45 Doesn't Seem So Bad

I turned 45 today. 20 years ago that age seemed ancient to me. Even on paper it’s a little scary. But the truth of it, I feel great. I still feel like a kid and hopefully will never act my age.

Naturally I wet a line on my birthday. Good friend Rob Parkins and I did a short float on some sacred water. Our weather continues to baffle. It was easily in the upper 60ºs and the sky was cloudless. To top it off, we hardly had an ounce of wind. It was absolutely perfect!

Fishing was ok. I must admit we didn’t fish that hard but I think the weather is so nice that the big fish are inactive. Normally late October is a time of the first cold cloudy days that deliver blankets of blue winged olive hatches. Big trout are usually on the surface eating every mayfly in sight to fatten up for winter. But instead it’s bluebird days and the random blue wing, October Caddis and believe it or not, it’s so nice there are a few hardy late season grasshoppers around.

Nonetheless, we caught plenty of fish but the biggest was probably less than 13 inches. It was a variety pack however of good-looking little rainbows, cutthroats and brook trout and we caught them all on dry flies. We even caught a few whitefish which leads to the highlight of the day. Robs dog Shang loves to eat whitefish. Yes you heard me correct, Rob owns a fish eating dog. Obviously trout are kept a good distance from the jaws of Shang. In fact as I unhooked a brook trout Shang fell overboard trying to get him. However, when it comes to a whitefish, if he’s a good boy, he gets him. I watched Shang slam down three whities today in which he devours in less than eight seconds!

I don’t think I need to tell you it was no less than an ideal way to spend a birthday. We caught fish. We saw some moose. We saw a porcupine. We woke up some owls. And once again the weather was unbelievable. If only the Cubs were playing on October 18th! Someday. . .

Fishing was ok. I must admit we didn’t fish that hard but I think the weather is so nice that the big fish are inactive. Normally late October is a time of the first cold cloudy days that deliver blankets of blue winged olive hatches. Big trout are usually on the surface eating every mayfly in sight to fatten up for winter. But instead it’s bluebird days and the random blue wing, October Caddis and believe it or not, it’s so nice there are a few hardy late season grasshoppers around.

Nonetheless, we caught plenty of fish but the biggest was probably less than 13 inches. It was a variety pack however of good-looking little rainbows, cutthroats and brook trout and we caught them all on dry flies. We even caught a few whitefish which leads to the highlight of the day. Robs dog Shang loves to eat whitefish. Yes you heard me correct, Rob owns a fish eating dog. Obviously trout are kept a good distance from the jaws of Shang. In fact as I unhooked a brook trout Shang fell overboard trying to get him. However, when it comes to a whitefish, if he’s a good boy, he gets him. I watched Shang slam down three whities today in which he devours in less than eight seconds!

I don’t think I need to tell you it was no less than an ideal way to spend a birthday. We caught fish. We saw some moose. We saw a porcupine. We

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site