Found lure

I Want To Go Fishing

Yesterday while mowing the yard, I kept seeing grasshoppers jump out of the way of the oncoming mower.   Every time I saw one, it took me back to a time that I spent on a friend’s pond.  My friend Carl is a guy that I worked with some time back, and he lived on a nice little pond just south of Tulsa.  I was thinking about a day this last spring, and it was a glorious sunny day.  What was so great about that day though, was the fact that there were dang near a million grasshoppers.  Carl’s pond has tall grass, shrubs and trees all around it, so every time you walked and disturbed the vegetation, hoppers would jump out of the way and a handful would land in the water.  The fish would go nuts over it.  I loved watching it happen.  I probably spent just as much time feeding the fish as I did fishing. 

I haven’t cast my rod in at least a few weeks, and it seems that everything I see seems to make me think about fishing. 

Wolf Spider

Found this old girl on the back patio the other evening.   I posted a picture of if on the tulsa fly fishing facebook page and someone told me that it's wolf spider with its babies on its back.  Wildlife in the back yard.  Kinda fun.   

Replacement

So about a month ago I lost my cheap multi-tool at the city pond.  I used the needle nose pliers on them to unhook fish.  The day I lost them I remember using them to get a hook out of a fish that just inhaled the fly.  Thank goodness I had pinched the barb down.  After I unhooked the fish, I set all my stuff down and tried to take a picture of the fish.   Well, I must have walked off without the multi-tool.  Kind of a bummer, but no huge loss.  I guess it's fitting that I loose something at the pond because I am always finding other people's stuff.  Anyhow, I thought it was interesting that I found this at the pond the other day.  I think it's a cable stripper.  I can only assume that the person that left it there was using it to unhook fish just like my multi-tool.  Makes me wonder about who owned these and what kinda life that person leads.  I lost my multi-tool at the pond, but the pond always gives me more in return.

No Fishing This Weekend, But Still Great!

Yesterday was 9/11, and my family and I hooked up with Asbury United Methodist Church for the National Day of Service and Remembrance.  Asbury organized about 1,600 people to go out all across Tulsa to work on various community projects.  Projects ranged from working on a Habitat for Humanity house to panting curbs for the City of Tulsa.  My group went to help clean up and paint a facility for an organization called New Hope.  New Hope works with children of incarcerated parents by providing after school programs, summer camps, holiday gatherings, and a safe place where the kids are surrounded by others that understand their situation.  I am so glad I did this!  It felt good to join a group of people and help for once.      

The other thing the family did this weekend was go to Oxley Nature Center.  In fact, Kelly and I went up there twice.  On Saturday morning the whole family went on a guided nature walk and we learned about seeds.  Oxley's 2nd Saturday Family Adventure this month was called "Where Did The Seeds Go?"  We had a great time.  I love being outdoors and having dirt under my feet.  The next night after volunteering at New Hope, Kelly and I dropped the kids off with Kelly's folks and we headed back to Oxley and joined the "Full Moon Walk".  This was super cool.  The walk lasted a little over an hour. When we started the sun was up and shining bright.  By the time we got back, only the moon lit the way.  We saw deer, opossum, and a opossum on the half-shell (aka armadillo).  Also we heard several types of owls.   I think this place should be on everyone's must visit list.  It's fantastic for kids and adults alike.  

Tea Time

For the longest time I have dreamed of hiking the Appalachian Trail.  So for the past few years I have been slowly picking up things that I might use on the trip if it were to actually happen.  One of my favorite things that I have picked up is this little alcohol stove.  I've made a few stoves out of cat food cans and soda cans, but I like this one the best.  It’s not the lightest, but it’s still cool.  Now that the temperature has dropped to human conditions, I decided that it’s time to fire up the stove.  Make some tea.  Pretend that I am on some mountainside in the Appalachian Mountains.   

Found Fishing Tackle

Not sure where I picked this up, but this morning after coming home from casting at the city pond I could not stop thinking about this tangle.  I made a few quick photo's of it.  Here is one.  Not sure I am done photographing it though. 

Sunrise though the car window

Making photographs while fishing is hard for me.  I have always thought of fishing and photography in the same way.  Both activities are ways to slow down and look at the world.  Both also have search and capture elements.  With fishing you’re looking to capture fish, and with photography you may have a moment or memory you want to capture.  When I photograph and fish I actively search and look for the best possible angle to make the cast or press the shutter button, but for me, the amazing thing with fishing and photography are the discoveries that are not planned.   Pat and I fished the Upper Illinois River the other day.   We saw all kind of common birds and bugs, but we also saw three deer, three snakes and an osprey.   Witnessing these animals makes me think about the wider world we live in and not just the world that is viewed through my car window.  

One major difference between photography and fishing is the tug that the fish puts on the rod.  When that fish pulls, you are directly connected to its world and there is no barrier between the worlds of air and water.  With photography it’s amazing how you can loose yourself behind the lens.  The camera’s viewfinder squeezes the world into bite size chunks and allows you to compose all the elements so you can tell your story.  But for me, the lens acts like a barrier and I much prefer the pull on the rod.   When Pat and I started fishing the other day I got so rapped up in fishing I didn’t even bother pulling out my camera except to have Pat snap a shot of me and my trophy carp. 

(I realize that it was not a trophy carp. I was just tickled to catch it.)