Nice stretch of water

Photo by Tuber

I always look forward to getting back to this spot every year. I’ve never pulled a big fish or a lot of fish out of this stretch. What draws me back each year is the good vibes I get when I’m walking up down the banks.

It’s just a nice stretch of water that puts a big smile on my face everytime I see it.

Possibly biting off more than I can chew

A small portion of the 900 square feet of bamboo flooring I am installing. A little more labor intensive than I thought. No prior experience and a learn as you go process. Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way.

Be careful what you promise to the wife. Came home from work one day to find 40 boxes of bamboo flooring stacked up in my garage stall. The wife is tiny…the stack of 40 boxes of flooring is not. I’m parking outside in the snow now.  She calls it motivation. I call it being setup.

In Alaska, contractors glue down and staple every 2 inches the plywood underlayment for vinyl flooring. That shit is nearly impossible to tear out. I say nearly. Nothing a case of The Silver Bullet, 2 pry bars, circular saw, Dremel, big screwdriver, hammer, chisel, and 2 days can’t handle. Unfortunately I only managed to tear up what was in the half bath. Not enough incentive in the world to get me to tear up the rest of that shit in the kitchen and laundry room. Well that isn’t quite true. I’d do it for a custom Burkie and Bougle Mk IV.

Flush mount heating vents look cool. Pain in the ass to install. You may think you just made a straight cut and you measured it correctly. The proof is in the fit-up. If this is your first time attempting this manuever I would suggest buying an extra box or two. Don’t worry, the screw ups make good tapping blocks.

Imported bamboo flooring and the 402 Porta-Nailer aren’t exactly a match made in heaven. They use the metric system in China. PNI sells a metric bamboo shoe for $34.99 + shipping. Why bother…nothing a couple of washers can’t solve.

Waitlisted

Growing up, everyone played hockey. My brother and I lived across the street from the hockey rink and during the winters we played everyday. All the kids from the neighborhood would converge on the rink. We would toss all of the sticks into the middle and toss them blindly to the left and right. That’s how we picked teams.

We played when it was cold enough to crack a puck. We played from sun up to sun down. We played until the lights went out.

I quit playing organized hockey about 10 years ago. Not sure why but it happened. Sold or gave away all my gear except my skates. Picked up a stick and some gloves a year or so ago to play some shinny hockey. Recently picked up a new pair of skates.

I’m on the waitlist for the FHL (Fun Hockey League). Hoping it’s a short list. I’m ready to play.

A few thousand casts later

Tuber and I have been at this two-hander thing for little over two years now. Since early 2007 to be more precise. We both started out picking up more rod than we needed for the waters we fished. Back then we didn’t know better but we didn’t care. We had to get out there and see what it was all about.

We both came at it from different angles. I stumbled upon two-handers on the internet and he was lucky enough to have two buddies who were a year ahead. Now it consumes us and we can’t stop talking about it.

We are probably the only two people who have ever thrown a two-hander on the Anchor, Bird, and Ship. I know I am probably the only person who has worked the two-hander at the peak of sockeye season in Southcentral. Not exactly the proper stage but it’s water and it was what we had to work with. If you’ve ever fished those waters you know it doesn’t take much more than a nine footer to cover every inch of water and then some. To say the two-hander was overkill would be an understatement. The Anchor was probably the worst place to apply the art. Most of the time we just flipped the tip. Bird and Ship weren’t much better but at least you could stretch one out there once and a while when the tide was in. We usually ended up fishing water others wouldn’t or couldn’t.

We got some stares and some funny looks for sure. Thirteen feet of rod and fly line thick enough to winch a jeep out of the mud flats is strange if you didn’t know any better. It was fun and we felt like pioneers.

Lucky for us we’ve been able to find some proper water to apply the down and across. Like the stretch of water we go back to every spring and the new piece I discovered this year. And the old water that’s new water because we can now look at things from an entirely different angle.

This two-hander business has changed everything. I find myself fishing the single-hander and throwing spey casts about half the time now. It’s opened up new water and has made those tough spots easier to fish. Now it seems as though there is no piece of water we can’t fish.

At first we knew very few people who ever used a two-hander on the waters we fished. We never saw another person swinging the big stick. Now it seems more and more folks are toting along a two-hander. There aren’t many but it’s growing. I’ve never actually seen someone outside of our crew making the casts and taking the steps. It’s equivalent to a big foot sighting I suppose. I’ve seen a few pictures but have yet to run into someone on the water working the two-hander.

I think that is cool.

A little over two years into it and I’ve managed to collect a few things. A lot of it is gear but a big chunk has been knowledge and experience. I started out barely chucking the head of a Rio Skagit 450, a 10 foot cheater, and a 10 foot T-14 tip on a Sage 7136 Z. I now know why the 450 wasn’t cutting it for me on the 7136 and what it takes to chuck a giant bunny leech (if you don’t know yet I’ll give you a clue – short, fat and more grains per foot). Now I’ve got the 7136 loaded with Airflo Ridge, Compact Skagits heavy enough to launch a dead chicken, and a shit ton of zip lock bags of custom made sinktips. I’ve also managed to pick up two more sticks more appropriate for the waters I fish. The 6126 Z helps bring some smaller water in to play and makes tangling with the everyday fish that much more fun. A new addition, the 6110 Z, makes brushy bank channels and brushy freestones where trout like to hide accessible and a blast for swinging sculpins and leeches.

A few thousand casts later and I can now make the cast more often to get me fishing. I know a little more about how to fish a swinging fly and not just leave it up to chance.  What keeps me truck’n along is  looking for more pieces of water and opportunities close to home to swing up more rainbows, more steelhead and that first king on the two-hander.

Skagit Master – New Water Media

About a guy who likes to fish