True North Trout » Everything

What is Your Passion?

Brian Kozminski — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:58:56 +0000

“In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and other Stories

As I am sitting at Christmas Eve service, my mind reflects on the past year. Some memorable fish, excellent trips with good friends, and stellar moments on the water. Coupled by bitter-sweetness in the loss of my father and the wish I had more time spent on the water with him. Then I think about salvation. I would like to believe if the rapture were to occur next week, I would have a better than average chance of ‘getting clearance’ — not because of the good deeds I have done or the quality of life I have led, or even the benevolence I have shown towards God’s wonderful creatures; but because I have spent countless days learning patience while casting my 3-weight at dozens of upper-class trout that would have no part of my offerings. Along with the many hours dedicated to helping and sharing my passion with family and friends the art of the fly, maybe this is the repentance for the multitude of hours I formerly squandered in dirty bars of my younger days?

This all began when I received a Christmas card a few weeks back. In it were the words, “Too bad every time we talk, all you can talk about is fishing. Like that’s all there is in life.”

Funny, but not. I have been dwelling on this for days. I know I should not let it rent space in my head, but then other things people have said pop into my brain. Things like, “I had to delete you from my ‘friends’ on Facebook because all you ever post is about fishing or rivers or tying flies.”

I was OK with that and have not accepted friend requests because they didn’t have proper fishing credentials to be allowed in the circle, so they were permitted to deny my ‘friendship’ status. But the Christmas Card — that struck a chord, and it was becoming a tenant in my head. HAVE YOU MET ME?

Whenever I drive by an empty retail shop, in my head, I already have the layout for a fly shop, where I can set up the TV monitors so we can have TU movie nights and extra tables for a Tie-One-On! fly tying nights. I have gone over countless inventories for the start up materials needed for a successful shop — it needs a good balance of high-end and entry-level equipment, it needs to have monthly events to draw in people and a warm staff and fresh coffee always brewing. On the flip side I would give up this life in paradise tourist town to live in the mountains along some stream with hopes of starting a lodge or B&B to invite others into my world of addiction. There, I said it. I have admitted I am addicted to all things FLY.

This all began when I received a Christmas card a few weeks back. In it were the words, “Too bad every time we talk, all you can talk about is fishing. Like that’s all there is in life.”

Last week it became all too clear. Channel 34 — Discovery, it was after work and I enjoy a diet coke and slowing down from the hectic pace of taking care of everyone else’s needs and desires. The program was on Addictions. These people were legit crazy. They had given away everything. They would work every angle, every minute, to find a way to their next high. I am grateful I am not like that [or am I?] I do think every minute about how to tie that Hendrickson pattern a little better or a stronger material for that upright wing, but will still float it. I go over and over in my head that one cast I sent in the cedar above that 20 incher that sent him/her for cover and how I could get a do-over. For the Meth/Crack/Cocaine/LSD addict — they are “Chasing the High”. A term used to refer to the first time they used — often unattainable and the cause of their repeated search leading to death, delusion or confinement. I am on a search for that first time, however, I believe in the purity and beauty this addiction has rewarded me with a quality of life I would rather not replace. A short decade ago, I too was living on the streets looking for something — chasing a high that would not have a beneficial direction for my life. I am thankful I found my way back to the Tying Vise — and making it my only vise, others are not so fortunate.

A newly made fishing friend from FB mentioned on his status something his wife said — and my wife completely agreed. She hinted that their family Christmas photo should be a postcard of her and the two girls and the Dad in the river holding a brown from the Rogue in Rockford. He jokingly said that was cool. I do envision a family photo of my troop, all in waders in the middle of the Thompson or the Blue Rivers, with heavily padded and flocked trees in the background. Someday.

My wife is a blessing, as is my entire family — truly. She doesn’t totally understand the addiction thing. She can have a glass of wine and leave it on the coffee table 1/2 full She is kinda crazy like that. Chocolate and shopping are the only things that might be considered her vices. I only qualify shopping as her addiction because few ‘normies’ actually plan on going shopping at midnight on Thanksgiving and shopping all evening into the next morning with pre-arranged intervals of juicing up with Redbull and Monster drinks. Who would chase sales and deals for nearly 18 hours on end? INSANE! or is it? I have worked all day and gone Hexing into the wee morning hours for nights on end, and when that was over — it became Mousing Time. In the end, it is all about your passion. What is your passion? I am very happy to have found mine swimming in the swift currents of any river that is cold and cool enough to dangle that carrot before my face….

The Mad Angler Barters Himself

Michael Delp — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 18:27:01 +0000

Reading water, air, fire, earth it makes no difference….
the language of things sifting through his hands like Braille.
He figures his life is worth at least one river,
an arm worth a single bend,
and the hairs on his head the equivalent of one riffle apiece.
He is ready to dismantle himself if necessary,
to stand at the edge of a chasm of meetings
and toss whatever it is they will trade
for that wildness he covets like blood.
At night he rides the backs of dreams,
watches the chaos under the surface:
the way death moves constantly through the water,
sunlight barely reaching the bottom of dark pools.
When he wakes, he feels parts of himself left behind,
phantom appendages, whatever it was he valued, given away,
just now turning into water,
his mind a bloody stream.

Michael Delp is a writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction whose works have appeared in numerous national publications. He is the author of Over the Graves of Horses (1989), Under the Influence of Water (1992), The Coast of Nowhere (1997), and The Last Good Water (2003), in addition to six chapbooks of poetry. His latest work, As If We Were Prey, is now available. He teaches creative writing at the Interlochen Arts Academy and has received several awards for his teaching. More about his work is available at his website.

The Politics of the Mad Angler

Michael Delp — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:54:43 +0000

He seeks the consensus of dark bends,
feeder creeks, the formations of gravel
turned into messages on sand bars.
Where there is sky, he dreams of more.
Where there are politicians he dreams of men with true hearts,
their dark veins pulsing with pure run-off.
He offers himself to the air, is willing to trade his life
for one river, or if necessary, one cedar, one mayfly,
even one pebble dropped from the belly of a glacier.

He uses his body like a sextant, charts the stars at night,
imagines his voice coming from the bottom of the river,
prowls the swamps with his eyes closed, casting into dark pockets,
the fish swarming in the half light seeping from his skin.

He is true only to himself.
He knows no speeches, has no platform.
His eyes are clear pools, his head a seething
universe of emergence schedules,
the secrets of nymphs, that single language
coming from cold springs in the hills,
each one a wild heart pumping the wisdom of iron
into the river.

Asian Carp Update

Michigan United Conservation Clubs — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:37:11 +0000

The past two months have been filled with ever-changing news and information on the threat of Asian Carp to the Great Lakes as federal and state officials wrestle over the best solutions. Most of the debate has centered on immediate closure of navigational locks in the Chicago River system (aka “The Chicago Carp Canal”), which are considered the last obstacle separating Asian Carp from the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. With the exception of Illinois, Great Lakes states and the Canadian Province of Ontario have been fighting to close the locks until a long-term solution can be established. Major resistance on this solution has come from the White House, Illinois, and the Chicago shipping industry.

On Monday of this week, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm attended a White House “Carp Summit,” which was scheduled to open dialogue between Great Lakes governors and Obama administration officials. The result however revealed only that the federal government is willing to spend $78 million on studies, flood control, and expansion of status quo preventative measures. Instead of blocking off Lake Michigan from the Chicago River system, the White House revealed plans that would close the locks for three to four days per week. Unless $78 million is being spent on research to train Asian Carp when to swim upstream, this plan reveals that the federal government is content with throwing money at the problem in an attempt to passify political upheaval without making the right decision.

Aside from the disappointing solutions proposed by the executive branch of the federal government, Congress also took a look at the Asian Carp issue this week. The Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee to the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on February 9 on the issue, which we’re hopeful will lead to tougher Congressional action. MUCC submitted testimony along with fellow Michigan sporting and conservation groups urging the Subcommittee to take action on immediate and long term preventative measures, including the CARP ACT legislation introduced by U.S. Representative Dave Camp and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. Watch the recorded hearing online.

On the legal side, last week, Attorney General Mike Cox announced the filing of a renewed motion with the U.S. Supreme Court that seeks to close the Chicago locks. The Supreme Court already denied the original motion in January, but issued its ruling a few hours before new evidence revealed that Asian Carp eDNA was discovered in Lake Michigan. Michigan also has a petition pending in front of the Court to re-open the 1929 “Water Diversion Case” of Wisconsin v. Illinois, which seeks the appointment of a “special master” to oversee implementation of a long-term solution to the Asian Carp Problem. Illinois and the Obama administration have until February 19th to submit briefs on this petition.

Last, but not least, MUCC has been busy gearing up for the annual “Great Lakes Days” in Washington, D.C. on February 23-24, where we’ll talk to members of Congress about the Asian Carp issue as well as other funding and legislative items that could benefit the Great Lakes and its $7 billion sportfishery.

Visit an Asian Carp public meeting near you!

International Joint Commission Public Meeting on Asian Carp

The meeting also will be available via live web stream at: http://epa.gov/greatlakes/live. Those who cannot attend the meeting in person can submit questions on the Web site. When available, the framework and a transcript of the meeting will be posted on http://www.asiancarp.org/regionalcoordination. Comments on the framework may also be submitted online at the above website.

What

To discuss plans and get recommendations on Asian carp control efforts.

Who

Senior Representatives from the International Joint Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, Great Lakes states, provinces, municipalities and tribes (invited), White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Scientific experts.

When

3:00 – 6:00 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Where

Marriott Ann Arbor Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest, 1275 S. Huron, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Other

Town Hall Meetings hosted by Attorney General Mike Cox and Michigan Members of Congress.

Traverse City: Feb. 17, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Great Lakes Maritime Academy
St. Joseph: Feb. 18, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the St. Joseph Public Library
Grand Rapids: Feb. 22, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. at the Gerald Ford Museum Auditorium

Jim Harrison Sends a Little Love Out to Northern Michigan

Jordan Lindberg — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 12:57:39 +0000

Christopher Walton of the Detroit Free Press interviewed Jim Harrison at his winter digs in Patagonia, Arizona, talking about a number of issues, both literary and sporting. The interview is one of the most extensive and personal that I’ve seen in a few years. You can catch the article in the online edition of the newspaper.

Although his life in the American West is rich and interesting, Harrison remarks in the interview that he does have feelings of loss in leaving he Upper Midwest years ago. “I miss the U.P. terribly,” Harrison notes. “It became a retreat for me from the real world. … It was like, after a disgusting two weeks of movie meetings, and then a day later you’re at the Dunes Saloon in Grand Marais after taking a 4-hour walk with your dogs and never seeing anybody, because I’d say 99% of my hiking, I never saw another human being. Which is the way I liked it.

Much of his recent work is centered on characters and events in Michigan, and Walton quotes Harrison in saying that, “I know I’ve written about Michigan a lot lately, and I wonder if the origin isn’t homesickness. Which is a very deep feeling, what the Portuguese call saudade. It’s that longing for a place.”

Harrison’s latest, The Farmer’s Daughter, is out now.

A Fisherman’s Parable

Jordan Lindberg — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:13:21 +0000

Fly Fishing Tales

A friend and business acquaintance sent a parable to me today as, I think, something of a cautionary tale. It’s too nice not to share, particularly with fellow anglers. I am probably violating all sorts of copyright in sharing it this way, but what the heck:

An investment banker was at the pier of a coastal Greek village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna.

The banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of the fish and asked, “How long does it take to catch them?”

The fisherman replied, “Only a little while.”

The banker then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish. The fisherman answered that he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The banker then asked,”But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my beautiful wife Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play cards with my friends…I have a full and busy life.”

The banker scoffed.

“I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing, and then with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat. Later on you could then buy several more boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, and eventually open your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would then need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Athens, then London, and eventually New York, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Greek fisherman asked, “But how long will this all take?”

The banker replied, “15 to 25 years.”

“But what then?”

The banker laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich … you would make millions.”

“Millions,” the fisherman said. ”Alright, then what?”

The banker said, “Well, then you would retire … move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play cards with your friends.”