Four Corners Fishing

i've been fortunate to do quite a bit of fishing lately. the following took place between mid-may and yesterday. 

southeast.

i can't think of an analogy for tarpon fishing.  you usually get three shots and then it's your buddy's turn.  an hour can go by before you get one shot sometimes.  and more often than not, the shot's over in five seconds.  sometimes you get two casts at a fish or a pod, but it's definitely the first one that is your best chance at hooking a fish.  if you're unsuccesful, you are then faced with one to sixty minutes before your next shot to think about what you did wrong, or why the fish simply didn't eat the fly.  you feel like you've failed an exam that counted for three quarters of your grade or if you got rejected on a date from your crush.  but as soon as you get your eyes on the next fish approaching, all that just happened is forgotten.  i am not good at tarpon fishing.  i wonder if i should be more pissed off at all the shots i missed.  i mean, it's not everyday i get to go tarpon fishing.  it takes time and money to get there and more time and money to get a guide to get on the water.  if you really wanted to, you could put a dollar amount to each shot, each cast.  i don't know what good that would do, but i guess you could do it.  so maybe i should be more upset i didn't hook more tarpon this season.  but what would good would that do? 

northeast.

also known as 'home'.  while washington's feeling more and more like home, i think maine will always be home.  i get excited when the plane touches down in any place, but it's tough to beat touching down at portland international.  it's literally 10 minutes away from friends and fun.  tough to beat that.  portland's still awesome.  everyone that lives there still is too.  camp is north of there though.  and what a camp it is.  a six year work in progress, this place is amazing.  parts of it are 100% done, while others are 10%.  i want to show all my friends this place.  oh, and there's a trout pond 100 yards away.  and man, did it go off that night.  it had been quite a while since i found myself on a pond with native brookies gulping hatching bugs.  there were five of us across three boats that evening and wouldn't you know it, the only two fellars who had rods bent all night were the old man and me!  ha! 

southwest.

what a place colorado is.  mountains, trees, cold streams, a ton of hungry trout and sun.  tough to beat i reckon.  the fishing in colorado was really good.  how this will effect late-, and even mid-season fishing is to be determined, but it was pretty damn good a couple weeks ago.  ranch life is pretty much the same.  which means, awesome.  really good to see the guys at the 4UR.  and the girls too.  i'm really glad that i got to get back to the ranch.  it's been a really big part of my life the last few years and i'm thankful to have the opportunity to visit.  i tied on one nymph rig in a full day's fishing.  it promptly hooked what was most likely the largest fish in the entire creek.  i landed the largest rainbow in my life in my last evening.  thanks goose creek.  see ya in a bit.

northwest.

also, also known as 'home'.  it's been 10 months now.  the more i see, the more i like.  had a ball last winter on the peninsula, and now it's time to get dialed in on the cuttys in the sound.  here's what i've figured out so far:  if you find them, you catch them.  if you don't find them, you maybe get one, usually none.  so that's fine - i just gotta find 'em.  found a couple yesterday though, which was nice.  got lucky to be a guest on a friend's beach on the west side of hood canal.  sea run cutthroat trout are fantastic fish.  they crush flies, fight like the dickens and shoot back like bullets into the water when you let them go.  and they sure are pretty too.  i caught three fish on three different flies yesterday.  not sure if i just happened to get my flies in front of three fish, coincidentally after i changed flies, or what was happening exactly.