Latest
Update: June
19, 2001 by Ben Marcus
10:21
JUNE 19, 2001 THE CABIN IN WISE RIVER, MONTANA
MONEY
Fishing license, flour, canola oil, chili, milk, cereal: $66.00
AOL 800 charges ($6 and hour): $24.00???
Kicking it in Montana: Priceless
The
cleaning lady just left and the last thing she said was, ńIf youÍre
going to eat elk, marinate it well. I put it in tacos or spaghetti
sauce or something to cover it up. I grew up eating elk and I
donÍt really look forward to it. Men might be different. ItÍs
a little too wild for me.î
Well
tonight we are going to be eating elk. Frank and Edith from Troutfitters
and going to flow us some elk steaks. Mike gave me a shopping
list which I fulfilled an hour ago, when I went to Wise River
to buy my fishing license. I bought a small bag of flour and some
cooking oil and two cans of chili. DonÍt know what he has in mind,
but itÍs something to look forward to.
Mike
and Rich are on the river, and I envy them. Floating this river
is something I am looking forward to. It is just an epic stretch
of water, as perfect a trout river as I have ever seen. ItÍs one
of those rivers that looks like it was designed by a zillionaire
with taste. Bank fishing is fun, but drifting is the way to go.
Maybe they can set us up with a three-man boat, or maybe IÍll
just go on a solo trip. Even if I donÍt catch fish, IÍll get to
see the river at the riverÍs pace.
But
I have work to do first. I am starting to compose the Jay Moriarity
Memorial, and I think IÍve got the angle. There have been over
200 posts about Jay on the Aggroville chat forum, and I think
IÍm going to bounce off all the different sentiments in there
to cover all the different aspects of Jay, and the people he has
touched. Jay taught surfing over the past few summers for the
OÍNeill Europe Surf School. When you combine that with all his
friends in Santa Cruz and all the people who knew him through
magazines, he has come into contact with thousands of people.
So
today I have sent e-mails to Bill Morris and JayÍs father Doug
and other people who posted stories about Jay on Aggroville.
ItÍs going to take a few days to talk to people, but IÍll eventually
solve the puzzle. I enjoy that.
The cute cleaning kids.
The
cleaning lady was here with two cute kids and filled me in on
the hunting and fishing situation around here. There is a five-week
rifle-hunting season at the end of October. Again, I think that
hunting is fun: blasting up into the hills on foot or horseback
or ATVÍs. But killing is a waste. Live and let live I say, although
people here do eat what they kill, even if itÍs a little too wild
for some. Maybe weÍll make elk pizza tonight.
IÍve
got the radio on and the creek is gurgling outside the window
and the birds and chirping and the cows are mooing and the clouds
are scudding and IÍm going to sit here and think and write. Now
that I have a license I may take a few breaks to go fishing.
There
are mosquitos all over the house. I guess they come out to feed
when it warms up. IÍm covered in bites. Hope theyÍre not malarial.
21:45 JUNE 19, 2001 THE CABIN AT WISE RIVER, MONTANA
ńHoney!
WhatÍs for dinner????!!!î
ńWhy
itÍs your favorite. Elk steaks, shot from a pickup truck.î
ńOh
no! Elk again!!!î
Elk
is what we had for dinner. Elk steaks breaded with flour and fried
in canola oil, courtesy of Chef Locatelli, with sides of garlic
rice and chili beans. Sounds good? It was so good, makes you want
to run home and slap your grandma.
Mike
and elk.
Elk
is good. ItÍs the other red meat. It was tender enough even with
the frying, and it didnÍt taste at all like chicken. It tasted
like beef plus. Of course, we double-drowned it in rice and beans
and salt and pepper, but even on its own it was good. I feel less
sorry for Lewis and Clark right now. If they had trout to eat
and elk to eat, then they werenÍt doing too badly. I read the
intro to the Journals of Lewis and Clark last night. This was
just the introduction and there was a lot of information. Apparently
Lewis and Clark were good men who got along well and knew what
they were doing. They only lost one man from Saint Louis to the
mouth of the Columbia, were never assaulted by Indians and really
accomplished the impossible. According to what I read, the only
time they really despaired was in the Bitterroot Mountains, when
they ran out of food.
So,
elk is good food. We had two steaks a piece, a little white wine.
And then we went fishing. This day ended well but was mostly bad.
I did a good impression of Homer Simpson today, walking into the
most mosquito-laden parts of the river, getting endless snags
and not catching any fish. On my first trip I went to a little
dam spot just above Troutfitters. It was swarming with mosquitoes
and I was wearing my hat and spraying myself with off, but I am
covered in bites. (Mike gave me a long-sleeve shirt for this evening.
Duh.) There were fish rising and I was casting okay but I didnÍt
get any action. After swapping a bunch of flies and untying endless
snarls (that double-fly rig snarled a lot) I walked up to the
van to find Ike. I walked up the bank, under a fence, up another
bank and about 50 yards to the car. I found Ike hiding underneath
the van, apparently cowering from the mosquitoes. When I turned
around I saw my fly line stretched out behind me. I had the fly
caught in my leg and the reel was stripped down to the backing.
I couldnÍt believe I could walk that far and not feel a tug. It
was as impossible as what Lewis and Clark accomplished, (in a
different way) but I did it.
A
guy in a truck pulled up and said ńThat looks like the backing
to a fly line!î and chuckled at me a little bit and then took
off because the mosquitoes were too thick. I reeled in the line
the wrong way, picking it up from the hook end and looping it
together. What I should have done is walked all the way back and
reeled it in, but I was so embarrassed and shocked to have 50
yards of fly line strung out that I started picking it up. Mistake.
I looped the fly line and backing into a horrendous snarl. I threw
it all in the van fighting off about a thousand mosquitoes and
went back to the house.
Doh!
Really, really dumb.
I
went back to the cabin and checked e-mail. Felix Alfaro called
me and gave me a quote about Jay when he was ńa little chubby
kid riding longboards at 38th.î I also got return e-mails from
a few people. I talked to Jeff Clark today briefly. He was at
OÍNeills in Santa Cruz and didnÍt sound too happy. Jay was JeffÍs
tow partner and good friend, and Jeff is really feeling it. A
lot of people are.
This
memorial will be easy to write. IÍm going to structure it around
a few of the posts on Aggroville,
which come from a wide variety of people. Jay touched a lot of
people-in person and through the media. He taught surf camps all
over Europe for OÍNeill Europe. People loved him. I have to do
a good job at this, but I got a good start today. Once you figure
out structure, it gets easier.
As
for fly-fishing, itÍs all about gear and local knowledge. I know
how to cast and tie knots and do the fundamentals pretty well,
but every river is different. My rods are both rigged for steelhead,
and all the gear is too heavy for trout. Mike and Rich are using
very light rods and lines and leaders, because the water is clear
and trout are smart.
It
took me an hour to untangle the fly line and backing, and I ended
up cutting some of it. I tied a decent nail knot to reattach the
backing to the fly line, and then I went back to the river. This
time I was a little up from where I was before, but it was still
malarial.
There
were fish rising all around and I was casting okay but my dry
flies werenÍt floating. I got bit to pieces and didnÍt catch anything
and lost some more flies and just all together was very frustrated.
Our
humble adobe.
I
went back to the cabin and worked some more, then Rich and Mike
showed up. TheyÍd caught 52 fish between them while drifting today.
Those guys are spending $500 a day for the cabin, boat and guide,
and they want to catch fish. They laughed at all my bites, and
then felt sorry for me. I brought in my rig and asked what was
wrong. I was using the floating line on the end with a leader
and a tippet on the end of that, and it was too long. Mike took
off the floating line, tied a butt of leader to the fly line and
then I had a tapered 5X leader that he tied to the butt of leader.
My rod is a meant for steelhead but it will work well enough for
trout. Rich finished the rig because Mike had trouble tying knots.
I
had bought groceries today and Mike cooked the elk, beans and
rice. I was the taste tester on the elk, and was surprised at
how good it was. That almost tempts me to get into hunting. If
you go out and shoot something you actually like to eat, then
hunting isnÍt all that horrific. This elk was shot from the driverÍs
seat of a pickup truck, which isnÍt very sporting. It still tasted
good.
After
dinner Rich took pity on me and drove me up to a place called
SportsmanÍs Corner. He tied a nymph onto the end of the leader,
and showed me a spot he really likes. ńYou want a place where
thereÍs fast water in the middle and slow water against the bank.
Trout hang out in the little deep crease between slow and fast
water. They donÍt want to swim too hard and they want the food
to come to them.
We
parked in a grassy parking lot of a nice campground, and then
Rich did some casts with the nymph. Technique is everything. Keep
the line behind the fly, let it drift naturally down then retrieve
it quickly once it hits the slow water. Trout will follow the
thing all the through the swing, and then hit it when youÍre bringing
in the line.
It
took him a couple dozen casts, but he finally got a fish on, a
decent little rainbow. Rich put all the line on the reel and took
in the slack, then let me bring the fish in. He adjusted the drag
and then said, ńWhen it wants to run, let it run. When it stops
running, reel it in because itÍs coming back at you. Keep the
rod straight up. If you give it any slack, it will throw the hook.î
So thatÍs what I did. The trout ran three or four times, then
I reeled it in a little and finally got it to the bank. It was
a nice little 14 inch rainbow, full of piss and vinegar. It took
me a while to get the hook out, but when I let it go it took off
like a shot.
So,
I got the feel for having a trout on, and learned that you have
to let those fish run, because the tackle is light and the hooks
come out easily.
Rich
let me start casting, and corrected my technique. He said I cast
fine, and I explained that IÍve done a lot of fishing, IÍm just
clueless about lines and leaders and flies. Fly fishing is like
English history. There is a lot to know.
Well
I didnÍt get an bites or fish, but I could have. IÍm going to
go back to SportsmanÍs Corner tomorrow and flog the hell out of
it. Hopefully there will be some kind of hatch and I can throw
out some dry flies.
Ike
behaved like a brat today. Mike is allergic to cats, and he kept
opening the door to MikeÍs room and sleeping on his clothes. I
must have pulled him out of there 10 times. The door doesnÍt shut
and even with a chair and pillow in front, Ike can still get in.
HeÍs a clever cat. A good leaper and he can open anything. This
morning Rich was on the john and Ike walked in and opened the
first two cabinets under the sink.
Cat
of leisure.
This
evening I let him run around when Rich and I were nymphing. When
I went to get him he ran away and I chased him a good stretch,
He did that two more times, even leaping out of the van and running,
which was a first. DonÍt know what got into him, but he redeemed
himself at dinner.
Rich and Mike and Prarie Dog Pie.
After
dinner I surprised Mike and Rich with some prairie dog pie. While
I was fishing the edges of the river, Ike prowled the edges of
the highway and caught six of the little critters in two hours.
He was proud as a peacock so I skinned them and baked them prepared
them in a store-bought pie crust with some cloves and cinnamon.
Delicious.
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