Just showed the girls the vid from yesterday, Yellow Ledbetter. Wanted them to see the concentration and the art coming into the music. They liked it. They liked it. And I assured them if they want to do something in a similar tact they can do it. They CAN do it. But they weren’t as impressed with YB as I thought they might be. What they really wanted to hear was Hack Mack Johnson, and a song that we played repeatedly from a time of pain in our lives.
So, I played it. And then I said, “Let’s check out the video.” And we did and this is what we found and it led us down a Labor Day weekend of musical diversion. I think this is a song, whether you tune it in from Hack Mack or J Cash, that’s worth having along on your next road trip to steelhead Continue reading
God’s Going to Cut You Down
Pearl Jam’s Yellow Ledbetter, For You Santella
Check the recent Deschutes post. Was fortunate enough to be on the river with Chris Santella who is a great writer, a fine musician, and a man who entertains galore. So we were at camp, trying to keep our eyes open, and debating songs, bands, whatever came to mind. I asked Chris, “What about Yellow Ledbetter? What do you think of that song?” And you know what? Chris didn’t know it. Surprised the living shindig out of me. He doesn’t know the song as I pen this right now. I am telling you, he’s in for a treat. This song practically brings tears to the eyes, and I have no idea what I’m hearing lyric-wise. There’s power in this song. A lot of it. Knock your teeth out power. Music. Love it. Chris is going to love this one and I wanted to share it with you, too. Take a minute. If you haven’t heard this previously you are in for an experience. If you’ve heard it I’m sure you won’t say, “No time to listen.” In my opinion this is one of music’s greatest gifts to humanity. And this video doesn’t even showcase the song as well as it could. Mid-1990s would have been the time to record it. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Oh yea, there’s a little Hendrix nugget in here, too. If this isn’t your favorite song, or one of your favorites, let me know why and let me know which ones are your favs. gt
Fly Fishing Oregon’s Lower Deschutes Canyon for Steelhead
Back from a mini trip to the Deschutes River canyon in Oregon that lasted just three days (five with driving time built in). The thing is, it felt like a good, long trip. Maybe that’s because we started our trip with several pints from the Double Mountain Brewery in Hood River, but got just four hours of sleep that night. We followed that with about five hours the following night and maybe the same the night after that.
It’s been a while since I’ve started fishing before dawn and ended after dark, walking back to camp with a lamp strapped to my forehead while placing careful steps so that I wouldn’t step on a rattlesnake. And it’s been even longer since I’ve eaten dinner well after dark after fishing all day long. To say that this trip wore me down a little is an understatement, but I feel like it’s a trip that every western angler ought to do because the scenery, the river, and its fish Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Northwest, Oregon, Spey, Uncategorized
Tagged Chris Santella, Deschutes River, Oregon, Steelhead
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Kids and Spey Casting: The first lesson.
Thought all of you might like to see this. I took the girls to the Clark Fork River yesterday to let them dig around for crayfish and minnows and to get my gear set up for the Deschutes River steelhead trip I’m taking this weekend.
The girls chased minnows for a while and collected driftwood, but after a while, to my surprise, they wanted to cast. I thought it would be a disaster but was amazed at how quickly they picked up the general stroke. I’m not saying this is model casting, but they are throwing far enough in some instances to have a reasonable chance to hook a steelhead, and I know they can throw more line than they did yesterday.
What amazed me most is that Continue reading
Follow Angler’s Tonic on Instagram
I’m a bit overwhelmed, like most, with all the social media we have eating up our time, but Instagram is pretty cool and something that I am using almost on a daily basis. Here’s a quick bit on why I think you should use it, too, and why you might want to follow the Angler’s Tonic Instagram feed. What is Instagram? It’s a way of taking images with a phone and immediately posting them to the Instagram site for all to see. In addition, I can post the same image instantaneously to the Angler’s Tonic Facebook page, and send directly to the e-mail addresses of my choice. What does this mean for you? It means that you can follow Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Gear, Industry, Photography, Uncategorized
Tagged Instagram, posting to Instagram
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Southern Boys Getting Northern…or How To Fly Fish
Had the southerly crew up for the weekend, my friends from LA and Phoenix who needed a good dose of Montana Time. They flew in Friday a.m. and by early afternoon they were hooking up with bass and Continue reading
Posted in Backcountry, Culture, Montana
Tagged Bitterroot River, cutthroats, How to fly fish, Peter Frampton, wilderness
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International Fly Tackle Dealer Show Reno, Nevada
Eve of the departure to Reno, Nevada for the annual Fly Tackle Dealer Show, which is the fly-fishing industry’s single big event of the year. This is where all the who’s who in manufacturing show off their latest and greatest product… to all us swooning, gear-whore writers, of course. The goal is to get some up-front exposure before the product lines are released to the public next Continue reading
Staton Klein’s Swimflies
Was on a pond not long ago and decided to throw down on some largemouth bass with one of Staton Klein’s swimflies. If you didn’t read the piece we ran on Staton in the summer issue of Fly Rod & Reel, you should. He details why he ties the flies the way he does and what he tries to achieve in doing so. All I know is that this big, white, articulated fly was darting around like a swimbait, dodging one way then another with each strip of the line, when a five-pounder latched onto the back of it. Bummer was this: that bass spit out the fly before I could set the hook.
But that was my first real Continue reading
Fly Fishing 101: The bait and switch
Is it really the ninth of August already? Two and a half weeks and the girls go back to school? Wow. Summer flies. And fish get educated. Say what?
Thought it would be timely, given that most of the trout across this country have seen dozens of flies passing over their heads this summer, to offer a little about my tactics when the fish get picky and Continue reading
ExOfficio’s Give-And-Go That’s Fly Boxer Brief…the Alaska test
This may sound like more than you need to know, but I’ll tell you anyway: on a recent 12-day trip to Alaska I only packed two pair of underwear.
It was an experiment in packing light because, inveriably, I always pack way more than I need and end up using about half of what I bring. And that costs me in checked baggage fees. So I called ExOfficio and asked for a couple pair of underwear to test on this trip. They suggested the Give-And-Go That’s Fly Boxers and Boxer Briefs because they are super Continue reading