Friends – Page 2 – Roccus Writing

What did you catch him on?

Most fishing web sites are full of pictures of people holding up large fish that they caught. After awhile the fish in these pictures all look the same.

The anglers in these pictures all look the same too, in part because, depending on the type of fish, they’re all wearing pretty much the same stuff. If the fish is a steelhead or trout, the angler is wearing earth-tone waders and a bulgy vest or chest pack thingy with lots of small, clanky things hanging off it. If the fish is a marlin, the angler is wearing topsiders, shorts, a pastel-colored polo shirt, and probably a self-satisfied expression. Tarpon and bonefishermen opt for tan pants, puffy shirts, and stupid hats. The shirts all have rear ventilation flaps, a feature you’d think would actually be more useful on the pants. If it’s a striped bass, the angler could wearing any combination of these things, or even all of them at once. He’s probably also half in the bag.

Compared to those other pictures, this one’s a lot more interesting–Dale Linder holding the smallest tarpon I’ve ever seen. And how impressive is the catch? Lots of people have caught hundred pound tarpon, but how many have caught a six-incher? I didn’t even know tarpon came that small. I thought they all started life at around ten pounds. But unless Dale smuggled a can of sardines out onto the flats that day, I guess I was wrong. The rod, he says, was a ten weight with a floating, sink-tip line. He won’t say what fly he was using. Bastard.

Yes but I photograph well

Our friend and neighbor Dave Skok just returned from a trip to Costa Rica where, in additional to catching a few fishies, he also took some amazing photographs. A short selection of them is posted on Moldy Chum (which, coincidentally, is probably also a fair description of Dave after several weeks in the jungle). Take a look at the brilliant reds on the Costa Rican rainbows–their flanks look like sunrise in a Turner watercolor.

Back from Denver

Rocky Mountains Hi Everybody. Just returned from the Flyfishing Show West in Denver, where the turnout was excellent and where fishing and fun were “in the air,” with lots of people stopping by to tell me of their adventures past, present, and soon-to-be.

I always enjoy these shows since they give me an opportunity to visit with old friends and to meet new ones. I was fortunate enough to be tying next to Doug Swisher and his friend Sharon and was also able to spend some time with Dave Whitlock, Gary Borger, John Betts, AK Best, and John Gierach among others, people I don’t get to see often enough except at shows and whose company I always enjoy.

Also had a chance to pick up some great flytying materials; necks from Bill Keogh and some new and interesting materials from Doug Swisher and also from Gary Borger, enough to keep me in experimental material for some time to come. You’ll probably be seeing some of this material incorporated into some of my fly patterns before too long.

I gave two slide presentations at the show on “Tigerfishing on the Zambezi,” which were well-attended and well-received and invited many interesting questions, including one posed by strange-looking gent who asked me why there weren’t more elephants in Colorado? Didn’t have an answer to that one but maybe one of you can help me out here. If I can discover what mental institution he’s currently residing in I’ll pass it along.

I’d like thank everybody who stopped by my tying area and bought flies, books, and materials. Due to airline restrictions I wasn’t able to bring a lot of stuff with me and I apologize for running out of some items early in the show. If there’s anything you wanted but I didn’t have you can always order whatever it is from my website.

Other Upcoming Flyfishing Shows I’ll be appearing at:

Flyfishing Show East, Marlboro, MA January 18, 19, 20
Flyfishing Show East, Somerset, NJ January 25, 26, 27

If you’re in the area, please stop by and say hello. Till the next time, Happy Fishing!

Flytying in Iraq

Iraqi Palace Lake It was December 30th when I sat down here at the computer to write about my friend Tim Didas (see his blog comment of a few days ago), who’s on his second–or is it his third?- tour of duty in Iraq. Can’t remember but it’s been a long time in any case. It’s now early in the morning of the 31st, New Year’s Eve day, and I’m still looking for words.

I often think about Tim and about all the turmoil over there, the dangers, and all the responsibilities and concerns that he must have (he’s a Sergeant Major in the Marine Corps in charge of a battalion) and how, despite all this he still finds and takes the time to get together with his chaplain one night a week to tie flies, making do with whatever materials come to hand.

Not long ago Tim wrote me that there were a couple of ponds on his camp grounds, with some sizeable fish in them. He didn’t say what they were or that he’d had the time to fish for them but he did tell me that he saw what looked like a mayfly hatch in one of the ponds and after some doing he managed to capture one of these insects. Said it was about a #16, and “like everything else over here, kind of a sandy color. It looked like a Light Cahill that had been sitting on a shelf gathering dust.”

If you can conjure up in your mind any one of the violent images of the war in Iraq that you often see on television and juxtapose this with an image of a young buzzcut Marine sitting down in battle fatigues to tie up a delicate mayfly imitation or chasing down a mayfly that had just hatched you can’t help but be forcibly struck by these sharp and powerfully contrasting images of war and of peace. And you can’t help but be thankful that we have someone like Tim “over there” serving his country–and ours–so well. And hope also that he returns home safely–and soon.

And soon it will be too. I think he has only a few months left before he rotates back to the States. And when he does he’ll probably retire, after 26 or 27 years in the Marines, and return to his home state of New York, where, if I know Tim, the trout had better be on the lookout, especially when he shows them some of those “sure-to-catch ’em” flies that he’s been tying over there in Iraq.

I checked out Curt Schilling’s blog earlier today–great blog, by the way–www.38pitches.com— and came across this video. When you watch it, imagine that one of those returning is Tim. And include him in your thoughts with a hearty Welcome Home!