Evolution wow what a thought, it challenges my Christian beliefs and yet sometimes it slips in as a fact of life.  Stick with me folks this is a heady one.

What brings this thought of evolution up is a grand daughter turning one year old shortly and a recent trip with a family that felt so good to be with out on the ice.   I felt wow; once again I get paid to do this.  Well this family had two boys, identical twins 6 years old both very different from each other in personality.  Deb and I raised twins and still get to share in their lives and adventures.  In these two sets of twins it was very clear although identical, both individuals filled a much differing space in our world.  Ok so the family with the boys was blended meaning there had been other marriages and living situations prior to this family arrangement.  So I assumed something was not good or did not fit and it was resolved with this change.  So this change created a safe place and a very loving, encouraging environment for all involved.  I think this is evolution in action.  The other way, I see this evolution take place is watching my grand daughter learn and grow.  Developing a new and mixed set of genetics into a new personality all the while discovering how to become a physical being in a spiritual world.

So we have been taught evolution is the slow and adaptive change to an ever-changing environment.  Right, yet we are so reluctant to change and have been told, pushed, judged and directed to view evolution as negative or challenging the Christian and his world.  While in fact it is many times the will of the Universe/God to evolve and change. Please reserve judgment and think it thru what ever create this beautiful world that is always changing created us, these wonderful spiritual beings who connect with one another and nature to feel an emotion most of called Love.

On the fishing side of life, some of the difficulties fisherman face is the development of habits or singular focus on a species or particular lake and sometimes just being so focused on catching a fish we don’t look up and see the world or the people with us. Choose to evolve, challenge yourself and your buddies to learn and grow.  Most of all be adaptive as our world is designed to always be moving and changing.

For myself this mental space is a side effect of fishing and being outside with meaningful and mindful effort to be with whom I am with and tuning into them. It works with friends as well.  Enjoy.   What helps me start this mindset is a deep breath, a look at the nature around me and the person I am with!!!!!!!

The Follow Thru

     This is the follow up to my whining last week about electronics and the technology, and the whole thing of being a consumer in the throw away world. To catch folks up who did not read last week it was a mild rant about the fact that technology moves so fast and folks want the latest and greatest, then turn their collective backs on what was once the cats meow.  Well companies now have the ability to make a choice when you upgrade or update your device.  This is done when companies just quit supporting a device or write quirky updates to the products we use.  A good example is Windows quit supporting Windows XP.  There were a lot of folks just happy as clams to not need new software, devices and the like, just fine running along knowing a program, probably using excel programs to track items.  I am not saying I want a rotary phone or a party line again, but when it works leave it alone and let us use it until I/we wish to move forward. 

         What I would like to see are a few models or products that are base units and are supported for an extended period of time.  I may seem old and/or scared to move on.  I am not scared, although we preach this green society and the recycle/reuse when in reality it seems to be more a use and toss society.  Think about it, how many sonars and gps units have you cycled through in the past 10 years?  All the while thinking this will be the time or items that will put you on your game and catch lots more fish.  Ok, now I am gonna call a few fisherman out.  How many of you run your sonars off auto settings, probably not many as with all technology it takes time to learn this stuff and it is hard to fish, drive the boat and be on a screen or reading a help prompt to learn more.  We use so very little of the awesome devices, many of us are really only using 20% of what a unit can do for us any way. 

     Ok no more whining, but how do we find ways to improve our fishing organically? Well, I think it is in our minds and how we simplify our approach, here are a few very important things to do to improve how we fish:

1  First cleanse your mind, leave your day-to-day life at the dock or truck while ice fishing. (We are out side to relax and enjoy the nature.)

2  Think about fishing from a realistic point of view.  If I have not been present in the environment, I am going to have to learn to use technology to watch or get a history of the weather, lake levels and catches lately or forgo this and just fish. 

3  Pre-rig for your first thought or technique of how to catch fish, have a plan. (Always be willing to abort it needed.)

4  Sharpen a hook instead of replacing it. 

5  Save the lead for the friend yours that pours jigs. (Fishermen are some of the first recyclers “uh catch and release” for another to catch some day. Novel concept kinda like paying forward.) 

6  Carpool to the Fishing Hole (Oh wait most of us do!)

7  Enjoy your time with your friend.  I have noticed fishing most folks don’t look at their phone while fishing, like we do when we are at a restaurant or eating with our families.

8  There are many more ways a fisherman and his practices are what is so in vogue today.  So hold your head high, you pay it forward, recycle and re-use many things in fishing.  It is just inherent in our culture and practices.  Heck we even carpool. 

     A friend and mentor from Texas, Jimmy P. once said to me this, “ These new depth finders mean changing from a flasher to a LCD display, now everybody is gonna be able to catch fish.”  Well over the years he is glad he was wrong, as most don’t read the instructions or believe that the device is the end all to getting them fish in da boat. I wonder how the new lake map tutorials will be.  I question how many will read the instructions. 

     In closing, I have had to teach myself to look up away from those LCD screens too. Fish well folks, Keep carpooling!!!!!! 

Keeping Up With It All?????

Keeping up with it all????  Boy this can be hard to do; Lowrance now has Gen 3 HDS, Chirp??  I am still trying to learn all that Gen 2 can do and Touch Screens and the like.  New lures, new line and places to shop online.  You guys get the drift.  I guess I am getting old, sometimes I want to put a flatfish in the water instead of a Flicker Shad.  I wonder if the fish are evolving as fast as we think we are. 

To keep it simple with two sonar units on the dash, the high tech flasher and camera on the ice, the newly designed fish hook (this one I will take works well and simple to understand. Trokar, well and another is Windtamer braid by FiNS no wind knots a benefit of technology).  This can really tough.  I have a mentor, who tells me ‘Just go fish, you’re thinking to much, don’t over think it.”  What I hear is a fish is a fish and respond to the variations in its environment and you got em.  Well with all that off my chest, its time to learn my new iPhone and how to make all the add ons work like Bluetooth to my hearing aids and answering so I don’t hang up on folks when they call me.  

What’s with this call I get daily about a friend recommended me for a life alert (if I knew who had done it I would blanket, blank, blank, blank!  I am not even 60 yet.  I still go out in a boat alone and come back when I say I will.  I don’t always get back from ice fishing when I say because ya, I do walk a little slower than I think I do. 

Well, well, well here’s a list of stuff I sell at the end of the ice season so I can buy new updated technology and learn some more ways to make my life easier and more productive.  Wait till I have a little dementia and I have to relearn some stuff daily!  That might get a little frustrating. 

Oh one more what’s with red line that is invisible and red hooks that look like blood or gills.  How come the fish I used to catch as a kid with a Red Daredevil could bite the invisible lure???  I have been pondering that one for years; I guess our aura rubs off or something.

2 FL20 Pro Pack Vexilars $425.00 each used 1 Year

1 FL8 Pro Pack Vexilar  $150.00 unknown how many years 

1 Clam Summit $175.00 used 2 years 

Sharp Hooks

     Are your hooks sharp?  Do you use a good quality hook?  Why do I need a sharp hook anyway?

  All of these questions are about maintenance and preparedness. Some take care of these questions as a hobby or something to do as they wait on their next outing. Others do this as a means of preparedness, these are the folks who view hooks as tools and need to have them clean, sharp and ready for the next use. 

I fall in the latter maintenance/prepper.  Well heck, really I am OCD about it as I don’t want to leave any stone unturned or have the possibility of a fish besting me because I was lazy or forgot to take care of business. 

  The other thing is what's the right hook for the job?  I mostly jig lakers and walleyes.  The hooks on my rods are Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp or Trokar Hooks.  These are fail safe out of the package, once you get accustomed to how a quality sharp hook performs on a low stretch line like Fins Wind Tamer braid you will immediately know when something is off in your set up.  Hopefully its not you.  More on the you part in a future blog.

  The answer to 'why I need a sharp hook anyway' is to start the penetration of the hook point as I move the rod or as the fish turns to swim away with the hook in position.

     Like all sports visualization is the key.  Look at a pack of hooks and see fish on your stringer!!!!!!!! 

Long Time

     A long time has passed since my last blog, sounds like confession.  It has been a nice break filled with family and Roxi my granddaughter.  Wow, folks talk about its awesome being a grandparent.  I really did not connect to that until it had happened. Many of the things I think about with her are the same as those original thoughts with my daughters.  I just want to be with her and show her the marvel of what is outside and waiting to be discovered, well much the same of what I hope to give to friends and clients.  My personal creed, I would say, “Share the joy and craft  of fishing, outdoor knowledge, safety and the stewardship of God’s creations." 

Ok what does that truly mean in practice, to show up each day being who and what I have been created to be. Give all of my energy to the efforts of reaching the sole goal of : Communicating ability to have a peaceful mind while being outdoors. I kind of liken it to when we were kids and had pretend forts, we were make believe kings or queens, Daniel Boone, Davey Crocket and the like.  The escape or mindful experience of disengaging from the grind of it all and knowing that there are really only a few things that really have value Love, Time and what we experience as Beauty.  In the pursuit to give this way, I find it intriguing to relate to folks and the day.  Most folks will state that being outside and learning skills of this outdoor craft and /or lifestyle was brought to them thru a parent and/or their grandparents. 

    More on these thoughts in the future.

    I always want to remember that all I have to do is choose to be a part of the beauty, creation of it is the same as what created myself.

Seasonal

Wow, I can't believe it’s the changing seasons already.  I know sometimes when it is a blur it is because we are busy. Yep that’s what it was for me. As I think back on this season and the season of fishing, it has been a challenge as many patterns have been different and the waters all fished colder than previous years. Then comes the flood of memories of folks I have been privileged to spend the day with the talks about God, our lives, our children and sometimes best of all the fish we have caught together. 

Seasonal has a special meaning as we get older because we realize we will only see so many of the changes, the growth of our children, spouses and friends encountered on this journey. The most unexpected gift I get and I hope we can all find in our lives is the gift of companionship and love. I am amazed when I hear from friends and family members how an event/fishing trip was so meaningful and special. I sincerely hope we all take time to slow down and realize, how, when, where we can love on each other. Sometimes just that mind set brings about a mindset of safety in our broken world for those around us.

Ok back to fishing, crap that the hard part that stuff is the fishing and the people for me. The action has slowed on Kokanee at Wolford Mountain, Pike have picked up on Williams Fork, Granby is pre-spawn lakers and it just keeps getting better til ya can't stand the cold.

A fishing story, which inspires:  this is from D & A. D & A were recently pictured on Facebook with a 28" pike. I met D at Williams Fork this spring, he and family were back up last weekend (D is a avid expert fly fisherman). I offered him a few hours in the boat so I could watch and learn from a master how this piking is done, also to learn boat position and control for this type of casting. Well just like mentioned above the conversation is about being positive and loving and we catch fish of well if A is feeling that way we all catch fish and Wham Fish On. Inspiring to say the least. Thanks D & A for the evening companionship and learning as well as an exciting fish.

"BE"

Did you feel it down there?  Here it comes,
Fall is at the door. The days are getting noticeably shorter and cooler at night, a different blanket maybe?

Well you can really feel it up in the mountains. Wow and really see it as well, all the grasses and a large portion of the undergrowth is changing. The cottonwoods along the Colorado will be all yellow in less than a week. The animals are moving, the first hunting seasons have started.

As the season shifts yet again it slows down for me, it gets easier to look around more and see the presence of God or a higher power all around me. It was a great summer season but the present is here now. I really like it when I notice the little stuff (the undergrowth and the bushes changing) and focus on all of it not just the big picture say the aspens.

One of the changes fishing takes I/we notice is fish of all flavors Kokanee, Lakers, Pike and Walleye all start being just a more reactive. That means its spoon season, snapping that metal around for the violent strikes. The spoons I love are my homemade slabs and the PK spoons both the Flutterfish and PK. Sharp hooks seal the deal.  Eagle Claw LAZER hooks are my go to and what I switch out to. If you have lots of spoons try this trick, pull the hooks and only put hooks on the few you will be using that day - far less de-tangling frustration.

Please come up and enjoy Grand County and the great lake fishing we share and have to offer on Wolford Mtn. Reservoir, Williams Fork Reservoir and Lake Granby.

If ya hit the weather right the fishing is great, the sun is warm after the lake fog lifts and the guide is rested up and so ready to put ya on fish.

It is hard to write this thought but "if you see what is around you, you are an active part of what you see" So I think about it like this if you look at it from a photo it was a beautiful moment in time recorded and re-viewed and enjoyed. If you are actually there and view it, you are actually an active part of the whole. Say I see beauty, feel the temperature around me and smell the odors I am then a real part of the whole and part of this beauty.

This is a refreshing thought to me.

Be in all you do.