Saturday Morning Hodgepodge

On several occasions this week, I've thought about a few possible posts, but haven't found the time to get anything written down. So today, I've got a hodgepodge of topics for you all to consider.

1. Big Horn River Fly Box

With my April trip to the Big Horn quickly approaching, I've been trying to conservatively fill my fly box with some standard flies that will give me a head start. As I've never been out there before and also never fished for trout on a bigger river like this, I'm looking forward to using new techniques and learning a lot. I also realize my lack of experience (out there or anywhere) means I could easily fill my fly box with useless flies (for this trip). That is why I'm only tying a few of each.

Anyway, I've added a couple attempts at a Ray Charles as wells a few different San Juan Worms. Hopefully they'll get wet. (The camera batteries were dead so I used my phone. That means poorer res. Sorry.)

2. Learning how trout think.

I followed the ways of the Winona Fly Factory and purchased a pretty sweet book on half.comfor about $8 after s&h. The book is called The Mind of the Trout by Thomas C. Grubb, Jr. Great name for a guy who likes fish. This is essentially a review of countless studies investigating the way fish, mostly salmonoid species process information or "think" and how that relates to their behavior. With many corollaries to fishing, this stuff is great for the angler who wants to understand why may decide to take or pass up your fly, or simple how they vision and memory work at a physiological level. It isn't a long book, but it is dense with thought provoking questions and proposals with next steps in research to understand more about trout behavior. About 170 pages. I'm plowing through it.

The tips I learned last night (more importantly, I learned why): older/bigger trout have better vision, so stalk carefully.

3. Rediscovering some music.

I've always been really into music. Whether it is listening or playing. I started on classic rock and contemporary tunes. I really got into Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton for a while. It wasn't until middle school that I had my first infatuation with a band. Dave Matthews Band. For probably about 7 years, he was about all I listened to. I attended several concerts, found bootlegs performances, learned to play his songs, and on and on.

Then I started to explore other musicians, Damien Rice, The Streets, Franz Ferdinand, Regina Spektor, Neil Young, yada yada yada. I've been aware of his last few releases, but really haven't pursued them. I guess I needed time to explore some other sounds.

Well, thanks to my local public library with their sweet music selection, I stumbled across a Dave Matthews and Time Reynolds live at Radio City Music Hall album. It was like I was re-discovering my old DMB crush. I've had a lot of fun driving around listening and singing to the cds probably looking quite silly.