fishingpoet

WE FISH BIG BECAUSE IT’S THERE

fishingpoet — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:29:51 +0000

Five feet out the bottom drops to twenty, at least. Out in the gut where the jet boats and gulls roam it’s one hundred. River-left at thirty-plus miles an hour, we stand and bomb two-handed casts into the current, watch the gale fill with flurries, exchange obscenities with guides drifting their sports in our [...]

THE VIEW FROM MY BOOKSHELVES

fishingpoet — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:37:51 +0000

My home office has got some hellafied built-in bookshelves. As a matter of fact, those bookshelves and the barn were the two things that sold me on the house when we first looked at it. The reason for my bookshelf love is that I’ve got a hellafied collection of books and sundry life-artifacts that fill them [...]

COMING BACK FROM ELSEWHERE

fishingpoet — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:47:40 +0000

The breeze lies on the water. There are two red canoes with four people in blue life-jackets paddling with silver & black paddles. Maples have pushed out their leaves to hang limp, yellow-green & newborn. The reflections of boats docked to the shore waver in the wake of one goose moving toward the island. At [...]

WHY 2012 WILL BE BIG

fishingpoet — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 02:28:08 +0000

I was just recently diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. More specifically full-blown Tourette Syndrome. The full-blown part (which sounds decidedly un-clinical to me) means that ADHD and OCD are along for the ride as well. According to the neurologist, I’m the oldest undiagnosed case he’s ever seen or heard of. To be clear, I don’t randomly [...]

AND SOMETIMES THE POETRY AIN’T ABOUT FISHING.

fishingpoet — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:54:49 +0000

A few classics from back in the day, inspired by music and road trips. And women. THE AIR ON BOURBON Her voice was enough to make me walk in here & I can’t believe the rose (thorns & all), her slow anguish in mid-air & the three guys sweatin’ through Sunday suits & that thrumming [...]

FLIES FOR FINS

fishingpoet — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:19:19 +0000

I’m a big proponent of supporting organizations that do the good work of helping protect, improve or re-establish our wild places and the wild things that call them home–whether wetlands, watersheds or woods. There are countless national, regional and local organizations with initiatives going on across the country (Trout Unlimited, Ducks Unlimited, Shenadoah Riverkeeper, No [...]

WOODPILE

fishingpoet — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:32:37 +0000

We’ve had an unseasonably warm November. Which figures, since we just put a woodstove in the basement under our kitchen. No matter though, this is Upstate NY. It will get cold and will make up for the late start on the other end of the season. I’m looking forward to the additional heat and glorious [...]

GOING DUTCH – THE BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL

fishingpoet — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:20:26 +0000

Ben Smith from Arizona Wanderings recently launched an online literary venture that’s dedicated to the outdoorsman and committed to excellence in writing– The Backcountry Journal. Since it’s inception, the site has already featured stories from Andy Wayment (contributor to Upland Equations), Erin Block (Mysteries Internal) and Ben as well. I’m pleased to say that I’m now [...]

LONG HAUL

fishingpoet — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:48:19 +0000

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. …and sometimes you throw a punch that starts from your toes and finishes with you standing over him saying get up…I’m not done with you yet. This here’s the long haul. You’re either all-in or your not. Big props to Eric Hornung for the design, ink and old-school hip-hop buffet while [...]

FLY RODS FOR A GREAT CAUSE

fishingpoet — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:30:29 +0000

I wanted so badly to land a great-big beautiful lake-run steelhead, brown or salmon on the rod. It was Day 2 of our weekend on the Salmon River with the veterans from the Ft. Drum Chapter of Project Healing Waters. Rob Burke, the head of the Chapter had fished most of the day before with [...]