Family-Outdoors

Sorry about what's to follow Grandad. He would remind us that trout fishing really should not be done with artificials . For Grandad there's only one way, and it better be on a fly rod. Of course we would not disgrace him by combining live bait with a fly rod when fishing for those stocker rainbows in the local lake, but we might have accidentally arrived without our fly rods and we might have remembered some worms and a few floats. Don't get me wrong here, we like to fly fish about as much as anyone. On the other hand there seems to be something a little wrong with the idea of pulling up to a lake where some truck a few weeks ago dumped a bunch of dumb strocker trout that have about as much experience with a nymph or a woolly bugger as a yuppie leaving Starbucks in his BMW to go get a Thickburger at Hardees . Or maybe its the other way around-I'm not too sure. Anyway, catching stocker trout in a lake isn't really much about the aesthetics of a pretty ...

This little stream of consciousness comes with a disclaimer...Does not apply to marriage or quite a few other facets of life...but it applied in the following way to me. I coached basketball for many years. I coached in Alaska, Colorado and Missouri and I really enjoyed it. There was a time when I thought I was pretty darn devoted to the game, both in my playing days and my years coaching. The basketball season started in the late Fall and ran until late Winter or early Spring if you were lucky. You might run a little camp during the summer, but most state associations were pretty restrictive about letting coaches overload their kids' time in the off-season with activities. Somewhere along the way, the door opened a crack to more, and then more interaction between players and coaches. One day I woke up to the idea that to compete with other schools I had to run Fall leagues, Spring leagues, Summer leagues, Peewee programs, etc. I was competing against coaches who had their s...

Let me be honest about something. I was born in Colorado and raised in Alaska - I should have been an outdoorsman already but I wasn't. Somewhere along the line my boys became enthralled with the idea of hunting and fishing - the outdoors in general. It was constant pressure to go here or there hunting or fishing, and oh heavens the money we have spent on rifles, fishing gear, tents, travel, guides,... I was gradually tiptoed down the path of becoming an outdoorsman because I had to be one. What a fiasco it has been at times. If I knew anything about hunting it sure wasn't anything about how it was done in the Ozarks of Missouri. If I knew anything about fishing, it was salmon, halibut, and trout. Ten years ago I couldn't tell you the difference between a smallmouth and a largemouth bass. Together, my boys and I, we have come quite a ways but I am certain there have been times when they wondered whether their fearless leader was ever going to lead them to harves...

I always get antsy about this time of year and I swear I won't do it. I am 45 years old and I don't need to rush the seasons, but I can't help it. One too many times waking up in a sleeping bag and wondering how fast I can get a fire built, one too many times having to dunk my fly rod in the water to get the ice off, or maybe it's just the anticipation of something new. The Springtime is filled with new things, even if I've experienced many of them 45 times before. That's where living in the moment comes to mind... Love the moment you are in when it's possible, but it's ok to be excited about what is around the corner. So I am excited and I won't feel guilty about it. Spring will be arriving to my part of the world for real in a few weeks and I do look forward to the cool mornings and evenings and the warmth of the afternoon. That brings me to my final rambling of the day... Missouri allows Spring turkey hunting only 'til noon. We travel ...