A Person, Artist, Software Engineer, Geologist.

True to summer I've been fly fishing a lot.  Always looking for a better fly pattern for a specific creek on a specific day.  It always changes. My fly of choice is shown to the right.  It's not pretty but it has qualities that the fish go for.  It's like a black gnat with grey wings but more importantly for the shallow streams I've been fishing, it's weighted with wire in the body.  This allows it to float in the water column for the fish to see.  I've tried nymphs but the fish appear to like my gnat way better. I make bunches of them (I lose my share to trees and limbs) and I've been catching bunches of fish.  North Mills, Cane, Rocky Fork and North Pigeon.   All clear and shallow (1-2' deep) with fish laying in the ripples between the rocks.  This is not for deep pools but moving water where they just hanging out for the food to come by. The main downside to fishing in these locations is that the fish can see you too.  So I fish upstr...

My Barn Drawings have all been from the outside looking in, but here is one from the inside looking out.  Not unlike how there are multiple perspectives to almost everything. The main difference from the inside of a barn (well, these tobacco barns) is how the gaps between the boards are white and the boards are dark.  Plus you get to see the “bones” of the place and how they have worn over time and collected junk on the inside.   Back to perspectives, it always amazes me how many people can (or want) to see a single perspective on things that they care about.  I can understand multiple perspectives but I still have my favorites. Holding onto a perspective that ignores the facts is something that I can not do.  Your life has to have some foundation of truth, like burning coal and oil effects the lives of billions, my perspectives has to related to the underlying facts. Later….

There are many reasons I fly fish, but among them is meditative.  I was telling Bobbie that Fly Fish is like rock climbing in that I'm totally focused on the task at hand but it's less dangerous.  To which Bobbie asked my if I've every been hurt when I used to rock climb (vs Broken Ankle Fly Fishing).  Nope, good point. I fly fish instead of spin casting because I want to understand the fish, river, flys, etc. and not use a blunt instrument with its only goal of catching fish. I've been fishing up in Bakersville for the last few weeks.  The creek is small (~10 feet wide), clear with sections of ripples, rocks and some pools.  I avoid the pools as the spin casters clean those out and I focus on the remaining sections.  For these I used a dry fly.  This is where the fly rides on the top of the water and the trout comes to the surface and grabs it.  With this action you can see the fish "rise", break the surface and head back down.  You get to s...