family. It's important to make family if yours turns out to be a festering bowl of shit. It's a biological luck of the draw if you leave it to nature. These folks have removed the random affair and made family from active choice. We're chosen family.

So, We're preparing for outings. We're talking trout. We're pondering gear we don't need and waters we've read about.

Next up: Montana for me. For the group? Maybe Washington. Maybe Alaska.  We talked NakNek rainbows. We talked Situk steelhead. We talked other places. We'll see.

We're planning trips. I hope you are too.

Prost.

 

 

Trout Camping Summer Style

 

At left, my walleye fishing buddy Mike (takes me into Canada with him when Canada is open)  in front of the Nemo Dark Timber tent we used for four nights here this past week up on the Au Sable outside of Grayling, Michigan.

There are no grayling in Grayling, Michigan anymore. Just wanted to clear that up.

Trout? Yes. Grayling? No.

Mike fishing the Holy Waters section of the Au Sable mainstream down from Guides' Rest against a lovely batch of iris. They're not native but they are lovely.

So, we had bluebird days without a cloud (trout hate bright days without clouds) and cool nights (37 Wednesday night by the tent thermometer before dawn). 

 It was a Michigan summer outing. We had warm. We had cool. There were rumours of Drakes and Hex. There was a dramatic cool down in the evening we went hexing and ...no hexing. In fact, the river died about ten minutes before sunset that night and stayed that way for over an hour growing cooler and less hex-like.

We caught fish. Nothing big ... but fish.

We ran into poachers on the Black taking fish on chicken parts in a john-boat and putting all of the catch into a cooler. We didn't realize what they were doing until they slid the boat past us over gravel then proceeded to float a spring hole and vacuum the fish out indiscriminately. They were locals. They were in camo, And, I didn't want to get shot. It happens.

We ate well.

Mike cooking double Iowa chops one evening.

We fished the Mainstream Holy Waters, the Mason Tract South Branch Au Sable, the North Branch Au Sable, The Black, The Deward Tract Manistee, and the mainstream Manistee below Goose Creek Horse Camp (thanks, Lauren!).

 We ran a dry camp. No alcohol of any sort consumed. No damage done there.

We engaged in first class bushwacking without breaking any rods. We caught fish on size 18 soft hackles and size 14 caddis as well as a few more specialized flies and micro-streamers.

It was a good outing and all worked well. 

 We fell asleep in the Nemo Stargazer chairs reviewed in the preceding post so I have to say they passed a "trout fishing" comfort test.

Obligations keep me from the "trout belt" of Michigan until August. My next big outing will be the Madison River at Sun West during July. Lifetime trip, I think. I'll let you know.

Prost.

 

Nemo Stargazer Chair for Camp

 

Waiting. We spend a lot of time at trout camps waiting. Watching. Thinking. Talking. 

Sure we fish; but, for every hour on the stream is an hour in the darkness, the too bright, the too early, the too late. We're sitting through those times.

I can't fix your chronic wind knots or mis-matched hatch hopes (and aren't all our fly choices merely hopes unrealized from the other parts of our lives?). I can fix your sitting and waiting.

We all have 1960's era webbed chairs or the Wal-Mart special collapsible numbers with the poor support and finger-pinching expanding set-up.

I give you: The Nemo Stargazer.

This chair solves your problems as you and your buddies are solving the world's own. Or the trout's. Or the reason why that 1990's era F-150's  electronic ignition is a P.O.S.

I digress.

The Nemo Stargazer: a super-comfortable chair able to double as a suitable recliner for trout-camp naps. Works on your deck. Works on a bank. Works at the campground. It even works at the community ice cream social and symphony band concert (I have a great many professors in my small town including a sizable number from the faculty of the music department of Giant University next door - so our community band approaches the level of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields). 

But, the chair.

It is a rocker due to its suspended nature. It is sturdy like a fine shovel. It is supportive (back patient here so I know supportive) and comfortable all at the same time. It reclines to about a 140 degree position with a headrest secured by velcro which is easy to reposition.

Stargazing? Sure. Trout napping? That too.

It isn't too low, too high, nor does the band under your thighs cut into you after an hour of discourse.

You should buy one. Hey, they're way cheaper than that rod you have in the arsenal which your rarely fish. How many "rods I don't use" do you need, anyway? You have twice that number.

Pictures:

Angled view on my deck.

Recline-o-matic webbing strap. The mechanism works like a Barcalounger: you just push back or sit up and the chair adjusts. It is stable in the whole range of motion.

The frame: shock-corded poles (think tent) of heavy aluminum and the cross-piece brackets are milled aluminum. Tougher than a Bougle. Yep, I'll stand by that statement.

The suspension clips with a positive locking mechanism. The chair does not "slip off" the stand in use. Good thing, that.

You'd be sound asleep if it did slip off so, all's the better.

The chair/net/basket. It's a one-piece meash chair with embedded supports for grab handles (sit/stand for old guys) and two continuous vertical back support rods.

 

 

 

 

 

Last picture, I promise. Freestanding on my deck in maybe better light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only complaint: maybe could want a footstool. Well, you have a cooler in the truck, don't you? It isn't doing any good in there. Pull it out, perch up, and enjoy trout bliss.

You might need to set an alarm so you get up and go check the hatch. Just sayin'.

Nemo Stargazer 

Prost.

Odd Sping

 

My buddy on the water last Saturday. We fished the Upper Manistee (Deward) during a too bright day.

It started well. We waited for shadows and had a couple fish hit. Then, nothing.

It has been very cool then quite hot for us. We had 88 degrees last weekend. Sleep on top of the bag type weather.  There is a theory that while the bugs have caught on, the trout lag and the unusually bright skies are not helping.

We fished the evening hatch on the Au Sable until well after dark. We landed rough fish. No trout.

Fun though.

George: my 3 man Marmot Tungsten.  My buddy has the same and pitched it Saturday night.

Solid tent.

Interior with a low cot.

Tarp practice. Haven't rigged a shelter for a while but this did indeed work well. Those heavy poles are especially nice to prop out the wings. Stood up to a bit of a blow before dawn on Saturday.

The holiday weekend is coming which to me means project time. Back to the rivers in June.

Prost.

In the Swing

 

The Deward Tract on the Manistee River last weekend.

It was a beautiful weekend but the nights were very cold. I slept in my Canadian 0 degree bag with a fleece over bag. Indeed, I was toasty but for the tip on my nose.

I had a great weekend camping and fishing even if the fish were more inclined to nymphs than I was. My faith lay in the soft hackle and the Leisenring Lift. Alas, it was not enough.

One must embrace one's beliefs without reservation and I've never been sufficiently dogmatic to will things to happen.

Some flies I worked over this wonderful water:

A Coachman style soft hackle which usually rouses brookies.  Partridge hackle, silk in scarlet and herl.

Here, a proven winner.

I believe this is Pearsall's purple (dwindling supply) but my color vision has left me. If I'm wrong, apologies. I believe this is one of the grouse variants tied thanks to Brian giving me one of his wonderful skins.

Ah, we are going old old school here....

The cock-y-bondu tied in a simple style. Furnace hackle and herl on a Partridge heavy soft-hackle hook I bought a few years back at Dette Flies in New York.

Anyway, I had an awesome weekend despite the cold and the uncooperative trout. The bugs were out. I had plenty of bugs: BWOs, a few Hendrickson, a smattering of caddis.

Below, camp pictures. The bear tent.

 

The new cookstove which made awesome chili ( hey, when faced with a cold night chili is a welcome meal).

This is a Camp Chef Everest stove (the 2x model) which is a beast. Built like a tank it generates an impressive 20K BTU that will boil coffee toot-sweet. What makes it special? Low low simmer where the burner really does hold the flame. 

Eggs over easy are no effort at all on this thing.  If you cook instead of boil: get this stove (but don't pack it in ... heavy).

Below: a panorama. Michigan did some selective harvest forestry (aka clear-cut)  on ground next to Canoe Harbor campground. This was a wonderful wooded campsite four years ago but today is less than a stump farm. It will come back but not for a bit. The breeze will however keep the bugs down!

I'm big on field hygiene (thanks, Col. Wiley) and here hanging is my Sunday morning wash basin.

This is the ice off the top of the water. Froze up nicely. 

Bracing!

Lastly, two pictures of joy. 

A Hardy perfect sized 3 1/4" trout in gunmetal on a McKellip M84.

Great rod, Mike!

Nice reel, John. Thanks for the sponsorship for this model.

A marsh marigold.

And what looks back at me from the mirrors all too often.

Maybe I'll see you next weekend -- on the water.

Prost. 

Season's Start

 

 

 

Above: Gates Lodge on the Holy Waters of the Au Sable in east of Grayling, Michigan.

 

Usually, the opener brings a witty or clever or funny message. This year there is little laughter. The 2020 season was a huge "no go" on socialization for most of us and our fishing suffered for it. So this year: a simple message that the fish are out there.

 

I opened Saturday with the North Branch of the Au Sable upstream from Lovells, Michigan. It is brook trout water but int he past three years, we've had some sort of event which decimated the population. The good news: they're back.

 

Below, a couple of small brookies from my efforts. Actually, they're two of a total of six that I managed to get in a net.   The one on top I had to work to get the take every bit as hard as a trophy brown.

I was grinning like a drunken skunk when he came to the net.

 

 

All my fish were taken on soft hackles in the top eight inches of water. It was awesome!

 

Saturday night saw a lovely small socially-distancing after-opener party hosted by my friend Lauren at her cabin on the Manistee. We had burgers and brauts cooked over the firepit. Lovely time. 

The evening was less thrilling. I camped. Rain turned to cold (I used a 0 degree bag)  and then this morning, sleet. Yea, sleet!

I broke camp and loose packed my tent fly in a construction garbage bag for the four hour ride home (road construction season). When I got it out to put it in the sun and breeze to dry, it was still coated with ice.

Luckily, it is sunny and forty-five degrees at home. Great drying day for boots, waders, and tents.

I hooked six fish. Three I had to work diligently to earn the take. Two to net, two lost at net (barbless fishing), and two to long distant release.

I had a blast. I hope your opener goes as well.

 

Watch the ice build-up.

Prost.

The Covid Opener Update 2021

 

 You know my little friend here at the left.  Image from the public domain - CDC. Friends in the trout world have inquired how I am doing given our world class headlines here in the mitten state. 

This is Rumor Control. Here are the facts! - Aliens 3.

First, this surge really sucks this year.

Last year was a year of fear and uncertainty. This year is a year of a known enemy and stupid people everywhere.

Michigan hit 530+ cases (active infections) per 100,000 people this past week. This rate means everyone in the state has at least one person they know with Covid. I work for a small boutique healthcare concern and in my shop of twenty-six people (acutely away of covid protocols, mind you) I have two with active cases and another under isolation protocol through the end of this week. 

Their kids are the suspects. More than half our state cases are in the under 40 crowd and the single largest demographic is the 20-29 age group.

My shop represents a lot of people in a small sample who have the covid.

Germany which is having its own covid crisis right now (and Merkel is federalizing the response this week taking control out of the hands of the individual German states) has an infection rate of 136 out of 100,000 people.

It is bad here. 

My legislature does not want any further shutdowns (red legislature with a blue governor) and has been active about trying to remove powers related to public health management because: idiots. 

I have left my house (other than food) once in three weeks to take my wife for her second shot Saturday night. We drove an hour and fifteen minutes each way because that was where we could get a vaccine appointment. 

I will get my second shot in Ohio on Friday driving an hour each way. My state has distribution problems. Ohio does not. We had a union fight here over prioritization because making one group go first means other groups lose.  As a result, our plan was late and so our vaccine supply is late. 

Get your papers in on time when teacher tells you, kiddies.

Michigan Senate Majority Leader (republican Mike Shirkey) wrote the following in Crains Detroit Business published on Jan 21 this year.

Senate Republicans have been fighting to restore balance and commonsense in the state's strategy to address COVID-19. At the top of our list of priorities for 2021 is safely reopening Michigan's economy.

Local businesses have proven they are capable of meeting reasonable health and safety regulations.

Yet, there are still specific industries, like restaurants, that have been singled out by the governor despite no evidence showing these establishments are a significant source of virus spread.

The idiot doesn't know that humans associating with humans cause the spread of covid and restaurants CAN be sources of unmasked individuals congregating in close proximity one to another. 

Also, our previous lockdown worked (until people were idiots about Thanksgiving).  

I'll just sum up the state of the lunacy here in my state with a fishing quote from my favorite move: Jaws.

I think I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ass. - Hooper.

I can only hope your local versions of village idiots have less say in the conduct of infection management than mine. I am personally hoping my collection of idiots get covid and die. Maybe they can get cancer and die. I really don't care either way as long as the outcome is the same.

Stupid ought to hurt (or kill).

Oh, and the Texas argument? Why doesn't Texas have a problem after opening the state? They lie.  

I wouldn't trust so much as a date on a report to be correct if it was issued by the state of Texas. 

Trout season and the opener will be a solitary pursuit for me.  Isolation camping. Solitary fishing.

Good luck all. I'll see you on the other side, I hope.

Getting Ready, Like Everybody Else.

 

The winter has seen a good amount of tying in the form of Monday Night Flies. We're done for the the season now until fall. Too much to do during the week before dashing off on weekends.

Happy Easter!

I'm anxious for the season but Michigan's cornavirus numbers are way too far in the red. I might dash up for a solitary camp but won't be stopping at Spike's for a burger or for anything else. 

Trust no one.

I just wanted to say "happy opener" to all my trout friends and show we're still here, tying, and dreaming of camping riverside.

Mind the footing. The water is cold.

Prost.

Mid-Winter Nights

 

My wife's cat Cheeto advising me that he is not a dubbing donor. So I clipped a little when he was sleeping. He'll never miss it.

It is cold here. I blew snow before breakfast. Shelf ice is rampant and the Huron is leaning toward icing over.

The good part about winter is getting ready for the thaw and sharing with other trout addicts the winter evenings. Our fly tying group that usually would meet at a local tavern is now completely virtual and we have folks calling in from Florida and Oregon. Feels good to talk trout and flies.

Winter makes us all a little nuts.

The four pets hang out around the fire every night.

I've been improving my camping gear. Some of the trout tiers have a camping trip planned for March to water open all year round. We hope to get a jump on the season and crowds and do a little socially distanced camping while chasing trout.

 

At left,  Coffee Spit named for the gentleman named Coffee who  put the deal together. The spit can hold a chicken, a couple cornish game hens, 4 fillets, or a three pound English roast. 

The ingenious thing is that part of the spit is a square instead of being round and one of the "Y" posts receives the square part so meat can be rotated without the usual slipping and sliding.

Cannot wait to do a little cooking "Ogg-style" roasting meats beside a nice fire and enjoying the the ease of not grilling.

More camping gear upgrades: a new dual fuel Coleman lantern. My thirty-year-old propane lantern is just fine except for the propane consumption and the fact I always run out when I thought I had plenty of fuel.

Anyway, nice new lantern and some Coleman fuel in the garage. 

A trout-sized bougle in gunmetal. It is a 1939 reproduction and will be the last reel I buy. 

A drake designed to fit in the film. Alan over at Small Stream Reflections (link at right)  ties cleaner fellows but I think this might fool my trout. I've tied a ton of these this winter as I have again found the size 14 long-shank fly a good stand-in for almost any hatch. I'm getting better at the "buggy" part.

That is furnace hen on the hackle. Soaked in a permanent waterproofing solution, this is a solid dry fly.

A spring soft hackled fly for brook trout on the Black River. It is from my dwindling supply of purple Pearsall's but the color seems a killer for early Michigan brookies. I've had good fortune with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday night saw a dozen of these being whipped up. It is a CDC bubble caddis tied thanks to Davie McPhail's illustrative video.

I like an X-caddis but find the cdc varient caddis flies are surprisingly durable and offer a "pull and pop" effect where a hand twist can pull them under the surface only to pop back up. Drives browns absolutely crazy ... if they are looking up at caddis. 

So, here's to spring!

 Prost!

On The Bench

 

An early winter evening finds me tying.At left, a hare's ear and partridge hackled wire-wrapped flymph that I'll use in slow, shallow water here in a little while. 

Trout hang in warmer shallow water in winter but still must have the comforts of  shelter and drift. I suspect the warmer water feels good to their frosted fins.

Grey silk. Copper wire. Partridge hook in 14 wide-gap heavy. 

I'll let you know.

This weekend sees a trial of my cold weather gear - or most of it, anyway. I am desperately excited about getting back into the forests.  Some of my newer bits are not so excited about coming in the mail.

A friend wrote and asked why I didn't get a "hot tent." 

Fact is, I'm embarrassed. 

I have four tents in fine order. I don't need a fifth.

I've always thought of hot tents in the same vein as small boats: they're lovely but I don't want to deal with one. 

So, I will endeavor to make due with solid gear that is serviceable with the weather dipping into the teens. More than that and I really don't need to be out in it.

I hope the post holiday weather is doing you well. 

Keep 'em buggy. I miss tying in person on Monday nights with a couple pints in me; but, I can't spare time for the covid. I'm tying in my Fortress of Solitude.

Maybe soon, we'll all fly like Superman.

Prost.

Get your mind right, Luke.

 

Alan over at Small Stream Reflections went fishing with his missus. I was going fishing on Mill Creek here myself today.

I awoke to the picture at left.

Not precisely the trout weather for which I was hoping.

Today was a reckoning of my winter camp plans.  Heavy wet snow can do that.

 

I awoke to heavy wet snow as I mentioned. Now, if I'm not a little careful this weather could kill me. Maybe I shouldn't be so cavalier.

Maybe I should stick to some state forest campgrounds instead of wild camping. Okay. I can see it. Agreed.

Maybe I should be clear in leaving word of my plans. Okay.

Maybe I should take enough back-up food for a day or so. It isn't a hard thing to do.

Maybe I should rig an  a-frame awning over my tent using a ridge pole. I can use under-lacing to support the sides like in the mountain-leader class.

I can erect a separate storm awning to catch the heat of the evening fire and provide a place to keep gear dry and  do cooking out of any winter rain. 

I'm going to use a car-camp base camp here until early spring. I'll avoid lake-effect snow zones. 

I am going to the woods.

I took the dogs for a snow walk not long after snapping the picture above and it was glorious. Beargirl and I did a couple easy miles on a trail near our house in early afternoon. Lovely.

We drove over to the sailing club to eyeball the lake - frozen.

It was a grand winter's day without any trout. 

I shopped for snowshoes. Whew - none of those left int he country. I guess I know the popular Christmas present I didn't get. It'll work itself out.

I'm going up the country - Canned Heat.

Prost.

Lovely, dark and deep

 

 

At left, Lou the foxhound practicing his winter camping technique. He's on his comforter (yes, he has his own) as a bottom quilt and uses a light bath towel for his top cover. 

I'm working on the winter camping.

It's going to be a solo event for a while because it is Michigan and most folks are cold-averse.  I have most of an inch's mix of ice-sleet on the ground right now. That ice coupled with an occasional bout of actual rain strains any gear.

I'm betting on better conditions on my own runs up north: more snow and less ice.

What I need : consideration.

I'm a wood-fire sort of camper/cook and that means cutting, bucking, and hauling the fuel.  Jeans are fine for this activity in spring and summer; but, in winter I need stouter waterproof gear. I'm not too interested in abusing my gore-tex bibs doing timber operations. Waterproof  hunting trousers are on the way.  The bibs I'll wear when actually out in rain.

I also upgraded the size of my camping saw from a small pocket-sized Silky saw to a forearmed size beast of the same make. These Japanese gardening blades are quite handy. For winter camping I want to attack material larger than 4" in diameter. I will also sharpen my ax.

A top quilt and a sleeping pad with a higher R-value also were in order as upgrades over my spring/summer gear.

So, I'm outfitted down to zero degrees.

I'll use a stout Marmot tent, rig a tarp shelter for reflective heat capture around the evening fire, and practice prepping meals at home so I am doing minimal prep work before cooking.

I'm not willing to invest in a hot tent. I'm not sure how much longer I'd be using one given my trout buddies remind me the alternative to winter camping is drinking scotch by the fire with the pets lying all over me. Hmm.  

They tease me now because I wouldn't make the trip to go steelhead fishing in Alaska several years back. I refrain from pointing out that they do not go steelhead fishing presently here in Michigan for hundreds of dollars and thousands of miles of travel less. Meh.  It is hard to beat a toast fireplace.

In winter camps, I'll be fishing largely from the banks and will wear my composite Korker soles for the best grip. I'll fish glass as I will inevitably fall. Glass is very forgiving.

I will also test my set-up for oversight. I have little margin for error short of loading-up and driving out. Let's cover the oversight part early in the process.

My proving grounds at right: the north meadow with a campsite and fire ring.  We used to have some grandcub camping events there. I still maintain the pitch.

Next weekend? Maybe the weekend after.

I miss the woods. I miss being out and not hear any vehicles. I miss the adventure of simple camping.

A pipe, a fire, a tin cup holding scotch, a book, and stars overhead.

I hope the bears are hibernating. I'll be cooking bacon and sausages. I won't have enough to share.

Prost.