Frozen Eyes, Frost Bite and Tall Tales: Part 3

   So equipped with the knowledge that there are 20" to 30" browns on the Upper Owens I had headed up there the day before to maximize my fishing time on the river, but with that I left the relative warmth of the valley floor at 4,471 ft and headed up to 7,800 ft.  Lets just say it got colder, how cold you may ask? Well lets just say it has been a few weeks since the trip and I still do not have feeling in a few of my toes.  Seriously, not full blown black-toe, cut'em off frost bite, but the stage right before where you damage your nerve endings.  When I woke up in the morning my temp gauge said 7 degrees and I slept in the back of my truck with a sleeping bag and a dog.  The cold part wasn't sleeping mind you, it was when I decided to tie four San Juan worms flies for my morning on the river.  Standing almost motionless in Solomon Trail Running shoes is not a good way to keep your feet warm I found out, even if I was wearing Patagonia wool socks.

  So I lite the fire again and tried to warm my feet back up to no avail, frozen and now starting to hurt very bad.  They were so cold that when I tried to put another pair of thicker Patagonia wool socks on I could not get my shoe back on, because I could not feel my foot at all.  So I cranked my truck and broke camp in a hurry.  All I could think about was get warm and get to my fishing spot so I could get cold again.  Funniest part of the morning is that Boone would hop off the tail gate and do his business then hope back up and curl into his sleeping bag.    Jump down eat and get water, up into the bag again. He'd disappear into the bag and didn't want to come out. Truly comical, but that is my dog he is a little off.

  So I was warming up and driving the five miles of dirt roads to the starting point when about mile 31/2 I started to feel my feet again, not my toes mind you, just my feet. I got to my spot hoped out and started to wader up, and oh man that was cold.  But, it was a necessary step for sure.  As I started to cast out my San Juan with a Pheasant tail special David had given me, I started to run into a problem.  Every time I stripped line water from the line would get onto the eyelets and freeze instantly.  So every few casts I had to break off the ice on my rod so not to bind up my line.  It was strange and yet a really peaceful day fishing.  I caught a ton of little 8" to 10" rainbows and browns on a size 22" BWO, there was a hatch going on that morning, and I almost had my arm ripped off by a fish that broke my hook.  Not broke my hook off, but actually broke the hook off below where the barb was.  It sent my reel flying and when I tried to get some headway, snap and gone.  It was awesome to say the least.

  Well I am cold once again and I can not feel my hands at this point, so I decided it was time to pack up and head to my next interview with the legendary Bill Eddy of Big Pine, CA.  And though there is more to the story of the weekend I am going to save it for another post on another day.  Bill and Irv were great guys and great to talk too.  I had a long, but satisfying drive home that night that made me so excited for my next trip up there.  Good times and really great people.

Thanks again all, hope you enjoyed.

The Bearded Boar

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Frozen Eyes, Frost Bite and Tall Tales: Part 2

 So as the morning rose on Sunday, one I was cold and two I was a little frozen with the 13 degree temps.  But that is life in the mountains and I pressed with breaking camp so we could have breakfast on the river.  My cohort in crime Boone-i-fied decided it was an opportune time to just do his business and hop back inside the bed of the truck to sleep.  I didn't blame him, wanted to do the same for sure.

  After we headed down to the river we found a little spot were we could eat our grub, drink tea and do a little fishing for the morning.  It was not a bad little spot to say the least for the morning.  Boone spent the morning running around and rolling in the dirt like any good puppy should and I tried my hand at pulling some of the Browns that were in the spring feed creek we were next to.  I didn't have a meeting till the afternoon so I had time to do what I wanted for the next 6 or so hours.  So what is a man to day with a day to himself and a river surrounded by public land to explore?  Of course, I went hunting and fishing.  We took the road less traveled and spent the day driving the dirt roads and exploring parts of the Owens river I have personally never seen.  Deer, Elk, Ducks, Quail were everywhere and we shot a few of the latter for dinner and headed to a few more spots to fish.

  I won't say the fishing was great, really it wan't good at all, but you can't really expect to much when you are just exploring dirt roads that finger towards the river.  We did though have a great day of just sitting in the warm sun and at 2pm we headed up to The Sierra Trout Magnet fly shop to talk with the owner, David.  David is a young guy that decided the Owen River is the place in which he wants to set up his life and fish.  As he said while I was interviewing him, "Where else can you fish year around for trophy trout? High lakes in the summer and the valley floor all winter, its perfect here."  We talked for another hour or so and he gave me the skinny of the Valley from a guides perspective and also gave me the low down on some great fishing on the Upper Owens and the Hike lakes.

  Okay the High lakes of the Eastern Sierras, Rainbows, Goldens, Golden-Rainbow Hybrids, Brookies, Browns, oh ya that that one lake where  a 15 lb Golden was caught on a 2wt and yes I saw pictures.  The beast was caught on a pack trip were they used pack horses to haul a boat in.  The guy that caught it had no idea that there were fish that big in there, that must have been the shock of his life. But, I digress, because the Mountain are closed to fishing till April and I went up the Upper Owens.


   So I left the shop and headed up to my campsite on BLM land up in Hot Creek, which is a phenomenal place to fish on its own. We set up camp, fire and started on grub for the both of us.  By now Boone had become accustom to me adding a little hot water to his dry food so that it slid down a little easier in the freezing temps, which they got there that night.  So Boone with his dog soup and me with my shrimp and veggie curry we hunkered down to what would be a good, but really cold night and even colder morning.

Until next time,

The Bearded Boar

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Where has the heart of American gone?

  So here is my top five place I would rather be than my house right now, in no particular order.
1. Kona, HI
2.  Salmon Creek, Idaho
3.  Craig, Montana
4.  Rifle, Colorado
5. West Canada Creek, New York

  Okay, so a lot of out of the way places that time may have forgotten or really maybe places that we have forgotten.  Places where old barns still stand in picturesque pastures and where the phrase "Just getting by" is as common place as the wind blowing through the trees.  When did the progress of man and the enrichment of our minds surpass the people and places that made America what it is today.  Our country was not build upon the backs of bankers and politicians, but those who chose to work hard and take care of their own.  It's not to say that those who invested, dreamed, entrepreneured?, did not sacrifice or did not work hard to build this country, but there is a special place in my heart for the calloused hands that nailed, cut and stitched the country together to make it what it is today.

  People have dreamed and decided that they were going to sacrifice their lives to make a dream that they have a reality.  Some people do dream and work for different things mind you, it is not always money, power and the bigger/better. Some of us sacrifice for things like family, happiness or for those who are less fortunate than us. That builds America too, it is the glue that holds all of the other greatness together. Wealth is something I think most of us would like more of, if not a lot more of.  Though money is necessary to survive it does not always makes us happy or help you out when you need to borrow a cup of sugar.

  I come from a long line of Strong Italian men who worked long hours to provide for their families.  Men who after WWII and Vietnam came home to a world that had changed, families that had grown or even gotten smaller.  But they were men who picked themselves up, worked and saved to make a good blue collar life for their wife and kids.  My grandfather sold insurance and my father was in Construction Management, not the highest paying jobs in the world, but it fill the pantry. So why do we not celebrate these types of people and towns?  Why is trade school not as viable as a university? Maybe because we as a society turns it's nose to people who jobs like a wielder and say, "Oh, he must have not gone to college or was a slacker in high school." This attitude may not be from everyone, but it is at least some what prevalent within the mind set of many.

  It is sad, but small cities and towns get the same bad wrap too.  If it does not have a Walmart, Starbucks and at least 5 different fast food drive-throughs it is the uncivilized underbelly of America. You rarely hear of people saying, "Ya I want to go to Craig, Montana to see the sights!" Or "I know honey, lets skip Disney World and go to Duck Key, FL population 409!"  Sure some want to go there to flyfish for Browns or Bone fish, but not to see the sights. But I contest that is exactly what is killing the great things about America.  Two of my favorite programs on tv are Dirty Jobs and the now defunct Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy.  Both highlight hardworking people who are happy with what they do even if the do not get a big paycheck at that end of the day.  They take pride in their craft and I love that.  They live in Places where life is slow, but the work is rough.

  For me I just wish people had an interest in small towns and dirt roads that most of us love to spent time in.  I realize that most of us are men and women who spend hours, days and weeks even in small towns hunting or fishing, but do we help promote those places. I know many times I do not.  I don't always buy american products, shop at stores that have good values or a vested interest within the community other than their bottom line.  And to be honest I know I need to spend more time researching where and what I purchase.  Lets face it, buying American can be expensive or at times difficult to find certain product that are build locally.  But if I just made more of an effort I am sure that I can make a difference. We as sportsmen should take the lead in this issue.

  I am sure you are wondering "Man this does not have much to do with hunting or fishing, why write it?"  Well it is simple, I am tired of seeing the little fly shops, hunting stores, mom and pop restaurants that I love go out of business.  At times it is sickening how much it happens.  Here in California we have a highway that is the epitome of what I am talking about the 395.  Hours and hours of scenery that ranges from Death Valley to steep mountains to ski resorts and in my opinion the best trout fishing West of Idaho.  And all along the 395 you mirror the Owens river. Little towns like Mojave, Lone Pine, Big Pine, Bishop, Crowley,Benton, Mono and  Mammoth Lakes all dot the road map like broke backed rattle snake.  All small and all slowly dying.  But I think these are the places that need to be saved, not the metropolitan areas like LA and New York.  They have enough Fruit Cakes there to keep themselves going for a long time, they live off of government money and stimulus to build their roads while many of us drive by the same pot hole that has been there for 6 years.

  So here is what I am pledging I want to bring the focus back on small towns destinations that we at outdoorsmen love and thrive in.  We all have needs and stories in our lives.  For a small shop owner in Bishop, Ca it is customers and we all have stories.  My goal is to tell others about them and show that we can be proud of who we are and where we came from.  Wednesday I am going to lay my plan out there for you all.  I will tie in what you are reading here with my new documentary series that I am working on.  So please think about what you invest in, family, friends is the given, but lets not forget about the community also.

And if you know of Hunting, Kayaking, Fishing or any other outdoor company that is American made, please leave a comment below. I'd love to see which companies are still state side and working to provide jobs and stability within our country


Thanks all,

The Bearded Boar.

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