Standing in hip waders casting to rainbow trout from the truck. Snapping the neck and sliding one into the creel. Knowing that by June the water will warm until they can no longer stand it.
Tagged: put and take, stocking, trout
When there is no time afforded you have to steal some. Five casts. Fifty casts. Five hundred. Whatever it takes to make something out of another thing that you don’t rightfully have. One jump should suffice to bend it back in your favor.
Tagged: largemouth bass, stealing
Some time-lapse footage of Scott Hale working the brushes.
Tagged: art, painting, Scott Hale, Winter hiatus video entertainment
As it swims closer along the bank it becomes apparent we are dealing with something of more substantial immensity than the chunky black bass standing sentinel over the drain pipe. It makes the heart skip a beat and the eyes move toward the bass bug tied to your tippet and the assorted others in your wallet, and you realize there’s a problem. It swims lazily by and pokes at things and it could be 20 pounds. The ficus aren’t blooming and the man told you to tie up a green san juan worm because if someone’s trimming grass nearby it becomes a chum situation. Or match the hatch, if you choose to look at it that way. But you didn’t. Then it swims away…
The whole thing started with the least of expectations. I had a rod and some time to kill due to a delayed appointment. I made some casts. I caught nothing. I drove to the appointment. Delayed again, for another hour. I google mapped. I found nearby water. I tried a new fly. On my first cast I caught a mayan cichlid. Sweet. Then I saw a dark swirling shape hanging out near a submerged drain pipe. I made a cast. A largemouth bass with a middling amount of heft liked my offering. OK, cool. I released the bass. Then I saw two bulbous fish cruising the shoreline at a fast clip. I made a lead cast. One charged like a mofo. It took off…
Makes sense about that pre-wiring for ambush.
Tagged: adventures in ditch fishing, peacock bass
I would never argue they’re the most challenging fish or that casting from a mowed patch of St. Augustine equates with an emerald bonefish flat, but it’s something I like to do. And on the technicolor scale they take a back seat to nothing.
Tagged: adventures in ditch fishing, peacock bass
This ain’t no tournament and I ain’t got no sponsors to placate. If you’re willing to take on the surface it’s all well and good.
Tagged: jumping, largemouth bass, poppers
Extreme couponers are stealing my recycling. Once I put it to the curb it’s in the public domain, I suppose, but when a black Ford Econoline creeps slowly in front of the house at 3am, it creates unease. Why was I up at that hour? Teething. I tried my first coupon at Costco over the weekend, to see what it’s like. I put it towards a 32-pack of Diet Dr. Pepper. In the days following I’ve had 13 of them, if for no other reason than they are dominating my refrigerator. I found the crumpled receipt from the trip in my pocket this morning; no discounts noted. After all my clipping efforts to arrive at that point, she didn’t even scan it . I feel…
Pissant aggressor-thief, stealing my gold.
Tagged: panfish, wee torment
