Little bit of fishin

Today I took a quick break and went fishing with my father-in-law while my mother-in-law stayed at the house and helped Jen with Clara.

I was hoping the fish would be biting a bit better than my last trip out, but they didn’t seem very hungry today. I’ll blame it on the storms we’ve had an the fish getting plenty to eat over the last week or two. We did get into a few fish though.

The river was looking good today. The storms definitely helped the river out. The water was high, but fairly clear:

Within a few minutes I caught a dink smallie:

My father-in-law, the new grandpa, caught a few:

First, a nice rock bass:

And, a really cool looking SunFish:

My best fish of the day was this little bass:

 

Classic Comedic Inspiration for “A River Runs Through It”?

So, the classic fly-fishing book “A River Runs Through It” was released in 1976 and the movie was released in 1992, right?

Well, today I am resting from the lack of sleep that coincides with a new baby, and there is nothing on TV. So instead of turning it off, I begin to flip through the channels. Well, I notice that Turner Classic Movies has some guy fly fishing, so I am intrigued and begin to watch.

Basically, the guy doesn’t have a clue what he is doing, and he ends up falling in the water. Soaked and defeated he sits on a log in the middle of the stream and hooks a big rainbow. He ends up fighting the giant trout as he cascades down the river until one of the other characters steps in and nets the fish for him.

At first I was chuckling at the comedic nature of the situation, but then it dawned on me. That was just like the classic scene right out of “A River Runs Through It.” So I went over to the IMDB and found out some more information on the movie. It is called the “Libeled Lady” and was made in 1936. I wonder if Robert Redford saw this movie before directing that classic scene.

I just thought it was interesting, and is a fun little scene to watch for the fly fishing aficionados out there.

From “A River Runs Through It”:

From “Libeled Lady”:

 

Happy Father’s Day to me

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;

Psalm 127: 3-5b

 

My little girl

Clara and dad:

 

Our daughter

Just before 11pm EST on June 12, our daughter was born. 

Clara Grace Wilson was born 7lbs 3oz and was 19 inches long.

 

 

 

How Geek Are You?

While I thought I might be 100% geek, I guess I am only 85% GEEK…

85% Geek

Created by OnePlusYou

 

While I should have been sleeping, I decided to fish.

I haven’t got out much to fish this year. I went on my lunch hour once or twice to an oversized pond, and I’ve been on the river twice. I worked the late shift which gave me a chance to go out the following day on a weekday, and my wife, the best wife in the world, told me to go and to relax.

So, I went to what I call the homewaters and was able to get almost a half a day of fishing time out on the river. When I first arrived, i was a little disappointed because someone was fishing in the “good” spot. Actually, it is the place where I can guarantee I’m going to catch at least one fish. I figured I’d have the whole place to myself in the middle of a weekday. This was also the peak of the new moon, and I thought that might help out the fishing, but that didn’t seem to help so much. Lastly, I was disappointed in how much the river was overgrown with weeds. It was awful. What used to be nice runs of gravel looked like green sludge.

Well, I caught a few rock bass at one of the first holes. As I looked back, the guy who was fishing at the entrance had followed me and was watching me… well, watching the fly fishing more likely. I like how every so often there is a guy fishing with bait, and they are extremely interested in what you are doing fly fishing. It is like Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. Fishing was once fun and happy, like little Anakin Skywalker. The you grow up and need relaxation from the daily grind , so you go worm dunking once in a while and join the dark side. Then one day you see a fly fisherman who has a smile on his face and is overly eager to go fishing, and you realize that standing on the shore and throwing slimy earthworms into a pond just isn’t all there is. You revolt, and come back to the light side… fishing becomes fun again. Here is a shot from the light side:

Anyways, I caught a few fish and eventually made it down to my honey-hole. And all of a sudden I see a fish that was at least 16″. Then two or three more. Then an entire school of fish show up, and I was pretty sure they were spawning. At first it looked like a huge brook trout, but that would be impossible. With the glare on the water, it was heard to make out what they were. Seeing as this river isn’t really a cold-water fishery (even though it is close), my best guess is that it was some type of sucker. They seemed to be fighting each other off like I’ve seen salmon do during spawning. It was pretty cool to stumble onto these fish.

I threw a bunch of different flies at them, but probably should have tried a nypmh seeing as they were staying so close to the bottom. They didn’t seem to want anything I put in front of them, but at least I tried. After that it was time to get going, but I did end up catching a decent red-eye out of the same hole:

A nice way to relax…

 

New camera

With the baby arriving soon, and a financial stimulus check from the government boosting the bank account, Jen and I decided to purchase a good camera to to preserve the images of our child. Not just a good camera, but a digital SLR.

After doing some Internet research, asking around, and looking at Ken Rockwell’s camera site, I decided to go with a Nikon D40. It sounds like it has lower resolution than other cameras, but takes better pictures.

So far, I have been impressed. Here’s a couple pictures of my dog River:

 

Today I became an uncle…

Tyler James Wilson was born early today.

I’m not a daddy yet, but I’m an uncle.

 

George Harvey

I noticed that George Harvey passed away a few weeks ago.

If you are a fly fisherman then you most likely know this legend.

Click to here to read about his life.