Carol Northcut | Tuesday, 4 April 2023
Not a very exciting week, except that Nick won the Trout Distance competition at the UK competition in Cumbria! I look forward to hearing Tracy and James’ recap.
Steve and I did try a little fishing on the Flathead River one afternoon last week when the temp was close to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It was more casting practice because the fish haven’t started migrating up out of the lake yet, coupled with the fact that we have no idea what we’re doing on the bigger water. I was throwing an ugly Kreelex streamer, which has dumbbell eyes, on Steve’s BVK 906 and using a Rio Streamer Tip line. I was testing the rod to see if I liked its action. The rod is perfectly fine, but I didn’t check the profile of the line and was having a heck of a time trying to do a 40’+ oval cast. When I got home and looked at the profile, I saw it has a 30’ head: a brick on a string. It was a case of a dumbbell casting a dumbbell too far into the overhang. Live and [hopefully] learn.
It has snowed a couple of days this week, and I’ve lost the desire to stand out in the cold and practice. Funny how quickly that happens once there have been a few 40+ degree days and sunshine. The snow doesn’t melt as quickly here as it did living at 9200’ with intense UV and lots of sunshine.
As the snow melts, we’ve been working in the woods again and have discovered that the hill next to the house is a deer motel. There is a veritable deer highway running through the property where they, apparently, bed down at night. It is covered in deer pellets. We went to the farm store and bought one of those dog poop scoops with the 12” wide pan. After cleaning up the deer pellets in my casting lane today, I ventured onto the hill. In about half an hour, the 5-gallon bucket was about half-full. And there is a lot more to go. It’s simply too much poop too close to the well, so it needs to go. The previous owners had a couple of dogs that kept the deer away. We don’t have one yet and won’t until we get some good camping and fishing in without one. Our last dog was very beloved, but a total pain in the arse when it came to traveling, camping and fishing. He could never be off leash, barked too much in the campground, and had severe travel anxiety. But he would have been great at keeping the deer away!He just might not come back after the chase.
The forest here is predominantly Douglas Fir, which is susceptible to beetle. A large tree can succumb within a year to infestation. So we bought 100 bubble caps of pheromones that you tack onto the trunk of trees between 6’ and 12’ high. The pheromones are like a No Vacancy sign, telling beetles that the tree is already infested. The bubble caps aren’t cheap (about $2.50 US per cap) so we have to strategically place them on the biggest trees. They need to be put up before April 15, but not too far in advance because they evaporate over time. However, they need to be up before two consecutive 60 degree days because the warmth signals the beetles to take flight. We’ve put up half and need to put up the rest later this week.
We’ve been tying Furminsky’s extended foam body green and grey drakes tonight. Cool fly and fun to tie once you get the hang of it. Apparently, they are a great pattern around here when the drakes are on.