Scott and I rose early and packed silently. Not because we didn’t have anything to say, but because we both understood that before 6:00 am, and more importantly before coffee, conversation would be tiresome at best and rude at worst. We’d spent the last three days fishing the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers, south of Missoula,... Continue Reading →
January 6
I’m at Half Price Books, on a Sunday afternoon. I have just selected a journal which will contain the account of all my fishing for the next year or two. Before leaving, I make my way over to the two or three shelves containing fishing literature. I thumb through some John Geirach books, and they’re... Continue Reading →
Holiday Duck Hunting
On the last few days of a very generous break from work, I was hunting ducks and Sandhill Crane. Texas has some spectacular sunsets, and we were treated to an exceptional sight, watching hundreds of cranes flying low and loud to their evening roost. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=373SlxRCu4I Hunting with my son-in-law, I bagged one duck, and he... Continue Reading →
Fishing Brushy Creek
Instead of getting some much needed rest after church on Easter, I loaded up my rods, gathered my reels and fly foxes, said goodbye to my sweet wife, and drove two and a half hours to Grosebeck, Texas, to meet my oldest brother near a river in the Brazos drainage. The plan was to fish... Continue Reading →
Inadverdent Conservationist
Yesterday morning I broke a twenty nine year streak of not hunting quail. It's not that I haven't done any kind of hunting through those years, and I've certainly had my share of fishing opportunities. It's just that life has had me on a different track than the one of my youth. It was certainly time... Continue Reading →
Returning
This evening I have been preparing for a quail hunt. As I am organizing my shotgun shells, and removing the plug from my autoloader, I am reminded of just how long it has been since I last hunted quail. If you told me when I was a teenager that I would have so long a... Continue Reading →
Counting Fish
On a recent trip to the Uncompahgre wilderness for Brooktrout, I decided not to count the fish I would catch on Big Blue Creek. After all, why do the numbers really matter? Isn’t counting fish a child’s game anyway? But, moments after picking my way down the side of a mountain and slipping into the cold waters... Continue Reading →
Store Bought Flies
After attending a friend's wedding reception this afternoon I stopped at Cabela's to pick up some cone heads and hackle for some wooly buggers. Feeling particularly affluent, I also dropped a buck seventy nine on a store bought Brewer's Egg Regurgitating Leech. A complete disclosure of my fishing and fly tying habits would reveal that... Continue Reading →
Rain
I am very thankful for a dry dwelling place to spend a day like today.
The Usual
Pond, check. Evening, check Fly rod, check Bass, check Sunset, check I guess that just about does it. Tight lines . . .
This is how a pond makes up with the sky after a severe storm. It's quite soothing to sit outside after a storm blows through and listen to the world come back to life.
Ranch Sunset
Walking around the ranch recently, I happened on some old windows leaning against a pole barn. I made a mental note of it, and determined to use one of them in a sunset photo some day. Here are the results. We have some great sunsets here at Sabine Creek Ranch.
One Hour After Supper
Supper is done and this is the first calm evening we've had for some time. The wind seems to always blow here at the ranch. My fly rod and lanyard are waiting by the man-cave door, as if asking to go out. You can see, then, I had no choice but to go. The rod... Continue Reading →
Photo Update 12.6.13
Every now and then I enjoy driving some of the county roads near where I live. I usually take a lot of photos, and sometimes end up with one I am happy with. Here's one from a few days ago.
Autumn Silence
brilliant colors fade into an acquiescence silently waiting
My Childhood Home
We lived on the edge of town. I thought we lived on a farm. We didn't have much money. I thought my friends must want to live here, too. We had a garden. We had friends. We were blessed.
BLUE
cool and windless chill sunset articulating this blue spring evening
How to Spin a Skunk
It's pretty simple. I took my son fishing this evening. I thought maybe we could pick up a few bass on poppers. The results? Together we caught less than 60 fish, and all were under 8 pounds. In many situations, the above true statement would suffice. Since I was fishing with my own son, though,... Continue Reading →
My Days On The River
campsite and thunderstorm pancakes and hot coffee pickup trucks and fly rods fly shops and good advice limestone and water father and son time and motion my days on the river
Texan Afield 