What a beautiful morning. Several days ago, I was sitting on top of my one man pontoon boat, alone on Anderson Lake. I had caught and released a couple of nice rainbow trout. There is something spectacular about being the only human on a body of water, lake, or stream. The nice thing about a pontoon boat is that while you are positioned off the water, the water is literally inches from your seat. The craft opens to the water between the two pontoons. On that particular morning the world seemed especially peaceful. There were several swallows and a large number of purple martins (similar to swallows) swooping around the lake acquiring their breakfasts. Early in the morning there were a number of other birds as well, including a magnificent bald eagle tormenting his friend, the osprey.

To a fly fishers delight, the morning hatch of bugs had begun. The bugs du jour that morning were chironomids, or better known as midges. The midge starts its life as an egg, transitions into a larva, then into a pupa. When nature calls, the pupa rises to the surface encapsulated is a bubble of gas which provides the buoyancy for the ride to the surface. Once the pupa breaks through the under-surface of the water, it begins yet another transition. At that point, this mosquito-like insect crawls out of its shuck. It sits atop of the floating shuck for a few seconds drying its wings. Then, the adult insect begins its first flight into a new life doing what insects do — making more insects. It is during these transitional phases and especially the emergence to the surface, that the insects are the most vulnerable to trout. I found it interesting that the midges in this lake were exceptionally large.

I literally had a front row seat sitting there on my pontoon boat watching this spectacle of nature. One particularly large midge emerged in the water between my feet. It was great watching it pop to the surface extracting itself from its shuck. Soon it began its slow flight up and a little towards me. It literally flew about two feet in front of my face so that I could examine the fine points of its wings and body. Engrossed in my face to face nature lesson … bang, unbeknownst to me, a purple martin flew at what seemed to be mach speed from my right side and inhailed the new born! Both were gone in an instant…

While no stranger to this cycle of life, I must admit that this event made an impression on me. Sure, adolescents are accused of living with invincibility and immortality. But you know, so do we adults. I recently heard a woman comment that she can’t image the world without me in it. It don’t believe her notion is so much a statement of her arrogance, as much as it is her detachment from her place in the natural world. The human race has a long history of neglecting our place in nature. Historically, we have so elevated ourselves that if we are not very careful, we too, like the small midge, may rise to a level of annihilation. Each of us have a decision to make. Do we live as stewards or consumers of our earth? A client of mine just last week was lamenting how “something is happening”. He went on to provide a long list of critters which are missing from his property this year. On this list were various birds, frogs, and mammals. Granted, his may be an isolated case. Or perhaps it is not. On a broader scope, the states of Oregon and California have closed down the salmon fishery on their coastal waters due to depressed numbers of fish.

It is everyone’s role to provide good stewardship. If not we too may experience the plight of the midge. Swoop…GULP!

Here’s to Growth,

Tim

Several days ago a small group of Hard Working Dads returned to their respective homes from Northern California.  This special weekend was dedicated to helping those guys out there who bust their bunions every day doing the work and family thing. We love our families and most of us love what we do. It was just great getting together as a group of guys, who have different backgrounds, but very similar stressors. It always amazes me how people who don’t know each other can have so much in common. When you are standing in the water surrounded by beautiful scenery, waving a graphite stick in the air at some trout, everyone quickly becomes equal. Doctors, engineers, and educators are all on the same level playing field. For those few hours we are all just trout bums. This group of bums laughed together, ate great food, had some nice wine and talked about some of the concerns which keep us up at night.

All within a couple of days, we fly fished Hat Creek, the Fall River, the Pit River, and Burney Creek.  A special aspect of our fly fishing activity was to go out after suppers to the Fall River. The Fall River is a boat access only spring creek (meaning the river water is generated by huge springs)  which at this time of year experiences the annual Hex hatch. The Hex or Hexagenia is a type of aquatic bug (mayfly) which emerges from below the water surface as darkness approaches. These mayflies are very large (about two inches) and present themselves as a complete delicacy to the trout.  One could just about set their clock by the 9:15 p.m. emergence. The hatch continued for about thirty minutes which conveniently was the legal time to quit fishing (30 minutes after sunset) in California.

The Hex hatch provided a great time for all. Without an exception those in our group expressed how “cool” it was trying to cast and bring fish in, in the near dark or dark. Not only did we find some great rainbow trout but one of our members even accidentally hooked a muskrat. Everyone especially appreciated our catch-and-release policy with that one!

Our staff can heartily recommend those beautiful Northern California waters to anyone. Our local guides were great and our Hard Working Dads were not only rejuvenated but left with a few down-to-earth tools to help them cope in this crazy working world of ours.  For all the other Hard Working Dads out there that were not at the Hex hatch our thoughts are with you. We hope you understand the importance of connecting with nature and bonding with your brothers.  No matter what we do for our work, we guys benefit from being challenged by nature at it’s best.

If you were not able to join us this year we hope to see you at next years Hex hatch. In the mean time perhaps we can connect on the Madison River in Montana at our Conflict Management event July 31- August 2, 2008. Those fish will make your arm sore!

Here’s to Growth,

Tim