A few Sundays ago, I was up on Georgian Bay tributary in Meaford, Ontario fly fishing for steelhead with a good buddy. Now I have to admit the weather was not the best. We'd had rain most of the day before and snow flurries were forecast for the whole morning for the area we would be in. But I got up early, out the door by 5 am. as it's a two hour trip to Meaford. When we got up to Meaford the river was higher than I'd ever seen -- chocolate brown spilling over its banks -- and probably "unfishable". But we scouted out some favourite spots, even checking out another nearby Georgian Bay trib which was completely blown out, so we came back to the original river and decided to head out for a few hours. After all, we had travelled two hours to fish. Any way, we hooked a few steelhead and even enjoyed a few hours of sun. The fishing wasn't easy but it was great to be out on the water. Remember a bad day fishing is still better than the best day at work.

The funny thing was the "looks" and "questions" we got from family and others on our trip up and back (in the case of family this came before we set out). Typically, the comments ranged from "you're not going fishing in this weather????" to "are you crazy????" to "you know it's snowing up there". Now we stopped for a "pit stop" at a Tim Horton's donut/coffee shop (this is a true Canadian "establishment" with several Tim Horton's all over -- it's said that Canada has more donut shops per capita than any other place -- it seems we have one on every street corner in several places -- guess we like our coffee and/or donuts), and our server couldn't believe that two guys would be heading out to fish in that weather (there was snow flurries and we still had another hour of travel). But then she added that there had been two other guys in just before us also heading up to fish. Well, the weather cleared closer to Meaford, and as I said we did fish. My buddy (who is a new fly fisher and very gung-ho) was anxious to get set up and out on the water. I remarked to him that he had just reached a new level of fly fishing by being out in this type of weather -- this type of day separated the "fair-weather" anglers to those who were committed (or maybe that should be "committed" as in institutional care). He had now crossed over from just being an eager beginner to being "crazed" about fly fishing (or just "crazy"). There weren't many other fishermen out that Sunday, but I raised my coffee cup to two fishermen getting ready at the same access point. In unison, they both raised their Tim Horton's cups in silent response. Like ourselves, they knew that fishing in any kind of weather is still a great day out on the water.

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"Fly fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with aesthetic considerations. It's not even clear if catching fish is actually the point." -John Gierach

http://tippetsandleaders.wordpress.com/

Mike!
A little more on the task of fishing and catching, keep the travel and weather to a need to know basis!

What about the beauty of the area? Describe the river IE, water level, up or down? flow and speed, is it a spate river? what flies were used? type of rod, make model, length, fly line and most importantly; how you went about capturing your quarry?

Sorry Mike! Couldn't get excited about dough-nuts (although I quite like them) with Coffee!

( The Area we intend fishing is; )

What is it known for? you told us it was snowing (you must be mad) did you get soaked, suffer the cold, was it a good decision or a miserable day out?

Did you and your mate have fun?

My writing skills are non existent; But I enjoy reading a good story!


I think you need to be for more excited about the narratives; then we'll feel the excitement when reading them!

Aye yer right man!Canada's full of doughnuts.

donuts eh?

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ugly casts catch fish too
http://nadder-diary.net

No!---------Doughnuts!

Funny over here I get told to say less about the river -- about the fishing (such as anything that could indicate where the fish are) -- in fact that's why I use "Georgian Bay trib" or "Lake Ontario trib" -- over here we fear that posting specific info (like naming rivers etc.) on fly fishing forums especially if lurkers like "fish hawgs" or poachers are around -- but I certainly can also add, that as for whether my mate and I had fun, is this: Is there ever a day fishing that isn't "fun"???? And yes, I am "mad" but what angler is "sane" when it comes to fishing??? (P.S. I apologize for the possible overuse of quotation marks -- it's a hard habit to break -- nearly as hard as it would be to ever stop fly fishing!!!!!)

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"Fly fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with aesthetic considerations. It's not even clear if catching fish is actually the point." -John Gierach

http://tippetsandleaders.wordpress.com/

without giving marks away you could try to give more description to the fishing. Perhaps some of the catches, the tricky casts just under the overhanging tree on the opposite bank. The sluggish, oily back eddies, the bubbling boiling glides. The last cast, squinting for 15 minutes to try to tie that last gasp fly on that results in the all mighty best fish of the day - Just give some thought to describing what made the day so special, and worth being out in such weather. At the moment I'm thinking that the 5am start was really more about Tim Hortons and family thinking your mad than the fishing.

Oh and break the " " addiction, along with ( ) ??? and !!!! - I read somewhere recently that if something isn't funny, no amounts of !!!'s will make it so. If something is funny, you don't need them to draw attention to it.

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ugly casts catch fish too
http://nadder-diary.net

perhaps you could just stick to fishing and forget about writing about it altogether
or if your really set on telling your fishing tales maybe a video diary could be more beneficial to us all
good luck
hope your roadie mate is well

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I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,9 bean rows will I have there and a hive for the honey bee.

I think the link posted a few minutes ago reafirms the picture telling a thousand words .
Sorry dont see this literary revival going far !

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Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

And they told me that you guys on the other side of the pond could be brutal! Guess not everybody hates what I have to share though so I'll keep posting here. And notice no quotation marks. I'm "cured" -- OK OK almost!

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"Fly fishing is solitary, contemplative, misanthropic, scientific in some hands, poetic in others, and laced with aesthetic considerations. It's not even clear if catching fish is actually the point." -John Gierach

http://tippetsandleaders.wordpress.com/