not exactly fishing, but early AM summer day off the wreck line, it's so good for Eagles, I look forward to the post apocalyptic weirdness all year....
What fishing are you dreaming of right now?
- Thread starter Josh
- Start date
Pretty much all year I daydream about throwing muddlers or spades on a few Columbia drainage rivers east of the cascades.
Zak
Legend
What's a spade fly?
RCF
Life of the Party
The 'wondering' about a fish that can do that will be a forever memory. As it should be...
The first spring day on the skagit or Sauk where I have to take off my coat in the afternoon because I’m too warm. The days are noticeably longer. The trees are budding. I should probably mow my lawn but that’s tomorrows problem. I’m fishing a light tip and a marabou fly and it’s swinging broadside just right in a choppy inside flat and a feisty chrome steelhead is just about to pounce on it. Maybe it’s 6 pounds or maybe it’s 26. Hard tellin’ not knowin’ but these drugs are as good as any.
Not dreaming of fishing yet, I always start too early anyway then freeze my ass off in the cold water and wonder why I did it again this year. Not again though, I have caught enough fish in 85 years to last a lifetime, no urge to do anything heroic in cold water this year. I am, however, looking forward to the best tacos in all of Spokane tomorrow!
Where do you find those tacos if you are not averse to hot spotting? If you like Mexican get some tamales to take home at Los Hernandos in Union Gap. I think they may also have a Spokane location.
I dunno, as time goes on, I just get more and more joy out of fishing half days close to home. The higher stakes travel-to-fish type trips don't do it for me like they used to. Not sure what happened, but taking a few hours to rip my little boat around the Columbia down the street in search of carp, or to just relax, dragging some flashers for one of the many salmon runs... those things are satisfying for me nowadays, and what I look forward to the most. That said, the 2hr trip out to the Oregon Coast for my tuna and other ocean critter trips still keeps me pumped.
I guess I don't have a good answer. Just looking forward to fishing, no matter how I do it. Dwelling on one thing I fantasize about ends up leading me to disappointment more often than not.
I guess I don't have a good answer. Just looking forward to fishing, no matter how I do it. Dwelling on one thing I fantasize about ends up leading me to disappointment more often than not.
It's called getting older...
When I was much younger, I always anticipated running 12 hours offshore dragging a spread of big lures from the riggers/long rigger, sevens lines out hoping for the big ahi or marlin strike...thirty years later, I'd rather troll plugs on spinning rods for barracuda, jacks and grey snapper in 20 feet of water enjoying a cold one.
Sounds kinda crazy, but some El Salvadoran folks bought the Otis grill in Otis orchards. They offer the usual white folks diner food, but also some south of the border fares.
Their quesobirria tacos are to die for.
I mean, I still get excited taking my boat 40mi out for albacore out here. It's about the only "high stakes" trip I still get excited about. I think I've just had too many "high stakes" trips not live up to the cost/time commitment. That, and the way my anxiety works, the higher the stakes, the harder it is for me to just relax and enjoy it.
Edit: I'm also still probably one of the youngest on this forum (something I hope we can fix at some point). So the "getting older" part is probably only slightly part of it.
It's funny, pretty all my fishing has always been close to home. I've never really had the opportunity to take any high stakes trips. And to be honest, I'm not sure that I care.
Oh, of course, there's a few places I'd like to fish someday. But mostly, the way my home life is, I have always valued the small fishing opportunities nearby far more than the ones far away. Sure, that keeps me from catching a lot of special fish. And it's not like I don't see the trip reports and photos and think "Wow, I bet that was cool!". But the bluegill and little wild rainbows I find in quiet places are special to me in their own way and they've kept me sane for a long long time in a way that trying to swing for the fences can't do.
Kudos to all who take those trips though. They are awesome and I'll continue to enjoy seeing the results.
Yeah, I've certainly enjoyed destination, high stakes trips... But they're experiences I've had that I don't dwell on doing again. Some, like Florida tarpon, I would turn down 10 times out of 10 to do again. Some things are just really not my bag. I've enjoyed some times in Baja, but am not going to run down a beach to chase a rooster.
I think that really, my decade+ of steelhead obsession where that's all I would do kind of burned me out. Multi-day trip after multi-day trip several times per year, 4-6hr drives, to rivers that are no longer open. I've just had to put that in the past and focus on simpler things, and it's been awesome.
I am looking forward to getting back to the place of my birth and childhood to do some fishing with Billy here in the coming months. Going to do everything I can to make that happen.
I fished on 12/30 and 1/20 so I don’t feel like I haven’t been out, and as the steelheaders start showing up at my favorite winter haunts I start to fade away from them. But—
I look forward to this fishing, too, and I hope we make the summer dry fly meet up happen!
