Great post, Jeff, and a great reminder to make the time now for the
things we like best. Take it from a"50+ year older", spare time doesn't
get any easier to find with age.
-Wes
Date forwarded: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 10:45:43 -0700
From: Jeff Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: When I get older
Date sent: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 10:34:10 -0700
Forwarded by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I think we all will remember this phrase from our younger days. When I get
> older I will have more time fish when I want. Now I am not that old, 27 to
> be exact, but I remember all to well saying this when I was in High School
> and busy with football. I would dedicate my summers, winters, and springs
> to training rather then fishing the various rivers around my home in
> Vancouver for my most beloved fish the steelhead. I still have only taken
> fish on the gear out of the East Fork and nothing out of the Kalama or
> Washougal. You have to put in your time and I never did. During college,
> at PLU in Tacoma, I thought I had to work so much in the summer time that I
> actually went one year with out going to my "home" river the North Umpqua.
> The school years were filled with time in class as an engineering major I
> thought I didn't have time to do anything else. I didn't realize had the
> Green, Sky, Sno, Stilly, Skagit, and Sauk all within 2 hours. I did manage
> to take my first winter steelhead on a fly during college on the Green but
> that would be the only winter fish I took in 4 years of school. Then I take
> a job with Microsoft, finally time to fish for my beloved silver sided
> bullets. We all know how that goes. There never is enough time with work
> to fish as much as you want. I haven't been blessed with a wife and family
> yet so I have that time commitment hopefully still ahead of me.
>
> I get my time on the river now more then I ever have but it doesn't seem to
> matter, I always long for more. I get a day or two every month and more in
> the spring. I don't catch a ton of fish, but I get a few. My thoughts are
> always seemed filled with thoughts of the most magnificent fish that I can
> think of. Now we all know that fishing isn't all about catching. It is
> about getting on a river, feeling the river running around you, watching the
> bald eagles or the water ouzels do what they have done for years, it is
> about getting in a casting rhythm, it is about tying that next great fly,
> and it is about that all too familiar tug that comes when you least expect
> it.
>
> Summer time always turns my thoughts to the summer silver flashes of the
> North Umpqua. This is my home river even though I live in the Seattle area.
> It is where I learned to fly fish for steelhead. It is where I caught my
> first fly caught steelhead in 1989. It is where my dad and I plan a trip
> every year. It is the river that my entire fishing calendar year is set.
> It is now June 20 something. The fish are 4 weeks away from being present
> in good numbers. It won't be long until they are holding in the Racks, or
> cable crossing, upper Clay creek. Then by the second week of August they
> are up in Swamp creek, Williams creek, Ledges, Rattlesnake, etc. My
> thoughts go something like this, "When is the next time I get to fish the
> Umpqua?" That is how time is measured to me.
>
> When I get older never seems to come. I am learning to appreciate the time
> I do get to fish and go after my passion. Steelheading is truly and
> addiction that can't be explained. My friends don't understand why I love
> to fish when I don't catch fish all the time. Heck the summer in Seattle is
> tough on my I still haven't landed a fish on the Sno in two summers trying.
> That is my goal this year to hit a summer fish or two up here in this area.
>
>
> Steelhead Dreaming
>
> JJ
>
Wes Neuenschwander
Seattle, WA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
