Fatherhood and fishing thoughts

I haven't blogged in a while but I have two updates:

Fatherhood thoughts: My beloved and I took a trip back down memory lane this past weekend with our 3 girls. We went back to the city on Lake Winnebago where our older 2 girls were born just about 6 years ago. We shared meals with old friends, played with some friend's and their kids in a swimming pool with a nifty water slide. We had a chance to drive past the places we'd been so many times before.

It wasn't our first trip back and it won't be our last. Wisconsin isn't that far away after all. We've come back to relax and catch up a few times over the past 6 years. We came back this time so I could give a speech at a banquet for the church where I served a few years ago. Our first girls were pretty small when we left; but we've been back enough to introduce them to the church where they were baptized and the pastor/God-mother who baptized them.

The time in the Fox Valley included a short trip to the Hecrodt Nature Center and Light-House at Kimberly Park where the Fox River flows out of Lake Winnebago. The girls were complaining about the Lake Flies that hatched last week too much to catch the beauty of the area where they were born.

We're back in the prairie today. The air is warm and there's plenty of wind. My beloved said it's a record setting heat. It's a good old prairie heat wave. Its our home now and will be for a while, but still it was good to go back to see old friends and celebrate with them. It was good to know that there are good places to go east of here.

Trout Fishing: A week and a half ago was the annual Mother's Day Weekend on the Whitewater River. It was a great time and I will look forward to the weekend in the pasture next to the wildlife management area again next year. A new member joined the crew at the old fishing hole. Dave's a true fly-fisherman who even brought out a wonderful wet-fly called a Mother's Day Caddis for the weekend. All these years that I've been fishing on Mother's Day and I had no idea that there's a Caddis pattern for the weekend. I learned more from Dave in two days then I had in about 11 years playing with a fly rod.

The challenge for the trouter, taken from God's question to Job in Job 41:1 was, "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook?" was answered by Chad, an Iowan by way of Fargo. Chad had the biggest catch ever on the Whitewater, while fishing with a mep thrown on a spinning real. He said it had gotten snagged on a tree across the stream a good hours walk up from the rest of us up at camp.

He pulled back hard and it snapped back. At first he thought it had bounced off, but obviously it didn't.

I drove Chad to Winona so that a doctor could pull the hook out rather than risk having either of the 2 chemists or the preacher in camp try to remove it. Chad caught himself with 2 of the 3 treble hooks. The doctor was quick with the lidocaine. She snipped the 3rd hook. Next she pushed one of the hooks through to cut off the barb before pushing the 2nd one through and snipping out the barb. After about 60 seconds of pushing and pulling chad had 4 little 2 mm cuts in his cut where the barbs had pierced him.

Trout Season Winds Down

Trout season's winding down. It happens every year in this neck of the woods. In mid-September, right after the kids have gone back to school, Trout season comes to an end.

My last time out this year was in Trout Run just a few miles north of the famed Bucksnort Dam between Chatfield and Rushford, Minnesota. I'd fished this section a few years before with my buddy Arlo. It was slow fishing on Friday morning. The gps calendar said it was an average day. I only saw one fish jump in about 90 minutes. The fishing got even slower after Teddy, the trusty Water Spaniel, stepped on my pole and snapped off the top 14 or so inches. A wiseman at the local outdoors store said he could have it fixed in a week.

As the days grow shorter and the cold air starts to creep in at night this trout fisherman's view of the world changes. As I've started to fish more over time I've become more and more aware of the way the world changes through Spring, Summer, and first hints of Fall on the rivers and streams around here. There's still a little bit of trout season left. It's the barbless season, catch and release only, until the end of the month.

With two weddings still to go this month I might not get out again to find trout; but with a Water Spaniel at home I am sure to get out to find pheasants in just a month or so. The DNR has fair reports for numbers this year. Just a few weeks to go before I can get excited for another season and another great reason to get outside. I loaded up on shells at the local outdoor store when I went in to get the trout pole fixed. I'm planning on my best year yet.

Fishing report: May 8, 9, &10

I always spend a few days before Mother's Day fishing for trout in the White Water Valley not far from Altura, Minnesota. The valley has really changed since rains at the end of August last summer.

The White Water River has changed from the River I've fished with friends since college; in a matter of a day the channel moved, rocks ended up where they'd never appeared before.

I caught my full limit of trout and now I'm anxious to start to eat.

I'm almost ready to start thinking about church again (beyond preaching and visitation) after a couple good days off. Right now members of the church council and I are contemplating shared ministry: that means we will have multiple pastors on a staff with no senior and no associate pastors; just two or three people called pastor sharing the ministry. It's a relief to me to have a different model to look at right now. I don't much look forward to working with a new senior pastor, nor do I feel ready for the job: and this point in the middle seems to be best.

Who knows what's next? I guess it's time for discernment.

Fishing report. Saturday April 26

We headed to the Lanesboro Park Trout pond tucked neatly behind the Son's of Norway Hall on Saturday. My beloved seemed more interested in fishing than either of the girls and really enjoyed casting and really in the rooster tails. She spotted a few fish in the pond. One fellow said he caught a small fry on a night crawler with a slip bobber.

All told we fished for maybe 20 minutes and played for 20 in the strong wind at the park.

An added bonus the dog got a new cool reflective leash at spoiled rotten an upscale pet store in Lanesboro right on Main Street.

Fishing report.

My beloved and the girls are away visiting her aunt this week. So I had a chance to get out and fish on a Monday night.

There was a cold front and rain pushing in so I was sure it would be a good chance; I headed east and found myself on Mill Creek. The water was high and fast. I only spotted a few small fry tucked in tight behind a small eddy just off the fast water.

The water spaniel jumped in once and seemed shocked by the strong current. I waited for him to swim back upstream which he managed pretty well. He didn't jump in again. Not much to report on the fishing other than that the 2 beaded nymphs seemed to sink well enough even with the strong current.

Maybe I'll get out again later in the week. Who knows. Right now I am waiting for the Mother's Day Weekend Trouter.

Pax,
Unlikely

pike attacks man

here's another great video for guys who like to fish, a pike attacks a man. Its a little gruesome but it'll make you think twice about taking a hook out of a pick casually to release it.

Trout season's coming...

It's winter time and aside from skiing with the dog, sledding with the girls, and running with the dog (on mornings my wife has to get to work early or Sunday when I have to get to work early), I'm all out of my usual outdoor pass times.

To put it plainly, trout and pheasant aren't in season and I haven't got the time to really get into skiing this winter enough to train for any races. Last night a local fishing addict/guru told me about the new patterns he's tied this winter. I guess I'm not the only one thinking about fishing and trout. Maybe I'll have to try the winter catch and release trout season this year, who knows.


This Friday was a great time to go inside. I was in Minneapolis with my girls and my folks at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. We saw some great art, I'd especially recommend Albert Bickle's Telegraph Operator, Dega's Portrait of a Little Girl, Signac's Blessing of the Tuna Fleet. and Monet's Pheasants and Plovers .


Tonight in anticipation of the annual Mother's Day Weekend Trouter I started to look up trout streams on Google Earth and stumbled upon a video of winter trout fishing in Minnesota. Many favorite spots were washed out last year in the floods. This video is from Youtube of fishing last winter in the area. I just hope it comes back as good I remember it.