Daydreaming

Daydreaming is fun. It allows you to step outside of your normal and go on mini mental adventures. Being firmly rooted in mid-life, my current state of crisis often sends me on a daydream as a way of escape. Wondering what if? Where to? Or what’s next?

As a family, we moved to Florida in 2013. I was offered a great opportunity at a growing company and we took it. It’s impossible to regret the decision. We live in a nice neighborhood, my daughter has had a stable environment from elementary school through high school, and the weather in Florida in December and January isn’t bad at all. Not much to complain about, except the fishing.

But Mike, you live in Florida you dummy, the fishing is great!

Yeah, but not for me, I’ve tried the salt, I’ve tried the marsh, heck, I’ve even tried the swamp, but nothing really fills my soul like being able to take long walks in the shade, wade in cool, flowing water and cast a fly toward a (sometimes) willing trout. When you grow up in Pennsylvania, there’s something about “the woods” that just penetrates your being. Even if the memory is probably fonder than the reality.

So I’ve been daydreaming often. My daughter is headed out of state for college in the fall. Could that be a cue to finally make a move and return to my beloved woods and trout water? If so, where would we move? Pennsylvania? North Carolina? Colorado? Idaho? Oregon? The locations that could fit the bill are numerous, and if I do enough searches on Zillow, I can just imagine living in each and one of them.

Side note: The only rule my wife has regarding where we live is it must be within driving distance from a Target (not a Walmart). And that rule really has little to do with her shopping preferences, rather towns that typically have Targets also have infrastructure to support health care options, airports, and other important things like that. The same can’t always be said for Walmarts or Dollar Generals.

But then I snap back to reality. What the heck would I do if I moved? The job market isn’t great right now. (Is it ever?) I’ve performed my current job for the same company for almost two decades. What else am I actually qualified to do besides that (and write crappy blog posts that nobody reads)? Do I toss my career aside in the name of fly fishing for trout? That sounds like a bit much.

Then I slip back into daydreaming again, this time imagining doing something totally different than the corporate office job I have today. Such as being a tour guide, driving a school bus, or opening up a hot dog stand and chatting up the “regulars” each day. Basically anything except sitting beneath a bank of fluorescent lighting and attending endless in-person and virtual meetings. New vocations, such as those referenced sure sound fun from afar, although the feasibility of paying the bills on those types of salaries usually provides a rude wakeup call.

Daydreaming - Troutrageous! - Hot Dog Shop

Anyway, at this point I’m rambling. What does this post even mean? Beats me. Like I said, it’s fun to daydream. And who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll choose to make the daydream a reality. Or not.

Either way, I need to go trout fishing soon…

Land of Little Rivers – A Fly Fishing Documentary

I’m not going to lie, when Land of Little Rivers, a 2019 movie first popped up in my YouTube feed, I had some preconceived notions. Perhaps it was the subject being the Catskills, or maybe the somewhat non-inspiring thumbnail image. I just envisioned a bunch of gray haired guys talking on and on about the “good old days” and expected something slow, boring, and stereotypically “fly fishing.”

You know what I mean, the kind of content that loves to feature those angling quotes you see over and over… “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” You know, stuff like that which has totally been beaten to death.

Instead, I found the narrative lively, funny, informative, and entertaining. I’m glad it was more Rob Lewis and less Theodore Gordon, although both are featured and crucial to telling the story of the Catskills. I really enjoyed this documentary and I think you will too. Especially if you have a special place in your heart for storytelling and fly fishing in the Northeast.

Maxillary Process

Ever catch a trout with a crooked smile? It was probably missing its maxillary process (or maxilla), the flap of bony tissue that extends along and beyond the upper jaw.

Here’s a photo of a brown trout, maxillary process intact, looking normal.

Maxillary Process - Troutrageous — Arrow pointing at its maxillary process

Now here’s a photo of a cutthroat I caught in Colorado last October.

Maxillary Process - Troutrageous - Missing — Ouch, this cutthroat trout has definitely seen a hook or three before…

If your trout is giving you a goofy grin like that cuttie, it was probably caught by another angler. It likely felt the pinch of a barbed or treble hook, or was possibly even “snagged”, which isn’t very sporty. All of these have been known to damage and even destroy this part of the trout’s facial anatomy.

Now why is this important? Besides looking strange, an absent or jacked up maxillary process may create troubles for a trout when it comes to feeding, depending on the severity of its removal. It can also indirectly give you an idea of fishing pressure in the location you caught the impacted fish.

However, trout can certainly live without this facial feature. Interestingly, the maxillary process is one of two structures on a fish that is targeted to be “clipped” by game agencies as a way to identify the origin of stocked steelhead. (The other is the adipose fin – the final, small curved back fin by the trout’s tail).

So there, the next time you see a fish with a jacked up face, you now know what to call its missing feature when you share that fish pic with your buddies. And even better, it gives you a reason to pinch those barbs, or even better fish barbless.

Who says you can’t learn anything useful online?

VR Design Trutta Moderna Reels

Saw this sexy beast on Instagram yesterday.

Oh… my… lord…

VR Design Trutta Moderna Reels - Troutrageous

VR Design Trutta Moderna Reels - Troutrageous - Cage

“A limited number of Trutta Moderna 2 3/4” and 3” in Titanium. The reels should be available around May.”

I tell you what, when I eventually move closer to trout water and can fish for them more often, I’m going to go on one hell of a spending spree. I’m such a sucker for shiny objects, especially in the form of fly reels. I like them all, whether the aesthetic is classic or modern, and especially if it’s a click and pawl.

Every reel VR Design offers is absolutely gorgeous. If you’re not familiar, check them out on Instagram or even better, their website.