Oh Well... Get Em Next Year

Hola Amigos -

Well my Brew Crew has fallen 4-2 in the NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals (aka the Darth Vader of the National League). Great season for the Brewers needed a bit more pitching and a few more timely hits down the stretch. I can now turn my attention to some Steelhead and Salmon fishing. Maybe a fall Musky. Once again I will be living at the corner of faith and hope. Never gets old.

Tight lines,
Trout Buddha

Yes!!!!!!!

Faith shall be rewarded....


On to the post-season!

Magic Numbers, Fall Skies, and Musky Dreams

Hola Amigos -

The autumnal equinox is upon us and my favorite baseball team sits with a magic number of 2! The Brew Crew is dangerously close to winning the the NL Central, securing close to 95 wins, and making the playoffs. A wonderful summer of excitement for a rapid fan like myself. I have waxed philosophical on these pages many times about the link between my baseball love and fly fishing. Both require enormous faith and hope. Both have a beautiful symmetry, require patience, and (in my mind) teach wonderful life lessons. Win or lose. Catch or get skunked. Use all your outs my friends and keep your fingers crossed for the Crew.

I dream of the following: spend an autumn day casting big flies for Musky and hustle home just in time to see the Brewers in the Fall Classic! Now that would be a dream come true! Win or lose.

Fear the Beer!
Watch your back cast and remember; it ain't over till its over!
Trout Buddha

Remembering the Big Man

Hola Amigos -

A sad weekend as we learned news of the passing of E Street Sax player Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons. The Trout Buddha is a long time Springsteen and E Street fan. It is always sad to see someone go who has brought so much joy to so many. This photo is from the Fin Chaser Charters archive (May 2007). Got to love it.

I have always thought that fly fishing was steeped in faith, hope, and a sense of community. These are the very themes that permeate the songs of the E Street Band. Somewhere in heaven the Big Man has indeed "joined the band". Rest easy.

TB

Faith, Hope, Football, and Fishing

Hola Amigos -

Well the Green and Gold have done it - The Packers are Super Bowl Champs! A nice winter diversion for those of us waiting out the snow and ice anxious for the March 1 early season. I have waxed philosophic on these pages in the past about the intersection of faith, fishing, and rooting for the local team. I'm a bigger baseball fan than football fan - the former requiring infinitely more faith and patience - but the local franchise has provide great joy this winter. Teams are up and teams are down but as I have said before - rooting for a team is like putting some action on a big streamer in a deep hole - sometimes great things can happen.

I guess that is why I stick with my teams through thick or thin; because I need all the hope I can get. I need to believe in the things I can't see - like that lunker deep in that hole. Soon the snow will melt and I will take my hope, my faith, and my patience from my living room out to the stream bank with my rod in hand in the hope that great things can happen. They always do.

Watch your back cast,
Trout Buddha

Faith Rewarded!

Today is usually a sad day on the calendar for the Trout Buddha. The first day of October marks the close of the trout season here in Wisconsin. The usually melancholy that accompanies the end of the season is replaced this year with the gift of a playoff series that includes our home team - the Milwaukee Brewers. In my last post I discussed the faith, hope, and optimism required to root for a baseball team and how my fishing sometimes feels the same way. Every once in a while our faith and hope are rewarded in the most unexpected of ways. The pitching in thin and offense hot and cold but its like dragging a streamer through a deep hole - anything can happen and it just might be wonderful.

October also brings cooler temps, a bit of rain, an another reason for hope - steelhead. I hear they may be running off lake Michigan. Hmm, keep hope alive! Always keep hope alive.

Trout Buddha

PS - October 1 is also the birthday for Richard W. Winterstein, Daniel R. Winterstein, and Luc Messmer. My pop is 75 years young, brother Dan - 49? and nephew Luc is 16! Best wishes to all.

Baseball, Faith, Hope, and Fly Fishing

Well the Trout Buddha spent part of a sunny afternoon (left work early) in the house watching my Milwaukee Brewers blow a four run, two out, bottom of the ninth lead as part of a 12 inning loss to the arch rival Cubbies. There was only one thing to do - go fish. My emotional investment in this Brewers season is beginning to take a toll. Oh well, nine games to go, 1.5 back in the wild card race, 4-14 in the month of September, a fired manager, injured starting pitcher, and no real reason to be optimistic; yet my hope is fully alive.

Who knows more about hope than fishermen? When a character in a John Galligan fly fishing mystery was asked if he prayed his response was "No, I fish." That sums it up for me. Every trip to the stream is an exercise in optimism. Hope for a rising trout. Hope for a hard fighting smallie. Hope for a chance to stand in a river, throw some line, and keep my optimism alive.

Rooting for a baseball team requires faith and patience. Fly angling restores my faith, builds my patience, provides hope, and is an exercise in optimism. Pray? No, I fish - and root for the Brewers. I see the crew doing good things over the weekend and the Mets hitting the gag reflex down the stretch (their bullpen is even worse than Milwaukee's). Here is to hoping that come next week at the start of a six game home stand there is something to play for.

Doesn't matter, there is always fly fishing - and next year.

Trout Buddha

PS - I took two nice rainbows and a small colorful brown today - what the heck I can't wait for tomorrows game.

Helping His Profile?

I read today on the Ben Smith Blog (by way of MidCurrent) that Barack Obama wants to learn to fly fish - win or lose in November. Well the Senator from Illinois already had my vote - but this might seal the deal (then again Cheney is a fly angler so...). Seems Senator Obama was so impressed with the landscape of Montana that he wants to take up fly fishing in order to spend more time in the the Big Sky state. As a guy who fishes in Wisconsin I'm not sure we need another guy from Illinois with a rod in his hand ... what the heck pay for your out of state license and be sure to pick up your trash - we will welcome you.