About your "Fishing Guide".........

 Fishing took control of my life at a very early age, as far back as I can remember I was consumed with the idea of catching fish, any fish. One of my most vivid memories (I must have been 5 yrs old as I was in kindergarten at the time) was making / tying a fly, I do not recall if this was my first attempt at tying a fly or not. However this was a fly that actually caught a fish. The “fly” was tied on a pre snelled  bait hook, the hook was pushed into a piece of wood (small tree branch) and I used some of my mothers sewing thread to lash the tips of three Blue Jay feathers to the for end of the hook (The blue Jay was found deceased in our driveway, the primary suspect was the neighbors cat). I did not have a “real fishing rod” at the time, just a cane pole with a length of cord to which I tied of my snelled “fly”. The Rahway River was the nearest fish inhabited water, it ran through a section of “woods” approximately ¼ of a mile from our house. All I had to do to get there was basically walk across the street, through a small section of the “woods” and onto the footpath that ran to the footbridge. The Rahway River in colonial times was a very lovely trout stream but by the time I arrived on this earth, urban sprawl and major industrial effluent reduced the Rahway River to what by any standard would be considered at best a large ditch. There was a resident population of  Creek Chubs (minnows), Carp and Killy’s ( a specie of darter) in the Rahway R. but every April the NJ dept of  fish and game would stock the river with trout (several times). These trout would survive in here until about mid to late June when the river temperature would rise to the point were any and all “fishing season” survivors would eventually perish. It was one of these little hatchery trout that impaled him/her self on my fly, a battle there was not, it was simply a hoisting of the writhing fish onto the silty bank of the river and a pounce and grab of the trout to render it to my possession. But in my retelling of the story to anyone who would listen it was an extreme test of cunning and endurance to seduce that trout to the fly and eventually land the 10” trophy. When I turned the age of 7 my Father bought me my first “real fishing rod”, my father was and is not a serious fisherman, he bought the rod, reel and line from a local sporting goods. When he presented me with the gift I was speechless, it was my Holy Grail, the high point of my life, until….I could not figure out how to make it cast the line. The rod was fiberglass with metal ferules a beautiful rich brown color and very limber but the reel seamed rather small and the line seamed thick and would not come off the reel smoothly, my father encouraged me to use heavier weights and still it was impossible to cast more than 10 or 15ft. We went back to the Sporting goods store to see if the reel was malfunctioning.  What my father had not known and what I was about to find out was that the rod was a “fly rod” the reel was a “fly reel” and the line was “fly line” the reel did not cast the line…the rod cast the line. This was the beginning of the end, after learning to use this “fly rod” my focus on life became very narrow.

Through out my life I have relieved myself, without guilt, from many socially important duties and responsible citizenship manifestos in order to fish. I have traveled to many places on this planet in order to encounter the fish that live there and in doing so have learned that there are many more places to visit and many more fish to catch.

Two of the most valuable bits of info that I've picked up during my travels are "A Degustibus non Desputandum Est" and "Semper Ubva Sub Ubva"

Creation is a scientific fact.

Evolution is in fact a scientific theory.

Believe what you want but Eternity only gives you 2 choices..."Smoking" or "Non-Smoking"