I was thinking... October 29, 2023

100 words or so a day, complied weekly. This week's musings.

Tippet

Whether I’m guiding or on my own, I tend to key in on the last few inches of whatever dry fly rig I’m fishing. It makes sense, right? That’s where the fish’s attention is focused. When I first rig up, I’ll check the terminal end and decide, given the situation, if my tippet is the right length. Note I didn’t say leader. It’s the tippet I’m paying attention to. As a practice when I change leaders, I’ll use a leader with a terminal diameter a size larger than what I want to fish with, add a tippet ring to the end, THEN add 24” to 36” of tippet. For mountain streams, I use a 7½‘, 4x leader and add 5x. For spring creeks, it’s 9’ instead of 7½‘. With longer tippet I can cast less fly line for a more accurate cast. In mountain streams or spooky spring creek water, accuracy is the name of the game. If I can give myself an extra 6” to 12” reach with light tippet rather than heavy fly line, I’ll take it. It works for Tenkara as well.¹

John D. Voelker Foundation

Like many fly-fishers, the first time I read Robert Traver’s “Testament of a Fisherman,”² I was awestruck at how well it described my “why” of fly-fishing. I suspect I’m not alone. When a friend asked for help in helping keep the spirit of his work alive, I was delighted to help. For the last few years, I’ve been judging entries to the Robert Traver Fly-fishing Writing Award.³ This week I joined the board of the John D. Voelker Foundation (Traver was Voelker’s pen name.) The foundation’s mission reads, “Our Mission is to pay tribute to the ideals for which he stood, and the values that his life and writings exemplified.” The threads that connect me to the foundation, fly-fishing, writing, Upper Michigan, Indigenous culture, and more, are strong. The chance to work with the foundation to keep Voelker’s memory strong and continue his good works is thrilling.

Years and miles

Kidney stone recovery continues to go well and I hope to get back to full capacity next week. Someone remarked the other day that we don’t age in a linear way, which got me thinking how right that is. The accumulations of dings and disease take a toll. Their impact from year to year is felt more acutely, compounding with each trip around the sun. “It's not the years honey, it’s the mileage,” as Indiana Jones famously said. But there is a compensation of sorts as well. The good memories and fun experience also compound, giving you a rich library to enjoy. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Anticipation

A marketing email from the Orvis Company, titled “This Holiday, Let’s Celebrate the Moments That Matter Most,” landed in my inbox.⁴ Simon Perkins, the president of Orvis, someone I’ve had the pleasure to fish with, wrote it. His words reflect my view of the holidays. He talks of the intention his father brings to both gift and giving. And how the anticipation of the uniqueness of the gift and its presentation is treasured by the recipient. Those three things; intention, thoughtfulness and anticipation resonate. I like to think I can do the first two well, not just during the holidays, but every day, so gifts I give, whatever they are, simple as they may be, reflect the first two and earn the third."

Elbows at the bar

I was in a bar this week and the guy noticed my Mossy Creek Fly Fishing hat and asked about fly-fishing. When I told him I was a guide and instructor for Mossy Creek, he asked about elbow movement in the casting stroke.⁵ He wanted to know how much and which way to move his elbow. Elbow movement is one of those things I look for when I see people struggle with their cast. It’s often too much movement in the wrong direction. The elbow should go up and down, not forward and back. How much up and down depends on the cast. More for long cast, less for shorter. Here’s an excellent video of John Juracek demonstrating this.

1. With a typical mountain stream Tenkara set up using a shorter rod (8-9’), I’d fish a 9’ line with 18” of 4x and 18-24” of 5x. It’s easier to keep line off the water and tippet on the water is less visible than line.

2. Testament of a Fisherman: “I fish because I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly; be­cause of all the television commercials, cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape; because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion; because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power, but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience; because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time, and I for one don’t want to waste the trip; because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters; because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness; because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there; because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid; and, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant—and not nearly so much fun.”

3. Read this year’s Robert Traver Fly-fishing Writing Award winner, “Middle-Seat Meditations,” by Matt Powell.

4. Simon Perkins wrote: ”One thing I love about my father is his joy of anticipation. When it comes to traveling, I’m convinced he loves the buildup to a trip as much as the journey: researching a new fishery; identifying new bird habitat to explore; learning about the region’s culture, history, and conservation efforts; organizing all the right gear (including new prototypes to test); and dialing in the right itinerary. It’s contagious, and I’ve benefited from piggybacking off this excitement for most of my life.

He approaches the holidays the same way. He loves putting in the time to discover a truly special gift. And he spends hours thinking through how to give it in a unique and special way, often wrapped in birch bark with a grouse feather under the ribbon or attached with a drop of melted wax. His gifts have always been generous and thoughtful, but it is the intention and anticipation of his act of giving that makes them so meaningful.
Here in Vermont, our access to the natural world is a gift itself. Nothing clears our heads and fills our hearts like time in the woods together with the kids and dogs—throwing sticks, casting for brook trout, or cross-country skiing the quiet trails. We look forward to these moments of wonder outside as much as our big, rowdy meals or gift-giving smiles—and we wish the same for you.”

5. I have to admit, it was not the typical question. Those are usually about 10-to-2 and wrist action, or rods and lines. This was a much more nuanced effort to improve his casting. And yes, it was amusing to those sitting around the bar.