Merry Christmas!

With ice or straight up?

A friend called the other day while driving from Texas to Colorado. He was on his way to pick up his son and then they were going ice fishing! Ice fishing! I know a lot of people like to ice fish, especially when it's winter and the only way to satisfy that craving for fishing to to cut a hole in the ice, but those 2 words don't go well together for me. I like to fish without ice. See, I like to wet wade and having ice on the water is just too much for me to handle. I like it when the water is at least 56 degrees.



Anyway, Eric wanted to know what we were up to since we sort of dropped off the blog world and weren't reporting in. I thought I'd do a quick update on a recent fishing excursion. Lucky for us, here in Arizona during the winter the ice is rare.

Our nephews came to visit last month and the 6 year old was like a typical eager little boy wanting to fish. We took them to the local urban lake where Fish & Game had just finished stocking catfish and had started stocking trout.

When the nephews are older and we're on a stream we plan to introduce 'em to fly fishing, but for now we had to "stick" with the garden hackle variety of store-bought worms. On the first day of the urban lake fishing they caught a nice little bass and let it go. The next day they caught a crappie and a good size trout (for an urban lake). This time the fish swallowed the worm-fly and a neighbor fisherperson wanted them for dinner so we gave them up. However, we were able to share with our young nephews that we put the fish back to live another day whenever possible.

The older boy was very interested in the fishing adventure, but the 3 year old was easily distracted by the other kids playing in the playground and wanted to feed the ducks more than he wanted to wait for a fish to bite. Sort of like me when the osprey flies overhead or the deer wander down to the river bank, it's easy to be distracted.

Although Rick cast the line out most of the time so the worm had a good chance of finding a fish, he let Josh practice casting and soon realized that he was pretty darn good. He'll be able to cast a fly rod some day soon.

We were just as thrilled with our days of fishing as our nephews were. We look forward to the future when we can share fly fishing in Montana with them.

Happy Friday Fish

is that a smile? Does this look like a happy fish? Sort of looks like a smile.

He's happy 'cause he knows I'm going to let him go free.

Friday Fish Friends

So many people would ask us if we had the fish named and we'd say "Yes, they're our friends."

Here's one of our Friday Fish Friends

Friday Fish on my Mind

I try to take time on Friday and remember the good times we had on the river. Actually, I think about the good times everyday!

Fall to Winter to Summer - Huh?

Back in October we saw the leaves change from green to yellow, orange, gold, and red. Ahhh, the changing of the colors! There was a crispness in the air and it was beautiful! Everyone was anticipating colder weather and better fishing.

Soon after we had the colder weather and a couple days of snow, followed by many more days of snow. Lots of snow in fact, but we had a small window of opportunity to head south away from the freezing cold snow and we took the opportunity. We knew that the snow was not going to go away and if we wanted to escape we'd have to get going. I was a little sad to think that we'd be leaving.

The snow was unreal! It was an eerie sight looking out the windows at midnight, like we were on another planet. A moonscape. And when the sun was shining, it was like a field of sparkling diamonds had been scattered. Having never been in that much snow for that long, I thought it was magical. It was so quiet with the usual sounds muffled by the deep frozen white pillows. Beautiful to look at, but no fun to walk on the icy paths. And impossible to drive in. We were "snowed in" for a couple days and that was an odd feeling. I wondered what it would be like to spend the entire winter in such conditions.





This is how we usually spend our winters. Back in Arizona where the only thing sparkling is the sun.

Another FINe Friday Fish

What a 'fin'e fish! Fine! Fine! Really Fine!

Friday Fish 'Fin'-d

What a 'fin'd!

Settled in

I think everyone has called, emailed or stopped by to see that we are once again home in Arizona. Settled in for at least a little while. And it sure is nice to be here. The place looks good, the community had a spiffy upgrade over the summer, and the weather can't be beat. Arizona has got to be one of the best places to spend the winter.

But yes, I'm still going to talk about fishing. And a little on living in the motorhome.

Friday Fish ~ Tiny Fins

With a 3 weight fly rod on a small stream, even these fish are fun! And there are always a few surprise fish hanging out in the deeper pools. This is a great way to let beginners get the feel of catching fish on a fly rod.

You just can't yank them out of the water or the little guys go flying over your head into the grass!

Rio on the Rio

It's a good feeling when you get good customer service. And such was the feeling when we needed help from Rio Products.

Rick had purchased a new Rio Gold fly line and had used it for a while when the tip of the line started to separate. Like the outer coating was separating from the core. Since it was only the first 16" or so of the line we thought it couldn't be caused by moving through the ferrules of the rod so we called Rio to see if they would replace the line. The company has been in business for a long time and we knew they stood behind their stuff. We'd used their fly fishing products for years and knew many fishing guides who also did. We called the company and immediately spoke with a gentleman who asked us to send them a note and a piece of the bad line. He understood that we were fishing, apologized for any inconvenience and said if they found it to be something wrong with the line they would have a new line out to us in a couple days. And he was correct. Without any questions we had a new line in our hands in just a couple days. This is truly great customer service.

Rio Fly Fishing Products

I'd been looking at another line for next year, made by another company, but I think I'll just stick with what I know is good and reliable. And with a company that stands behind their products. Thank you Rio!

Missin the Fishin!

I miss the fish!