Good and Wet

The weekend "Up North" in "Gods Country" was just that ... Good and Wet. Great if your a duck, a trout, a horny woman or a cold beer ... but the fly fishing was less than stellar.

Now, don't get me wrong we all had a great time in spite of the rain we had. Saturday and Sunday were still stellar days weather wise but the fishing was S-L-O-W and as such there are no photos of yours truly hugging trout this year. I did land this beautiful 14-15 inch Brown trout but seeing as there was no one there to take the photo of yours truly hugging said trout I flopped him up on the dry ground instead and took this:

Poor thing ... big 'olhook stuck in it's mouth, thrown on the cold, hard earth, essentially drowning in our oxygen rich environment ... a fish, literally, out of water. No need to fear though my friends for he was only out of his environs briefly and shortly after said photo was snapped the hook was gently removed and he was returned to his home with tender loving care to live another day, to be caught another day. It has to be odd being a fish, and being caught ... drawn into the light ... probably thought he was off to see god and all he got was me. What a let down eh?

I've always told friends that Fly-fishing on opening weekend was primarily and foremost a social event. Fishing and catching fish is just a bonus. This year was no different for in spite of the rain we were all at the river, laying upon the banks under the swept branches of the white cedars to stay dry, have pleasant conversation, libation and fine cigars. In such situations you see wildlife you may have never seen if you were lustfully flailing away with your fly rod in the river.

Wildlife seen this weekend:

• Deer to numerous to count
• Wood ducks
• Barred Owl
• Coyotes
• Grouse
• Pileated Wood Peckers
• Wild Turkeys
• Spotted Sand Piper

Now, that last one was a trip. We had no idea what kind of bird it was. But it's odd behavior, it's actions, how it moved about, were pretty funny. As it walked it literally was shaking it's booty as if to say "Take me, take me now!" and was the butt (no pun intended) of many jokes and laughs as we called it the "Ho bird" and the "Shake your cooty catcher" among other things that provided a great many laughs as we sat in the rain. It turns out we were closer to the truth than we could have imagined.

This bird, the Spotted Piper, is also called the "Teeter Tail" or the "Tip Up" and was the female of the species. She's a true slut. She mates with a male, lays her eggs and leaves him to mind the nest and the chicks as she finds other mates to do the same thing to. You really can and see and/or learn something new every day! So, yeah, we had a great time!