James Card

The scars he carried. The price extracted for living in the waters of the northern pike.

A spike in the quality of life index.

The spaniel goes from swimming in the stagnant, algae-slicked mud ponds of the Mid-South to the clean and cold trout streams of central Wisconsin.

The river looked trouty. I scouted it the day before at lunchtime and returned the next day. It’s rated as a Class 1 trout stream which is defined by the Wisconsin DNR as:

“High quality trout waters that have sufficient natural reproduction to sustain populations of wild trout, at or near carry capacity. Consequently, streams in this category require no stocking of hatchery trout. These streams or stream sections are often small and may contain small or slow-growing trout, especially in the headwaters. There are 5,400 miles of Class 1 trout streams in Wisconsin and they comprise 41% of Wisconsin’s total trout stream mileage.”

It was a deep pool that tailed out to an undercut bank. I figured it would produce a brown or two. I drifted my deer-hair caddis on the bubble line and had no takers. After a few perfect drifts, I tied on an olive bugger and cast aggressively in the deep water. As the streamer hung halfway in the water column between strips, a large shadow lunged out from the deep and inhaled the fly. I knew it was not a brown trout but I wasn’t disappointed, either.

“What will kill a horse will kill a man …”

Was out target shooting with the Buckmark the other day. Considering the capabilities of the .22 autoloading pistol:

“Now standing in one corner of a boxing ring with a .22 caliber Colt automatic pistol. Shooting a bullet weighing only 40 grains and with a striking energy of only 51 foot pounds at 25 feet from the muzzle, I will guarantee to kill either Gene [Tunney] or Joe Louis before they can get to me from the opposite corner. This is the smallest caliber pistol cartridge made; but it is also one of the most accurate and easy to hit with, since the pistol has no recoil. I have killed many horses with it, cripples and for bear bait, with a single shot, and what will kill a horse will kill a man … Yet this same pistol bullet fired at point-blank range will not even dent a grizzly’s skull, and to shoot at a grizzly [bear] with a .22-caliber pistol would simply be one way of committing suicide.”

Ernest Hemingway

Two years ago I fly fished this creek in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. I parked my car near a bridge and as I was stringing up my rod, a curly-tailed farm dog approached. I patted him on the head and he tagged along with me as I spent the day fishing. 

Last weekend I parked in the same spot at the same bridge, and as I was stringing up my fly rod, the same dog suddenly approached out of nowhere. I couldn’t tell which farm and direction he came from. I belly crawled under the electric fence with the DNR easement sign and hiked into the pasture. The dog scooted under the fence and ran past me. He coursed ahead and never came within ten feet of me yet he was always around. He would disappear for a few minutes and then circle back to check on my whereabouts. The dog never barked. A few times he splashed through some riffles that I was stalking up to but I didn’t mind as there were plenty more good spots ahead. When it was time to hike back downstream to the car, he came along as if he knew exactly what the plan was. I wonder how many other anglers he has accompanied for streamside romps over the seasons. When I reached the car and stripped off my waders the dog was nowhere to be seen.

Personal Phenology:

—first mosquito bite of the year.

—first application of bug spray of the year.

—first wood tick of the year pulled off the dog.

—first listening to The Blind Boys of Alabama.

—first ever parade my son has experienced (whereas once he learned that the people on the floats tossed free candy onto the pavement, he elbowed into the scrum with the rest of the kids).

—first wearing of shorts this year while working outside.

—first trip of the year to the shooting range.

—first wearing of Tevas that replaced the mud boots of winter.

—first bratwursts cooked on the grill this year.

—first stonefly hatch of the year.

—first trout of 2012. The catch-and-release, restricted-waters early season ends April 29th. The regular season opens May 5th.

Warmer temps. Snowball weather.