fishing for words

Blogger Loyd Schutte put out an early alert on his Yosemite Blog that Tioga Road is set to open today at noon. This is one of the earliest openings of the road in recent memory and is good news in terms of some early season fishing in the high country.

A light snow pack, early warm weather and limited damage to the road sped its clearing. The last time the Tioga Pass Road was opened close to mid May was during 2004 and 2001. Beyond that you have to go all the way back to 1990 for such and early opening date. If you’re inclined, you can take a look at the pass at the Tioga Pass Web Cam.

Let’s just hope that at least one food fad doesn’t leave the South. The Kool-Aid Soaked Pickle.

Take one pickle, soak it in Kool-Aid and put it in gallon jars on the counters of the local food market. And apparently folks buy them.  Then they eat them.  It boggles the mind. At least my mind.

Flies, flies and more flies. I was lucky enough to pick up some flies tied by other members of the Diablo Valley Fly Fisherman club during Tuesday night’s auction. (Even got some hints from a “fishmaster” about some flies that might do well on Putah Creek, our only local trout water.)

But I’ll tell you what…I’m going armed with a bit more cash next year if this fly fishing thing takes root. Gear was generally going for the equivalent of half the retail price, and it was for a good cause. It’s also great to experience the sincere “hellos” from club members, which helps dispel the myth that fly fisherman are a snobbish bunch with expensive equipment. I’m already saving pennies for next year’s auction!

While I would generally agree with Tom Chandler‘s comment in his The Trout Underground blog that “fly fishing is how some of us convert our spare time into sanity,” it’s the process of transitioning from a spincast fisher to fly fisher that may push me a bit closer to insanity for a short period of time. Thank goodness the fly fishing class that Christopher and I attended last Saturday went a long way toward easing this insanity.

Don’t get me wrong. I plan to enjoy fly fishing. It will be fun.

This class, put on by the Diablo Valley Fly Fishermen was a great way to get a leg up on learning about the sport. It also taught me that learning to cast well doesn’t require a stream or a river or a lake, but fly fishing a stream or a river or a lake does require casting well. For now, though may casting did improve last Saturday with a greater understanding of the basics, is decidedly not graceful. My general knowledge received a huge boost as did the inventory of knots I know how to tie. However, any boost to confidence was quickly tempered by the revelation that I have so much more to learn to become a proficient fly fisher. And there’s that casting thing again.

But I didn’t enter fly fishing to become a master. Realistically, I expect that for the next few years, maybe ten or twenty, the catching and landing of a fish on my fly rod is likely to be better described as a happy accident.

So, for those of age and/or amateur radio operators…old technology made new again?  From C|Net News.com:

Researchers at Big Blue have come up with a way to create vacuum spaces between copper wires in semiconductors, an insulating technique that will allow these chips to increase in speed and performance and reduce power consumption. Early indications show that chip performance can be increased by up to 35 percent, power consumption can be cut by 15 percent, or some combination of increased performance and power savings can be achieved. [Read more...]