As next Saturday is Opening Day of trout season in California, and lacking any true originality, most of you will be practicing your sudden onset of infirmity, or dry eyed and grief struck over the sudden death of a heretofore unknown close relative, and all this simply to cut out early on Friday … … [...]

I’d planned to watch a little glitz last night, mostly because of Billy Crystal, who manages to make sport of Hollywood’s reigning elite, yet gets invited back as his humor somehow skirts lasting injury. The Oscars are actually a couple of shows in one; the first where they award gleaming statuary for popularity in acting and immenseness [...]

On my way back from Fresno I was surprised to see California poppies spreading their bright orange petals amid the litter and grit of the center divider. Poppies being an April phenomenon and suggests this is likely to be a season full of the unexpected. Not that any season is ever predictable, but this one [...]

That left boot full of icy water suggested that my, “It’s fixed!” was a bit premature – and my great idea on how to wake enormous and lethargic fish before Winter’s chill struck appeared to be just as porous … Coming from the far side of the siphon pool last week, I’d seen an enormous [...]

Back when I was young and virile they invited me because of all the dope I smoked I was in tune with the fish, I knew what they ate and where they slept at night … Now that I’m simply another aged burden on society, I’m thinking that with this new slimmer physique, how I’m [...]

Technorati Tags: snow melt, shad, wading peril

I told him, “ …when I debuted the Sixth Finger I spared no expense … fly fishing being no different than most male dominated sports, with fellows claiming they’re reading when they’re hoping for a picture of sweat-soaked flesh with a come hither gleam. Sex sells, so I hired Gertrude “The Grip” Mapplethorpe, whose hands can [...]

Last night’s thunderstorm had scrubbed the Little Stinking as clean as I’d ever seen it. I woke Sunday expecting to see more of the same, but all the weather was at a distance and I had a large chunk of blue sky to make a mad dash for the creek. Enough time to get muddy [...]

Wherein we salute all patriots still abed, and commiserate that the empty beer cans and explosive debris on your lawn simply will not wait for your head to clear, or the throbbing temples to subside: Us clean-living types braved the cordite and pre-dawn roadside IED’s to get blanked, but the colors are remarkably similar … [...]

I’m feeling particularly turgid at the prospect of a spending the weekend with you, yet you remain swollen and bloated, claiming you’re retaining water and in no mood for a frolic. In my feverish condition I’m past considering your feelings, so I looked up other flames and they’re in similar shape, singing the same sorrowful [...]