It's Been a Long Winter

The last time I posted, I had a small, 24 hour per week part time job. Within days of my last post I was promoted. Full time. This sounded great, but my fishing has definitely suffered. I’ve finally begun to make heads and tails of my packed schedule, and I have enjoyed some fine days on the water in recent weeks. Several events have changed the course of my angling career, and I would like to share them with you, and add (another) promise that this blog will be resurrected from the grave!

I’ll begin with the good news. I’m engaged. to a lovely woman named Shayna Wilson. She’s a photographer, who loves the outdoors. Yes. I am a lucky man. We don’t have a wedding date set, and in addition to being an ace photographer, Shayna is also one of the countries top Javelin throwers, so we will be moving to Portland, Oregon in the fall so that Shayna can win a couple National Championships and make a run at the Olympics (hey, dreaming big never hurt anyone). This is awesome because Portland is one of the best Fly-fishing cities around, and I’ll get to acquaint myself with warmwater fish. This sucks because I have absolutely no local knowledge or fishing buddies down that way (definitely accepting applications for the previously mentioned open position). 

I landed a couple beautiful Wild Steelhead from the Queets and Quinault this Winter, and also thumped a delicious hatchery fish. I didn’t spend near enough time on the water though. Probably the biggest event this Winter was the incredibly tragic passing of Doug Rose. Doug was the model of a Fly-Fisherman. Champion for Olympic Peninsula conservation, incredibly talented author, and mentor to hundreds, Doug will be sorely missed. 

I did not have an extensive relationship[p with Doug, but we considered each other friends, and there is probably no one who has influenced me more as a writer and conservationist. I remember when I first began fly-fishing. I found Doug’s book The Color of Winter, in the Amanda Park Mercantile, and after falling intensely in love with it I emailed him. This is a pretty common practice of mine when I read a book that I love, but very few authors are sympathetic to their readers. Doug not only responded, but he responded quickly, and it was a very personal response full of encouragement, congratulations, and lots of tips and suggestions. To this day, I can’t say I know a kinder man than Doug. One of the last things he said to me during his battle with cancer was that he was not afraid to die.

I was not surprised.

In other news I have began writing my first book, which I plan to self publish, and should have it written by the new year. I plan on selling it through a distributing package with Amazon, but as writing isn’t my primary source of income, if you want a copy but don’t want to pay for it, just ask. 

I’ll have a post-steelhead season preview article up within in the week , and an step by step article on tying my fry patterns soon after. Until then I wish you clear rivers and tight lines.