Long Time No Post...

Ten days since my last post and I haven't had a chance to comment on the recent Southern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited Annual Ice Breaker event. This has turned into one of the highlights of the long southern Wisconsin winter. I enjoyed two wonderful morning talks from Bob Linseman of the AuSable Angler and Mike Miller from the Wisonsin DNR. Bob's talk on "Streamers for Trophy Trout" presented jaw dropping images from the AuSable. I immediately came home and scoured my fly boxes to get a look at what "large ammo" I had in my possession. On the heels of that search I went browsing through my local maps and books to start thinking about what "overlooked water" might be out there in need my attention. Bob was a wonderful speaker who took the time to chat long after his scheduled talk was done. Bill Engber (a local angler of some reputation himself) strongly recommends Bob's book on trophy streamers. All of his books can be found on his website.

Mike Miller from the WDNR presented a thoughtful and informative talk that covered a wide range of streams, bugs, improvements, and TONS of usable information. Mike is very generous with his time and knowledge. Locally we are so often blessed to hear Mike talk that we risk taking for granted to having such a resource in our own back yard. The highlight for me was his mention of the "University of Wisconsin class" that does stream sampling in the summer - pretty sure that was the UW Fly Fishing class. Mike's video about the Wisconsin early season from 2009 is still available on line and worth a look.

In addition to the talks, raffles, fly tiers, I really enjoyed running into lots of fishing friends and acquaintance. Its great to run into local author John Galligan who is always willing to share his thoughts on writing and fishing. I have commented on John's mystery series in this blog in the past and my opinions have not changed. The perfect books for winter (or summer) reading. Enjoyed seeing Todd Opsal from the new On The Creek fly shop in Cross Plains. Embarrassed that I have not yet stepped foot in the shop - that will change soon.

All in all a great way to spend a Saturday during the deep freeze of winter.
Won't be long now - only 5 weeks until the early season.

Tight lines amigos,
Trout Buddha

Snow Outside? Pick Up a Book

I just finished John Galligan's new fly fishing mystery - The Clinch Knot (Bleakhouse)- and wanted to give some Trout Buddha good karma for an excellent read. My comments might be a bit biased - John lives in Madison, teaches at MATC, and is always very willing to chat about fly fishing and writing (even to a hack like me).

This is the third installment in the series that features Ned "Dog" Oglive. The first two novels include - The Nail Knot (2005) and The Blood Knot (2007). The Dog is a trout bum with a difficult past, who lives out of an old RV, and is trying to drink and fly fish away some bad memories. The Clinch Knot leaves the streams of Wisconsin found in the first two installments and heads to Montana. The change of scenery does not change Dog's luck as he finds himself working to solve the mystery surrounding the death of Jesse Ringer and the arrest of her boyfriend D'Ontario Sneed. Nice read, wonderful characters, the fishing components are always dead on and the bottom line - I care about what happens to Dog. This novel reveals a bit more about why the Dog is drinking and fishing his way across the west. All the more reason to root for him.

Some other authors have made fly fishing central to the mystery genre but they seem to be very light reading. For my money John Galligan's series is the most "literary". I can't wait to see what happens to the Dog next (Surgeon's Knot? Arbor Knot?) I hope this isn't the end of the line for the Dog.

Enjoy the read!
Trout Buddha


The Clinch Knot Summary (from Bleakhouse):

The Dog is in Livingston, Montana, daydreaming about fishing the ‘Stone and, as usual, subsisting on Swisher Sweets, vodka-Tang, and the hope that pretending to forget will be enough.

He’s forged a few tenuous friendships, and now finds himself watching from the bank as troubled local girl Jesse Ringer leads D’Ontario Sneed into the swift current of young love. It’s sweet, really … but some of the locals object to the relationship on the basis of Sneed’s skin color.

Then the unthinkable: vibrant, wild Jesse is found shot in the head, and Sneed is passed out in her car, gun beside him, window seams taped, and engine running. Sneed is hospitalized for severe carbon monoxide poisoning and can’t string together a sentence to defend himself, so it falls to the Dog.

If only the Dog could run from his life without ending up in the tangle and snarl of the lives of others. A man who wants to lose himself in the current must be careful of his backcast; it’ll always keep him tethered to a life he’s trying to forget.

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.