right place ~ right time

(this is a continuation of the previous post)



This was one fish that I wanted to land! I thought of how big the fish was when it jumped out of the water and that I had a truly barbless hook, but a big hook and I kept the line tight. Thank goodness I'd gone to 4X tippet. The fish ran and I was able to reel it in, then it ran again, and again. I wanted to get this one to the net so I took my time. But I don't like to keep a fish on the line for too long so I gently brought it in as quick as I could. I was so thankful Rick was the one netting it. I trust him more than anyone. I brought the fish close to the shoreline and he kept the net in the water inching closer to the fish from the tail. He quietly crept up on the fish and scooped it up! My adrenalin was racing! This was a huge fish! A fat fish! A beautiful brown trout!

The fisherman with the big camera was there and had photographed me while I was fighting the fish. And he'd gotten a couple shots of Rick netting the fish. He introduced himself as Phil Savoie and said he was a photographer. What? Thoughts were running through my head about getting some photos of this fish on our point and shoot Olympus and here was a photographer! What are the odds? Were the stars aligned? I'd finally hit a jackpot.

Phil the photographer 'set the stage' and encouraged me on how to hold onto the big fish. And it took me a while to get a grip on it. Usually I can get my hands around the fish, but this one was big and I didn't want to miss a few photos like this. Phil had said a couple times "What a hog! And you got it on a dry fly!" which seemed to increase my stress of getting the photos. I was anxious to get some good photos. Phil said to use one hand to hold the tail and the other hand to lift the front of the fish, but I couldn't get my left hand around the tail section of the fish! We all wanted to quickly get the fish back to the water so I tried and tried and finally we got some photos. Phil's camera was one of those powerful DSLR, a Canon I believe, and it took multiple shots at a time. Click, click, click, click, over and over. Unbelievable I kept thinking. What are the chances that a professional photographer would be fishing next to me when I landed such an amazing fish?!?! And such a nice guy!

We finished with the "photo session" and made sure the fish was healthy and ready to return to the currents. After we released the fish we started talking with Phil and asked how we could get copies of the photos he'd taken. He told us he would return in a few days and bring us a disc with the images. I'm still thinking "UNBELIEVABLE!" I asked how we could every repay him and he said "How about 3 PMD's, 3 crane flies and we'll call it even?" I opened my fly box and gladly gave him flies. Phil gave us a business card and told us he'd worked with National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Planet Earth, and many other networks and organizations. I had my Droid phone with me and as I was 'recovering' I looked him up on the Internet. He has an amazing website at http://www.philsavoie.com/ where you can see many of the projects and films that he's accomplished. The next day he emailed me a few of the photos and said he'd return to fish with us in a couple days.

Phil had come from Bozeman to fish the river and although he wasn't working he'd brought along some of his photo equipment. In between fishing he was busy taking photos of bugs. Phil is also a biologist and was as interested in the bugs as he was in fishing. In fact, I think the bugs held his attention more than the fish. Rick volunteered to collect insects as Phil fished. As Phil packed up his equipment he gave me a preview of the 380 photos he'd taken of me and the big brown. I couldn't stop thinking "Amazing luck!"

When Phil returned a few days later he brought the disc with about 60 photos and we gave him a small box of more flies. He asked that if I post his photos on the blog that I give him photo credit since that's how he makes his living. I'm more than happy to do so. He told us about a huge fish he'd caught years ago while in England and that someone had taken photos of the record-breaking fish for him. He even showed us a photo of his very large trout. He said I was a nice lady and he was happy to help me. I guess all the years of me giving away flies, helping others to fish, and taking other people's picture was coming full-circle. For the rest of the morning Phil fished and I spotted rising fish for him. Rick again collected insects and Phil told us about some of his on-going projects and future plans. I'm still thanking my lucky stars that he decided to fish next to me.

It's what some would call the fish of a lifetime. I like to think I have a lot of lifetime left and more memorable fish to catch. Tight lines Phil! Hope to see you on the river again.

(all photos in this blog post are courtesy of Phil Savoie, © 2010 Phil Savoie  www.philsavoie.com)

Oh Deer!

While on the river last week Rick noticed a deer on the edge of the river quite a distance from us. We were just looking around, not fishing, and I had my big Nikon camera with the more powerful telephoto zoom. I saw the deer, but could really see it after I took a couple photos. It was way upriver and we watched it cross the river.


There were no fishermen in sight and the deer took it's time and meandered along.

Just a couple days ago I was fishing towards the far bank, pretty much by myself, when I caught a glimpse of movement in the bushes. I stopped fishing and watched as a small deer, possibly the same one we'd seen upriver, made her way slowly towards the river. Rick was upstream from me, but he noticed that I'd stopped fishing and I motioned to the deer. Being farther away, he could clearly see it, waved at me, and continued fishing. I didn't want to scare it by casting and I was very happy to watch it wander along the upper bank so close to me. I carry the small Olympus 1050SW waterproof camera in my chest pack just for these times.

See what I mean about being distracted? I just have to stop and watch when an eagle flies in circles over my head or when the osprey hovers above the river before diving straight down to grab a fish. We stopped and watched as the the momma otter moved her babies one-by-one from their little cave-home in the riverbank up into the grasses. Even the red-breasted robin pulling worms from the mud is wonderfully distracting. Love it!

Grip & Grin

Rick & his fish

Mic & her fish

I carry the camera in this family.

Every Day is a Beach

I feel sort of like I'm in Montana, where we fly fish everyday and I try to find something other than fishing to talk about. But why fight a good thing.

Cape Kiwanda at Pacific City, Oregon. You can see the huge sand dunes in the distance.

No, we're not fishing, but every day we're at the ocean and there's not enough space on this blog to post all the beach pictures I take. I don't get tired of stopping to take pictures just like I don't get tired of fly fishing all summer.

More of the Oregon coast.
Just another beautiful beach.

Another hummer at the rain gauge

I wasn't sure there would be many hummers this far north this early in the year.


I put the feeder on Rick's window and took these photos from across the room. I also replenished the sugar water so it wasn't diluted.

Osprey Nest

While out on the drive to West Yellowstone we spotted this man-made osprey perch with a nest and drove on by because we didn't see any birds in the nest. I made a note of where the nest was and when we came back by on our way home we saw that it was now occupied. There were 2 babies and one of the parents was feeding the babies. Ospreys are trout hunters and can be seen diving into the rivers and lakes from way up high in the sky to grab fish. Whenever I see one overhead I have to stop what I'm doing to watch it's graceful, yet powerful, dive into the water and hope that it surfaces with a fish in it's talons to take back to the nest. (These photos don't do these magestic birds justice. I hope you get to see one in action.)

Spur of the moment trip to West Yellowstone

One night last week we decided to take a trip to West Yellowstone. The town of West Yellowstone, not the national park. Although the town is at the west entrance of the park, we knew it would only be a day trip with the main purpose of visiting the fly shops. What else? And I also knew it would be a great opportunity to stop along the way and take some scenic photos. As the driver, I get to stop where and when I want to.

We were on the road around 8 AM for the 3 hour drive and stopped in Dillon for fuel - for us and for the car. I'd been wanting to visit Beaverhead Rock on the way to Twin Bridges, so this was the first place I pulled over, cameras in hand. It is a historical location, an old stagecoach stop and one of the places visited by Lewis & Clark. The area is now a conservation area by the local rachers and farmers to preserve history and enhance the environment and economy. You can see that the Rock is quite a landmark, easily seen from a distance, even if you are driving a stagecoach.

Uh-oh! The printer died!

Well, actually, the black ink still works, so we can print documents. Just the color has stopped working. And only the magenta has stopped flowing, so my photos have taken on a sunshine-yellow tint. Very yellow, with no red. The green trees are blue and the reds and oranges are very yellow. So I probably can't print any photos or cards until we get back to Arizona. I'll be OK without the printer, a Canon i960 photo printer that I just love!

Rick took the 6 ink cartridges (tanks) out, refilled them and found that the magenta was almost out (without a warning). I did some research on the Internet to find out about the print head failure and why the magenta nozzle might be stopped up. Rick soaked the print head in isopropyl alcohol and Windex for a long time and then used canned air to blow through the print head nozzle. After a few deep cleaning cycles, still no luck. We'll wait until we get to the big city to replace it. This won't stop me from taking photos and luckily I had just printed some photos to display and created some photo greeting cards. Of all the electronic devices we have, I guess this is the one I won't miss too much.

Mother Deer & twins

I just had to post this photo in case you didn't see the slideshow in the previous post. Rick did a great job with the camera. Always does.

Road Trip for Brookies

We made a road trip in search of brook trout in a small stream about an hour away from camp. Eric, Stefanie, 13 year old Addison, and Rick & I loaded into Eric's truck for the day trip. We headed off on the dirt road to Selway Creek and soon after arriving we hit the stream. Using small elk hair caddis or a larger 'stimi' pattern, we all hooked our share of small brook trout. Addison got the hang of casting the light-weight 3-weight rods and hooked many fish on her own. The small fish are quick to jump on the hook hoping for a tasty fly. They were 3" to about 9" and no, we didn't keep any for the fry pan. We had a yummy lunch of sandwiches and chips (why does food always taste better in the great outdoors?) and then we were back to fishing for a little longer. The thunder and lightening and rain drove us off the river and into the truck to continue our drive through the trees and over the hills.

We drove on again in search of another stream and it began to hail. Big hail stones the size of cherries, some we thought were the size of ping pong balls. And no where to hide on the dirt road. Thankfully it was a slushy, soft hail or the truck would have plenty of dings and dents. We'd all been in hail storms before, some that have done damage to vehicles and buildings, but this hail was really large. It was like someone throwing snowballs down on us.

Across one of the valleys, at least a mile away, we could see horses and cows, but there was some other animal that Eric said had to be elk. We stopped just long enough for me to get out the Nikon P80 with the 18x zoom and try to focus on the big herd of elk. Oh, if only they weren't a mile away. But they were definitely elk. I wish I had another photo that would show how far away they were. I remember the time we were in Greer, Arizona on a dirt road and came upon a huge herd of elk on the road. They weren't afraid of us and we were able to sit for quite a while and observe them all around us.

As we drove along Addison spotted a deer or 2 in the woods that we scared as we drove by. She also saw a lone elk that quickly made it's escape when it saw the truck. Rick saw a deer and it didn't run away like the others and we were able to stop, hoping to get some photos. What a nice surprise to see that the doe had 2 very young babies with her and they were staying close enough to the road that Rick was able to get these photos. They were so cute with their white spots. This was probably the highlight of my day and I could have sat for hours watching them.

Underwater RiverCam

This underwater video camera sure takes some practice! This is our first attempt at photographing or videoing (sp?) wild trout. I did play with the camera some in the pool, but I will spare you the video of family swimming and blowing bubbles underwater. I think a couple things made this difficult = 1.) the water was only a few inches deep where we released the fish, and 2.) the fish didn't want to hang out in shallow water. It quickly darts off when I release my hold on it.



This isn't like snorkling and having a camera to swim with. We are only in the water up to our ankles and perhaps moving out to knee-deep will be easier. Still, I find it challenging. but you can bet that I'll be trying more of it. It is a 2-person task though, so I'll have to convince Rick to give me a hand.

Photo Contest

The activities director in our community held a photo contest and residents could enter one photo during the week. The goal was to gather enough photos taken within our community so they can make and sell calendars next year. I thought about it and couldn't decide right away. I looked through my photos I'd already printed and decided on day 6 to enter a photo. There were about 40 photos entered and the residents voted on their favorite photos, with the top winners being choosen for the calendar.

This is the photo I entered. Its taken in our front yard at 5:30 in the morning just when the sun was rising, back in 2005. It's one of my favorites. I call it "A New Day".

After seeing the other photos entered, I decided that Rick could also enter a photo. This is the one entered with his name.

Its the state flower of Arizona, the saguaro cactus. Both photos were choosen for the calendar.

Fun stuff

We've settled into a routine schedule of fun activities! We're having soooo much fun! This is the fun part of retirement! We still love to play pickleball (me probably more than Rick) and it's a good incentive to get up early and get going. There are lots of choices of where and when to play, but we like the round-robin play everyday from 7:30 AM to 11:00. There are also ladies groups, couples groups, an advanced group, weekly lessons and mini pickleball tournaments happening all the time. All the enthusiastic players and the pickleball club keep the pickleballs flying from sun-up to sun-down.

The weather is warming up and by 8:00 the courts are busy. Rick plays 2-4 games and then around 9:00 he heads up the street to the Sawmill Woodshop for a few hours. He's working on some cool pieced and turned bowls. I usually stay and play a few more pickleball games and on Thursday I played with the ladies group. A lot of play on that day - 12 games!

I've started riding my bike around the community and some days I go back and forth from home to the town center a few times. Great exercise! I go home for lunch and Rick usually joins me for a little sandwich. Today he planned to stay late at Woodshop so I surprised him with lunch and he didn't have to leave the shop. He's working on a bowl that looks more like a wooden puzzle. Maybe I'll post some photos of the life-cycle of a pieced bowl.

I spend some of my afternoon time at the Stitchery club or Arts & Craft club participating in classes or working on my own projects. And sometimes I wander through the Ceramic club to see what they're up to. Activities are starting to wind down so I won't join something new right now, but next year I might check out the line dancing lessons. Friends say it's a lot of fun and good exercise, too!

Sometimes I take my camera on my bike rides because I never know what will catch my eye. The morning light can be so perfect for photos. It's gorgeous springtime in Arizona and the birds are abundant. Lots of Canada geese, quail, and the prolific doves. The cactus, trees and bushes are starting to sprout and flower. I took the photo of the cactus and then tweaked them a little. I don't usually tweak photos, but seeing the cactus with the saturated colors is almost cartoon-like. And Beavertail cactus is anything but cartoon-like.


By 4 PM we're both home, sitting on the patio, planning what to cook on the BBQ. After dinner we talk about what's on the calendar for tomorrow. FUN! FUN! FUN!

Part of the landscape

After 2 weeks in this beautiful (just a little crowded) desert, we are starting to feel a part of the landscape.

Quartzsite Sunset

Arizona has some of the best sunsets!

"There's a bathroom on the right"

A couple more hobbies that travel well

Keeping with hobbies for another post, I also take my yarn and crochet hooks with me on the road. A small crochet project actually travels well to the doctor appointment you have to wait for or a car trip, if I'm not driving of course. I think you can take plastic crochet hooks on airplanes once again, but who travels by commercial airlines anymore if they can avoid it?

Anyway, I love to crochet and I've never met a crocheter who wasn't willing to show a newbie the basics. We have a small group in our community, called the NeedleArt Group, who get together every Friday morning and share their latest projects. Any type of needle work.

Another hobby of mine, probably my second favorite behind fly fishing, is taking photos. With digital cameras you get instant results, although my love of photos started with Rick's 35mm Minolta 101 (circa 1970 Vietnam) and the macro lens. I remember 20 years ago taking pictures of wildflowers growing on the banks of a stream in Wyoming. On my belly, up close. But it wasn't until I got the film developed that I saw the results. With digital cameras you can tell fairly well what you have when you push the button. Gaining a little understanding of photography with that camera was a blessing. I'd like to take a photography class sometime. I think I'll put that on my to-do list. (There's probably a photography club in our community!)

Here are a couple shots of my favorite subjects from our last trip to CA.

Digital cameras are not so expensive anymore, for a small point and shoot type. It's a wonderful way to remember a trip or those kids who grow up so fast!

Photography - For fun, not for a living

While we were in California for Thanksgiving, my sister asked if I would take photos of her and the family for their Christmas cards. She found a professional photographer who would stage the photos at the beach, but that turned into a bad idea when the weather forecast was for rain and wind. Instead she asked me to give it a try. I like to focus on fish, flowers, and landscapes, but I thought it would be interesting.

So on Sunday after turkey-day, we drove to the Claremont Colleges - Pomona, Scripps, Harvey Mudd, McKenna, Keck and more. Beautiful architecture, manicured lawns, trees, gardens, fountains, and good weather. There were a number of families there enjoying the park-like setting and wide-open spaces. Being a long holiday weekend, there were literally no students to be found.

At times, trying to get the 2 year old and 5 year old boys to pose for photos was difficult when all they wanted to do was run and play. And climb trees. And kick through the leaves, go up and down the steps, play tag, find bugs, climb the low walls, and sit on the benches. Getting them to stay still was the hard part, but they are kids afterall. Here are a few of my favs.

And a slideshow of fun bloopers to give you an idea of the fun we had trying to get them all smiling and looking at me at the same time. Taking pics of fish and flowers is a lot easier. They don't move like a 2 year old! In hindsight I would try a couple different settings on the camera and I'd bring along a couple of props to get their attention.

I wish I could have explored the campuses, but taking the photos of them was a lot of fun. I think we all had fun. And I hope they are able to use a couple of the photos for their Christmas card.