In Search of the Perfect Moment

    I've been chasing the idea of " the perfect moment. "  Subtle and ephemeral, they are easy to miss.  Like so many other wonderful things, I  need to  remember again what I have forgotten. The battle between the eternal and temporal,  the corruptible and incorruptible clouds my vision and understanding. I'm afraid I'll miss it or not see it. So the search goes on....  

     Eugene O'Kelly  in "Chasing Daylight"  talks about the perfect moment being a moment with others when time stands still,  a time fully in the present, where the past and future are set aside.   

     All opposites help describe and explain each other in some way...  there is no darkness without light, red is most red placed next to it's compliment green... so is it possible to have perfection without the help of imperfection? Maybe it is the scar, impervious flaw, or broken heart that ushers in the possibility of a perfect moment. 

  

     

New Smallmouth painting

This is a new painting of a smallmouth , taking a big mayfly off the surface.  I am always amazed how perfectly their markings and colors blend with whatever environ they live in....  I have released them and watched them melt away into the bottom of stream, like they were never real , just an apparition.... and your left wondering if  you just touched a piece of eternity..... 

Fly Fishing Reel Addiction!!.. I don't want help

 My next reel?  Logan Reel

 My new Airflo Balance Reel posing with a trout.... the fly rod is a  TFO , these guys support Project Healing Waters   a  great idea!!  

This fly reel addiction has hit me hard...  Yeah, I'm obsessive compulsive about a few things.   I already have way to many fly reels ...  but this might be where my next one comes from , Logan Reel .....  I still don't have as many fly reels or rods as my buddy Jimbo...  

Artist Eric Reaves

Eric with the last fish of the day..... 

   I love Eric's art work.... you have got to check out his website...  Welcome to Eric’s easel 

Make sure you check out his fly fishing toons..... 

  Here is E ( Eric)  with an average sized carp from the river.... I think these are the toughest fish in the stream...  you have to put a serious sneak on to get within casting distance. Most of the time you have just one shot...  any wayward cast and they are gone...  A accurate double haul is almost a must...  

     But what I love more.... Eric has five kids and he's teaching them to flyfish ....  definition of a great dad..... 

Smallmouth daze .... and days ....

July 25, partly cloudy, air temp 85 degrees,  water temp 80 degrees, 2- 6 pm ,  water clarity/ medium ....  somewhere in Indiana   

   This little guy came from the same place as big one in the next photo ...  both were fooled by the same fly. 

                                  

                                   .... the hat is salmon colored, not pink.... 

 I caught this guy while fishing with Eric ,  it is even more special when a buddy is there to witness it. Something had taken a chunk out of it's tail, more proof of how tough it is to survive and how important it is to put these fish back.  I've seen some people who fish take stringers of these fish out of the river and it always disappoints me.  A fish this size is at least eight years old, and every one is a miracle of survival.  Why end it? 

                                                                             .......

      There has been a mist in the air above the stream lately , helping create a feeling of anticipation and mystery. I fish for these reasons more than any other. The awe, wonder and memories ....  

One Eyed Fish or Lack of Vision

I went fishing today.... these two photos show one of the smallmouth I caught.  It's right eye was completely blind and glazed over.... something had happened when it was younger, a hook in the eye, a heron attack , who knows...  whatever it was, this fish kept on living and thriving. 
  It was easily a  twenty inches , probably 8- 10 years old. An extraordinary feat in itself, but this survivor was blind in one eye. It's tough enough to make a living in this stream with two eyes.  I don't keep fish anymore.  If I did keep fish I still would have released this one. As it swam away it's colors gradually merged with the river colors until it disappeared from sight.... but not memory.  You know how there are some people you meet who affect you in such profound ways you are changed forever?.....  well this fish did that to me today.... persistent reflections.... 

    There is so much that conspires to defeat and destroy us physically, emotionally and spiritually. The stuff that keeps us from being what we could be or should be. Is there a way when there seems to be no way?   The now... the moment in front of us... can so easily disappear without our participation when we are stuck in the past or future.  It's one of the things I love about fly fishing, everything is reduced to the moment that exist only right now.   

Indiana Journey

...the  places I love to travel...
This is the mystery for me... how  catching fish  holds so tightly to my heart.... why?     Most of the time it doesn't make sense but every now it becomes clear for just a moment and then it disappears  beneath the surface of time. 

This is a typical Indiana smallmouth stream....  in the mist and sounds I rediscover the me I hope to be.... 
  Old barns stand sentinel over the land and streams,  landmarks that reveal recent history of  places I fish.

  These little rivulets are all over Northern Indiana,  draining farm fields,  forests. If they are clear the rivers are usually fishable.   I love the reflection of the sky they trace upon the land. 
.....a bridge to my past or my future...  what lies beneath?  

Jeff Kennedy ... Drawing Flies

  Jeff Kennedy drawing flies 

check out my friend Jeff Kennedy and his pursuit of drawing a fly a day for 365 days....   my personal favorite is the pancake fly!      great job Jeff... when are we going  smallmouth fishing?  

out of this world flyfishing

   Fish from a different world 

Click on this link to see a collection of out of this world fish....  I'd love to go on a tour of these places and land each of these on a fly rod ....