The Best Laid Plans & Good Intentions

Goin' with the flow on the Wakulla River in 2012

It's a bit late to make a bold proclamation that another year has arrived.  I spent most of the first 6 weeks of the year just... existing.  Perhaps the Walrus was right and "the time has come" for other things, like planning.  Part of me has always hated planning, and I've never really understood why.  The best I can come up with is that plans create structure, and structure removes freedom.  I like having my options open.

Options aside, the clock is ticking and I'm hopeful that a little structure will yield some results.  It turns out that I'm failing miserably as my own motivational speaker...

I wanted to jot down some blogging plans and fishing plans.  For some reason I need to remind myself that there are things I want to do, and yes, I actually want to do them.  Even so, I feel a little dread when I think about some of this stuff.  I'm also hoping that all 3 of you who read this stuff might hold me accountable.

Blogging ToDo List

• Finish the "Opportunity Knocks Twice" series.  I'm having a hard time with this one.  It feels like there's something ominous waiting for me at the end of that tunnel.  Or perhaps I'm afraid that I won't be able to create the capstone the series deserves.  DONE!!! Read it here.
• Do a full comparison and write up for all the wonderful Sage 5-weight rods we own.  I know why I'm paralyzed with this one:  Pure perfectionism.  I know how I want to do this, and it will require a good investment of time.  I see a few hours of prep work, probably four hours of rod waving and note taking, and 20 to 30 hours of writing
• Try to publish something every week, definitely publish something every other week.

Fly Angling ToDo List

There's no dread here.  This is spectacular.

• March - 1 day on the Yakima River - Washington State.  My first fishing trip to these waters. (Didn't happen.  Rainfall preceding the day I planned to fish stained the water, so I bravely ran away to fish another day.)
• April  - 2 days on the Missouri River - Craig, Montana.  The midge and BWO hatches of April 2015 were quite a sight.  Trying to convince my wife to accompany me this year.
• Weekends in May and June - "The Driftless" in Southeast Minnesota.  The wife's Mobile Hotel® (aka fifth-wheel RV, see The Amoury) gets parked and we spend 6 weekends camping 20 yards from a trout creek, part of the Root River watershed.
• August - Mobile Hotel® Road Trip with the family
• 1 day on the Flathead River - Columbia Falls, Montana
• 1 day on Rock Creek - Just east of Missoula, Montana
• 3 days around Yellowstone National Park - hoping for 1 day of fishing
• 2 days camping on the Tongue River forks - Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming.  Really looking forward to finding some cutthroats and brook trout.
• September - More Minnesota Driftless weekends 

Other Stuff
Notes to self...

• Practice knots BEFORE going streamside
• Teach knots to the Offspring

If the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, it appears I'm constructing my own private ten-lane superhighway.  Drive it like you stole it.

But pull off occasionally to wet a line.

Epic Spirits: A Tale of Two Gins

From my liquor cabinet...

The Fading Angler is an avid fan of adult beverages.

I've travelled around the country for work on a near-weekly basis for 14 of the last 18 years.  This has provided me with excellent opportunities to sample a variety of beer, wine, and spirits.  I savor these opportunities because many of these beverages are not available outside of the borders of their home state, due to arcane and archaic federal laws and rules controlling the interstate distribution of the evil that is alcohol.

I believe, but am not certain, that this is the case for both of the spirits feature herein.  One is a product of the State of New York (upstate!) and the other is produced in the Puget Sound of the State of Washington.  I have visited both distilleries once and look forward to doing so again.

I am not an aficionado of any sort, gin least of all.  I've sipped gin martinis.  I've enjoyed the occasional gin & tonic with Bombay.  I have also endured a few others made with the cheap gin (and lots of lime) that are now stocked as the "complimentary" bottle in the lounge of the airline to which I have sworn fealty. (Correction, 3/24/2016 - It seems that Delta has recently replaced the rotgut with a decent Bombay in their Skyclubs.  Surprising and welcome.)  However, I sample new things when I can, and I've found both of the items up for review to be exceptional.  If you are also a traveler with a wandering palette, I offer these for your consideration.

Not Going Steelhead Fishing This Spring...

My generous Wife and I had been contemplating a trip to the Olympic peninsula to try our luck at fishing for steelhead.  It's a bucket list item for me.  Instead, we made a last-minute decision to cross a different item off the list...

In case it isn't obvious, I'm a Broncos fan.

Looks like Parkinson's Disease has given me permission to live a slightly wild and crazy life.

Flyfishing Below Freezing

I've often looked at photos of folks steelhead fishing in "cold" weather.  They're usually standing under overcast skies, soaked with rain, and generally looking chilled.  Having never fished for steelhead (yet!), I've often wondered if it would be worth it, and how I'd hold up to the colder temps, versus the warm summer days I'm usually fishing.

A window opened for me to finally try winter flyfishing this past weekend.  The 2.5 kids and their mom all had plans on Saturday.  The daily highs in most of Minnesota had ranged from below zero (Fahrenheit) to the mid-teens for most of Januray.  They'd finally break into the 20's F on Saturday.  "Warm enough to scratch the itch," I said to myself, thinking back to how jealous I was of fisherfolk I'd seen on the Missouri River in Montana the previous weekend.

In a true expression of my ambition, I overslept an hour Saturday morning.  Coffee was brewed, gear tossed into the all-wheel drive SUV, and I made the 3 hour drive from my home in central Minnesota to the southeastern "Driftless Region."  A quick stop in Chatfield, then a short drive to Trout Run Creek.  Another SUV was already parked, but the only thing moving was the water.  I'd been concerned about ice, given the somewhat prolonged period of temperatures near zero F.  Yet I found this spring-fed creek with only a little "shelf-ice" on each side in most places.  Definitely fishable, and not too dangerous.

Getting Back Into Rhythm

 

Just got back from a quick, non-fishing weekend trip to Montana.  Spent the night near Craig and had dinner with Joe and Lindsay Bloomquist of the Missouri River Lodge.  My wonderful wife booked me a spring trip in mid-April, hoping for a repeat of last year's April awesomeness!  Got really confused (and slightly jealous) seeing 15-20 humans compressed into very close proximity on one tiny stretch of the Missouri River just north of Craig.  Almost nobody anywhere else on the Mo'.  Huh?

Visited Blackfoot River Outfitters in Missoula, as my wife insisted I carry a wading staff now.  She's wise.  BRO is having their spring sale March 5th.  20% off a Helios 2 is damn temping, especially after I got to use one in 6 weight on the Big Horn River this past September.

Time to start writing again, and maybe consider a winter trip down to some little creeks in the Driftless down in SE MN.  I might wait until the daily high temperatures get back up into the 20's.

More soon.  We hope.

Rowing Against the Current

I'm truly thankful for those of you who stop by from time to time, perhaps hoping to catch something new on the blog.  The catching has been slow lately, and this is disappointing to both of us.  I've been hesitant to explain for a couple of reasons.  First, rule #1: This is a No Whining Zone.  I started writing as a positive outlet during my progression, and I'm gonna keep it that way.  Second... well, there's no other way to say this: stigma.  Once you're painted with a certain stereotypical brush, it's hard to escape the label.

Suffice it to say that I'd love to complete the capstone of the "Opportunity Knocks Twice" series I started earlier in the year.  And I'm making adjustments to build the motivation to get it done.  Yet motivation and desire are far from equivalent.  Research tells us that Parkinson's Disease is a result of dopamine-producing neurons shutting down.  It turns out that dopamine is a fairly important chemical for more than just muscle control.  When those levels drop, quite a few things become more difficult.

When I started writing here in early 2014, I was on my way back from the worst episode that Parkinson's has thrown at me thus far.  It was a physical and mental low.  Poor sleep, dysfunctional memory, and lots of physical pain.  It took a few months of intense work, but I climbed out.  Things aren't as challenging as that episode, but I have work to do.  And I'm doing it.  I hope you'll stick around until I'm back on track and give you something again that might be worth reading.

Maybe I just need to fishing.  I hear trout may be an indirect source of dopamine...

Everything I Need to Know in Life, I Learned from 'The Princess Bride'

Sorry, folks.  Nothing about angling or degenerative diseases in this weeks contribution to universal Entropy®.  Instead, something a little lighter that's been on my To-Do list for a while. Inspired by Robert Fulghum's book, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."

Everything I Need to Know in Life, I Learned from 'The Princess Bride'

1. Most things can be made better if you just skip to the end
2. "As you wish" means, "I love you."
3. "As you wish" also means, "I will be captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts and most likely killed in the morning."
4. Never get into a land war in Asia. It's a classic blunder.
5. A chocolate coating helps things go down easier
6. If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything
7. Help people feel they are doing well
8. Never ride horseback alone
9. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles
10. People in masks cannot be trusted
11. Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line (another classic blunder)
12. There's not a lot of money in revenge
13. It's good to have a friend on the Brute Squad
14. Get used to disappointment
15. Have fun storming the castle
16. You'll stay alive longer if you always think everything could be a trap
17. If all of your professional obstacles were "inconceivable", perhaps you'd best consider a career change, no matter how prestigious your line of work
18. Mostly dead is slightly alive
19. Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
20. When there's too much to explain, sum up.
21. Keep a thorough list of your assets handy, including newly acquired wheelbarrows and holocost cloaks.
22. Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.
23. When the job goes wrong, go back to the beginning
24. If you buy a miracle pill, for Pete's sake, wait the entire 15 minutes for full potency before swimming or attempting to storm the castle.
25. There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world