Wed, 12 Dec 2007
I mean, enough already. Isn’t it time that we, as human beings, put aside the beliefs of late bronze age authors and apply a little bit of rational thought to this sillyness called "religion"
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[/ramblings] department
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Wed, 31 Oct 2007
Sometimes, you just have to laugh
It’s been raining on and off for the past couple of weeks and the river was green and full of silt. At first I thought that this would be bad for fishing. In fact, I’ve fished the North Fork of the American river the past 2 weekends and I couldn’t prove that there were fish in that river at all. It was just too green and thick to see any fish and I couldn’t see anything rise.
But at the Bear everything came together. While I was hiking in I could see hundreds of bugs in the late afternoon sunlight. As I got closer to the river I could see that the bugs were small white flies.
"This must be those pale evening duns I keep reading about" I thought. So I selected a small yellow and white fly that was a close match to the color and just slightly bigger so the fish could see it in the green water.
The water level in the river was a good 8 to 12 inches higher than normal. I’m glad I had a wading staff because I couldn’t see my feet. They say "Slow water runs deep." Well now that the pool I fish at was nearly a foot deeper it was moving noticeably slower. The water flowed into the pool and just went dead. There was almost no drift at all. I’d cast out and the fly would just sit there.
After a few cast I got a strike but I missed setting the hook. Several more cast didn’t produce any reaction but at least I knew the fish were eating. I could see little circular ripples all around me as the nearly invisible bugs touched down on the water. The bugs were there and the fish were there so I decided to just shift my position and keep trying.
I moved up to one of my favorite spots that I call my "for sure" hole even though I’ve never caught a fish there. I’ve had several really strong strikes from that position, I’ve just never been able to set the hook and land the fish.
As I’m roll casting out to an eddy behind a rock I notice a splash in front of the rock. I just happen to have exactly the right amount of line out and the line just happened to have finished drifting downstream so I was in the perfect position to let the water load my backcast. I picked up the line and flipped it a few feet in front of the rock where I saw the splash. The fly drifted about 2 feet and the trout hit it.
He was a small 8 to 10 inch brown trout that fought a bit but I could feel that I could just haul him in by hand rather than use the reel. Also I needed to keep tension on the line so he wouldn’t throw the barbless hook.
It was amazing to catch a fish so easily. I only started fly fishing this season and I get skunked more often than not (way more often in fact), but this fish acted just like they’re suppose to and hit the fly that matched the hatch just like in the magazines.
I let him go and made some more cast in front and behind the same rock to see if there were any other fish there. Then I heard a splash to my left just 5 or 6 feet away.
I literally said out loud to myself: "No way. He couldn’t be feeding that close."
I must have been very quiet and motionless to have not spooked him. The silty water kept him from seeing me so he was feeding just a few feet away from where I was standing.
I didn’t even have to cast. I just lifted my rod to my left and le the fly land gently on the water. It drifted about a foot when the fish hit the fly.
"You got to be kidding me! It can’t be that easy."
I didn’t even have to reel him in. I just lifted the rod to bring him to me and within seconds I had another 10" brown trout in hand.
As I removed the hook and let him swim away I couldn’t stop laughing. After months of trying to be stealthy not spook the fish I have one that jumps almost within arm’s reach. I just had to show him a fly and think "OK, eat this then" and he did.
So much of fly fishing feels like you’re doing battle with an adversary that doesn’t want to fight back that it’s a shock when I can catch a fish that easily. But I wouldn’t mind if it happened a little more often. Maybe as I become a better fly fisherman it will.
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[/ramblings] department
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Mon, 08 Oct 2007
Auburn Bluegrass Festival Video
It started Friday night when I had to phone in to do a radio interview for KFBK, the biggest station in Sacramento. Saturday morning I did another interview for KAHI radio in Auburn.
After a bit of disorganization and panic we got the Pickin’ & Fiddlin’ contest going. I was surprised at the number and quality of contestants. We had a tough time judging the winners.
Then my band, The Sierra Swing Conspiracy had to go play to open the festival. The morning was cold and we had absolutely no time to warm up. I literally opened my case on stage, checked my tuning and started playing. And those kids in my band started playing SO DANG FAST! Ok, we were excited and I probably started it off too fast. But somehow, even with a few glitches, we pulled it off.
Here’s the whole set. We opened "COLD" with Red Haired Boy
Then David Grisman’s "E.M.D." Check out Ethan’s solo on this one! That dude is fast!
Followed by Grisman’s version of Django’s "Minor Swing"
I was happy about my solo on this one
All of Me. I have to say that I like my solo on this one too
Another Django tune, "Swing 48" This is one of my favorite tunes to play.
Here’s a bit of a change. "House of the Rising Sun" played Tony Rice bluegrass style
And finally, the tune that’s become our theme song: "Douce Ambiance"
As the set went on we were warming up and it was sounding better and better.
After a half hour set that felt like more like 5 minutes it was time for me to do my mandolin seminar. We had a pretty good turn out. As I was teaching a reporter from the Auburn Journal came by to talk to us and take some photos and we made the front page of the Sunday paper.
Somehow, I found time to sit back and relax while watching at least one band (Sidesaddle & Company). Then it was time to lead a jam session. It always seems that when I go to a bluegrass festival I end up playing rather than listening to bands.
As it was getting dark the pizza decision was made and we all headed out to Auburn Pizza for dinner. After stuffing ourselves with pizza and beer we were ready for more Jamming. One of the new things we tried this year was to set up jamming at 4 local venues (Restaurants, coffee shops, etc). Each venue had jamming lead by one of the bands from the festival. We hung out with Sidesaddle & Co.
As the night moved on folks were starting to fade out and we decided to pack it in. Sidesaddle & Co. were saving money by staying at the homes of some of the volunteers so we had Lisa, their bass player, Lee Anne, their fiddler and Rob, the banjo player at our house. When we got home I built a fire in the wood stove and we all sat around and chatted for a while before bed.
What a day. It was an amazing time but I’m also glad it only happens once a year.
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[/music] department
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Sat, 08 Sep 2007
It looks like we’re going to be playing a coffee house gig on Sept 29th at Depoe Bay in Auburn from noon to 2.Then we just got booked to the Auburn Bluegrass Festival on October 6th
Yep, the “Sierra Swing Conspiracy” is starting to develop a following.
Here we are at a recent gig for the Auburn Art Walk
We have Ethan Lewis on Fiddle (Yes, he’s blurry in real life. He moves that fast)
Mandolin maniac Sean Scott Robinson
And myself on Breedlove guitars and mandolins
We’ve been playing a cross of Django Reinhardt gypsy jazz, David Grisman “Dawg” music, celtic, bluegrass, and Brasillian Chorro music.
I can’t wait to get a recording of us to post on my web page. It really a fun band to play with.
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[/music/mygigs] department
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Sun, 02 Sep 2007
I know, "what are the odds?"I just got back from a quick evening trip to the Bear. I walked a bit further down the river than I normally do because there’s another large pool that I haven’t tried. It’s been really hot lately and the fish have not been rising so I tried a prince nymph on a 4 foot tippet with a strike indicator to see if I could get any reaction.
I call this kind of fishing "prospecting".
It was a pretty evening. I had one spot about thigh deep where I could cast to a wide swath of river from upstream, just below some riffles, to a downstream calm pool. After about 30 minutes of prospecting and not a single strike or rise I decided to move back upstream a bit.
On my way up I noticed a little pool between two large riffles. The water was moving pretty fast, but there were a couple of eddies where fish could hide.
On the past few trips I noticed that the mayflies weren’t around any more. The only bugs I saw were black gnats and water spiders. But if I fish with those I can’t see the fly on the water. So this morning I tied a couple of black water spiders with a small parachute of white Antron yarn so I could see it. The one I picked wasn’t hackled enough and it sank after only a few drifts so I had to keep drying it out.
Just about the time I’m ready to move on I saw a splash. Sure enough he was in that eddy. The water was moving fast enough that if I placed the fly at the top of that eddy the rest of the river would pull the fly line down and I’d get drag. It really taught me how to mend my line and set up for a tight little drift. 2 feet of drift was about normal, if I could get 4 feet before the water grabbed my line I was doing well.
I had the smallest hit and lost him. But I just kept drifting my fly as well as I could over that spot. The drifts were so short I was casting 4 or 5 times a minute. I just kept presenting the fly as perfectly as I could knowing that in this quick moving water the fish would have to make a quick decision or he’s miss his chance at some food. Sure enough, he hit it and I set the hook.
I could tell from the fight that he was tiny. I didn’t want to loose him off of the barbless hook so I just pulled the line in by hand. When I saw him I had to laugh at how small he was. He was MAYBE 6" long but he fought and splashed all the way in. I was able to get him unhooked and back in the water before he knew what had caught him.
As the little brook trout swam off to his pool I just stood there laughing. I had tied a special fly to match the hatch and worked that particular eddy perfectly while mending my line to produce a drag free float in difficult conditions and it all came together and worked as planned. I caught another one. And then he turns out to be smaller than my hand.
Oh well, Go on and grow up little one. Maybe we’ll see each other again someday.
I moved up the river and tried a couple of other spots but the fish weren’t rising at all. I think it’s just been too hot. I saw some slow rises up river so I moved further upstream where I could quietly drift a fly down to them. After a few dozen cast the sun was well below the mountain tops and the bats were out. It was getting too dark to see the fly even with the Antron parachute. I told myself "Ok, Last cast and then we go home." I roll the line out and let the fly drift down. Out of nowhere my entire line shakes and pulls. As I set the hook I realize what happened. One of the bats grabbed my fly, flew for a few feet and then dropped it.
OK, that’s a good sign that I’m done for the evening. It’s time to go home and have dinner and a beer. As I hike out in the dark I had to smile at how things came together tonight. I tied a fly that I knew they would hit and I prospected a spot where the fish should be. I worked a difficult drift in swift waters and everything I’ve been learning for the past 5 months came together to catch another fish.
If I’m not careful I might start thinking I know what I’m doing out there.
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[/ramblings] department
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Sat, 25 Aug 2007
Three of my students and I went over the basics of mandolin “Duo Style” where you play a tremelo on an upper string and then play a melody on the lower strings. Evan Marshall is probably the master of the Duo Style technique. I used Evan’s handouts form The Mandolin Symposium to teach each of my students.Evan is just an amazing mandolin player and is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s also one of the best music teachers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.
So for your enjoyment, I present to you, Evan Marshall:
And speaking of my students. Sean has been my best student and very good friend for several years now. At last we have online video of Sean playing and I’d like to share that with you.
Here he is, Sean Robinson:
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[/music] department
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Tue, 21 Aug 2007
There’s fiction, and then there’s fishing stories.
I hope you enjoy them.
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[/ramblings] department
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Norm Albiston, who teaches fly fishing at the University of Utah at Provo, says there are four stages to a fisherman’s development:
Please just let me catch a fish.
I want to catch a lot of fish.
Please let me catch a big fish.
I only want to catch big fish.
I’ve just caught my first fish so I’m firmly in the first group. But this list of stages doesn’t take into account all the previous stages such as:
Please let me cast without catching my fly in the trees.
Please let me get that darn tippet through the eye of the Gosh Darn hook.
Please let me cast without splashing my line on the water and spooking the fish.
The thing is, just because you’ve achieved one level it doesn’t mean that you’ve left the previous level. I’ve finally caught my first fish on a fly line, but it doesn’t mean that I’ve left the past behind.
On Friday my wife and I went out to our favorite fishing spot. She was casting from the very spot were I caught my fish and I went downstream to cast upstream to the very few rising trout that we could see. Although I’ve had days where I was casting really well this time I was throwing air knots, I was splashing the water, and touching the bushes behind me. I certainly wasn’t catching fish.
I noticed a fish splashing across the river and just a bit downstream from me. I turned to cast towards it. It was quite a way away so I needed to make a big cast. Somehow the rhythm of my cast was right on and combined with the wind that was blowing in just the right direction I was ready to make that big cast to a spot just upstream from the trout. On my last back cast, just before my final cast, my line seizes up. I’m caught in the tree behind me.
Luckily, I’ve read about people breaking rods trying to release a caught fly. So instead of pulling with my rod I pointed the rod directly at the fly and pulled on the line with my left hand. The fly came down without too much stress. With my fly back in hand I repositioned myself so my back cast would go into an empty area between two trees. After several cast to just the right spot I still was getting no reaction from the fish. Feeling a bit frustrated I decide to go upstream to the hole where I’ve hooked a big trout twice (but couldn’t land him).
I waded into my special spot and roll cast to the spot where I know my big trout would hang out. After a few cast he started to rise. Just like the last time I hooked him I had to present the fly a dozen times or so and he started getting more interested. I’m in a great position to present the fly properly and I can just feel him getting closer and closer.
I present him with the fly and let it drift down to his feeding spot when he jumps. But when he jumps it’s not just at the fly, he jumps over my fly line like a high jumper. When he jumps he’s turned 90 degrees to me so I can see him perfectly.
First of all, he’s huge. At least for a trout in this stream. To my stunned eyes he looks to be about the length and the girth of my forearm. But more than that, he’s golden yellow. I’ve heard of golden trout in the high Sierras, but down here in the foothills we’re too low for them. I may be completely mis-remembering the event but for that split second when he was in the air he looked golden.
I want him. I’m going to catch him. He’s my fish and he can’t run away.
I keep casting to him and after a few more cast he hits my fly hard. I set the hook and instantly it comes back slack. I reel in the line and check my fly and it’s gone. But more importantly the line broke right at the knot. I can still see the curled up tippet where the knot use to be.
My mind goes back to that snag in the tree. What I should have done is to cut the fly off and re-tie it as soon as I retrieved it. What I did was to fish with a damaged knot that was ready to break at any moment. If I was lucky I would have hooked one of the small rainbows first and let them break off my knot. If I was smart I would have re-tied the knot.
So the big golden trout has been hooked 3 times, he’s broken off 2 flies and I’ve actually fought him twice. I think my next step in the journey is to catch this specific fish. That’s not obsessive is it?
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[/ramblings] department
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A couple of months ago my wife and I decided to go visit my favorite spot on the Bear River. The drive, the suiting up in my waders, the hike, the rigging up and tying on the flies, they’re all starting to feel familiar. Little things like threading the tippet into the fly and tying the knot are now almost 2nd nature. The excitement is still there, but I’m starting to feel like I know how to do this.
I waded out at the downstream end of the pool and my wife found a rock where she had enough room to roll cast. We started to work the water.
There have been evenings like last week where I could see a dozen fish rising across this pool. But last night it was incredibly calm. The occasional fish would rise and up near the rocks where my wife was I saw a fish actually jump out of the water, but for the most part, it was much slower and calmer than normal.
I fanned my cast across the area where I hooked a trout last week. No reaction. I started to think that maybe I was spooking the fish, but that would require evidence that fish were there in the first place. Twice I reeled in my line and prepared to move to another spot and THEN a fish would splash. How do they know?
Meanwhile, my wife has 4 or 5 fish rising right in front of her, but they’re ignoring her fly.
I move above her to try another spot that was hot on previous trips but I’m still getting no reaction. The fish must all be relaxing in their Lazy Boy chairs watching Paris Hilton on Larry King because they sure aren’t feeding tonight.
This gives me some time to watch my wife cast. I can see that there are a couple small things she could be doing that would help her. I wade down and let her know, "You’re casting pretty well. I’ve seen you place that fly right on top of his head several times. Can I show you something that might help you get a little more distance?"
"Sure"
I noticed that she was bringing her roll cast back correctly. She was letting the loop form correctly, but she wasn’t stopping her forward cast until her rod was horizontal. I showed her how to make the power stroke shorter. She started making the "V" of her cast smaller. That used the power of the rod loading and unloading and her cast gained about 4 or 5 feet. Probably more importantly, her tippet was laying down flat instead of falling into a pile.
"Awesome. I think that’s going to help a lot."
I moved down to my "for sure" hole where I hooked two big trout that got away. One broke off my tippet and another fought hard and then threw the hook off. But tonight I couldn’t get a rise to save my life. I look back down river and the fish are jumping right near my wife. I decided to walk back and check in.
"How ya doing?" I ask.
"He’s right there. He’s taking flies right next to mine and I can get my fly in front of him, but he won’t take it. Do you want to try to catch this fish?"
"Sure, I’ll give it a try"
I cast out and sure enough, he rises to a mayfly right next to mine. On the next cast I notice another mayfly coming downstream. It’s fluttering it’s wings and the trout comes right up to it, just inches from my fly, and eats it. I realize that even though I hooked a big trout on this very fly, my fly is bigger than the mayflies they’re eating.
"I’m going to try something" I said. "Let me try a smaller fly"
I tie on a generic small brown fly with grizzly wings and not much hackle and toss it out. I’m about 3 feet short of where I want to be so I mend a few feet of line and roll cast it right in front of the trout.
Bam!, He hits it!
"You got to be kidding me" my wife says.
Thinking of the folks Over at FAOL I ask "Honey, could you grab the camera. This may be the first fish I’ve landed on a fly."
He fights a little bit but he’s obviously smaller than the ones I’ve hooked upstream in the "for sure" hole. I get him on the reel and bring him in. Making sure my hands are wet I gently scoop him up and land my very first fish caught while fly fishing.
It only takes a moment to get the hook out so I turn towards my wife for a quick picture of that little rainbow trout.
"Ok, Give me back my rod".
I give her the rod and we both laugh. "Well sure" she says, "If you put the right fly on the line you’ll catch fish."
"I swear! I hooked a big trout on that very fly last week."
She gives me a little more good natured ribbing but we’re soon back to fishing.
We got a few more close calls that evening but pretty soon it was getting too dark to fish. As we’re cleaning up and breaking down the rods we hear the local peacocks calling each other.
"I can see them. They’re up in that tree"
My wife points me towards the right pine tree on the far side of the river.
"I had no idea that peacocks would fly into trees." But there they were. Two really big birds up in the pine tree.
We hiked out by flashlight (I brought backups this time) and got into the car.
"I’m glad you were there with me to share my first fish" I said.
She smiled back. "Next time put the right fly on my line and it will be MY fish."
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[/ramblings] department
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It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything about fishing. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been out on the water. Any time spent on the river is great, but it would be even better if I could hook a fish. So this time I decided not to go fishing, I’m going hunting (for trout). What’s the difference? When hunting for fish I try to be more aware of not spooking the fish, of presenting my fly to look just like what they’re already eating, of keeping low and quiet and not tripping on stones and kicking up mud.
The first thing I did was to tie up some flies of the same size and color as the mayflies
I’ve seen the trout eating. I made my own version of an Al Campbell’s "too simple" fly by
simply wrapping a hook with a thread of tan burlap and building a wing of white Antron yarn.
Armed with what I hope will be a half dozen deadly mayfly imitations I headed out to the river.
I’d like to introduce you to what I think of as "my spot" and "my river". The Bear river is not thought of as a great trout stream. It reminds me of John Gierach’s story "I’ll fish anyone’s St. Vrain." The St. Vrain is a little stream next to his house that has a few fish. It’s a fair to middling trout stream that’s easy to get to but doesn’t have too many people fishing it. It’s not famous and the fish aren’t anything that will show up in a magazine, but in time, you get to know every little pocket, hole and riffle. The Bear is starting to feel like my St. Vrain.
It’s a short hike to my spot and the view just wonderful.
The banks alternate between thick brush and trees and large boulders. The rocks form several deep pools at regular intervals.
After about a mile the river opens up to a wide, slow moving pool with large boulders under the water that provide lots of hiding places for trout. You have to be careful wading because if you’re not watching your feet you can step between those underwater boulders right into a deep hole. The locals call those "Hat poppers".
This is "my pool".
Now that I’ve been there half a dozen times I know that fish will rise just in front of those small rocks on the right. But the big fish will be in front of that large white and gray boulder. Just upstream from that big boulder are a few smaller rocks that I can hide behind and let my fly drift downstream to the pocket. I tied about 6 feet of 6X tippet to my line and then tied on my own too simple mayfly. Even as I’m setting up my rig I can hear some BIG splashes from the trout hitting the bugs. This is going to be a good day, I can feel it.
I’ve tried fishing form this spot before, but I couldn’t roll cast far enough out to get to the fish. This time I had waders so I carefully waded out about 6 feet into the water where I could hide behind two of those low boulders. The bottom drops off quickly there and I’m already up to my waist. A few more feet and I’d be in over my head.
Sure enough, there’s a good size splash right where I knew he’d be. About 15 feet out there’s a boulder that’s creating an eddy and the trout is hitting mayflies just at the seam of the quiet water that the eddy is creating and the fast flowing water coming between the rocks. I roll cast my fly into the eddy and watch.
The first thing I notice is that the fast moving water is bringing my fly line down stream faster than the fly and I’m getting drag. So I need to practice mending my line upstream to keep that downstream loop from forming. After a dozen tries I’m starting to get the hang of it. Meanwhile, the trout is still hitting flies at that same spot. I must not be spooking him.
I keep placing my fly upstream from him and floating it down. He takes a mayfly right next to mine. Then another just behind mine. Then I see the wake as he takes a run at my fly but then ignores it. I just keep tempting him with it. One dozen, then two dozen cast and he’s always so close. He wants it, I just have to keep tempting him.
I find myself talking to the fish. "Eat it. Come on buddy, look at that big fat fly. Eat it!"
After all those big splashes I saw my fly disappears under the water with a simple gulp. I raise my pole and pull in some line and that when it hit’s me. I’ve got him!
My gosh he was a log! I’ve hooked a couple other trout but this guy felt heavy. He wiggled a bit but it was more like a big fist grabbing my line and pulling it to the bottom. Once again I find myself yelling "I’ve got him. I’ve got him." And once again I realize that I don’t know what to do. I’ve got slack between my right hand and the reel so I can’t use the drag of the reel to bring him in. I grab the line with my left hand and try to strip in some line to bring him in. He starts to wiggle hard and the battle really starts. I give him a little bit of line so he doesn’t break off but he’s really fighting. My mind is pretty much blank and I’m so excited that can barely process thoughts. He takes off for a bit and then goes straight down again and as quickly as it started it was over. The tension on my rod releases and the line goes limp.
I reeled in my line and see that he broke off the fly.
I’m staring at the end of the tippet with a huge smile on my face. I hooked a big trout with a fly that I tied at a location where I knew he would be. But the excitement of actually hooking a fish is so overwhelming that I go brain dead and can’t think of my next move. I’m going to have to go over that in my mind and practice the motions of retrieving the fish so they become 2nd nature when I do hook one.
Through the rest of the evening I hooked one more very briefly but he spat out the fly almost instantly. I did have two other small adventures though. After doing a couple of laps on that big pool from the downstream side up to the boulders I decided to go back to the roll casting spot and try for some of the others that started rising again. By this time it was getting pretty dark and as I cast a small brown bat flew right past my face just inches from my nose. I jumped, and then laughed at myself. Looking up at the sky I could see half a dozen bats taking bugs in the air.
It started getting too dark to even see the fly on the water. The trout were still rising and it was a half moon last night which gave off plenty of light. But down here in the canyon at water level it was pretty dark so I decided to pack it in.
Now, I’ve done a lot of backpacking, hiking, camping, and rock climbing so I come prepared. I had a flashlight in my pack and I put fresh batteries in it yesterday. But for some reason the damn thing wouldn’t work. So now I have a mile hike back to the car in the dark. In some spots the trees open up and the moonlight helps. But when the trail goes back under the trees it’s freakin’ dark. But I’ve dealt with this before and I know that you just take it slow and easy and eventually you’ll find your way out. I once climbed Taquitz peak and topped out a 1000 foot vertical face just as the sun was setting. My wife and I had to hike off the back of the mountain and down to the car (about 5 miles) as it was getting darker and darker. We eventually made it to the car 3 1/2 hours later. Like I said, you just take it slow and be careful.
Luckily, this hike was only a mile long and I was back at the car in about 20 minutes. I called my wife to let her know that I was running late and I did make it out of the canyon safely. looking at my cell phone I realize that it’s after 9:30 already. I hiked in at 6:15. Where did those hours go?
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[/ramblings] department
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Sun, 10 Jun 2007
A Newbie’s Journey towards becoming a fly fisherman
After a full day of work I stopped off at Fly Fishing Specialties to see what they had for waders and wading boots. I brought in some printouts of waders I had found online to see if they had something similar. They carried Simms products and their waders were both more expensive, and better quality than what I was looking at. As I’m talking to the salesman, Dennis, another sales guy comes over and ask me "how tall are you?"
"About 6’2" " I said
"I’m 6’3 275 and I wear XXL. That might be a little bit big but it could fit you. I’ve got one pair of Simms waders that’s the 2006 model. They list at $230 but I can let you have it for $150".
So we tried them on and other than being a bit big in the chest they fit just fine. I could kneel and get back up without any restrictions and they felt good. So I got a nice set of Simms Gore Tex waders for $150.
The next step was boots. I ended up going with Simms lace up boots with felt bottoms for $70. I like the high ankle boots because I always hike into the river and I wanted ankle support. To that I added some gravel guards and they tossed in a web wading belt for free with the advice of "Don’t ever go in the water without this belt on."
I packed up my new gear and headed back up into the hills to my house. I cut the tags off of my new waders and boots and grabbed my rod and vest and headed out to my favorite deep pool on the Bear River.
Newbie Lesson: Even when I’m wearing jeans that water is cold. Next time I’m wearing fleece over my legs. Breathable waders are lightweight, but you sure do feel the cold.
I wasn’t seeing as many fish rising Friday night. But I knew from past trips where they would be. So I rigged up, waded in at the downstream end of the pool and started fishing.
Boy oh boy, it’s a totally different experience fishing from out in the water as opposed to fishing from the bank. The view of the river changes everything. I can see the bottom of the river and where the pockets between the boulders are (although I stayed in the gravel where I could wade safely). I could see a wide angle view of the whole pool and I could adjust my cast to try different spots. But most importantly, I could see the bugs on the water. For the first time I could actually see the little May flies floating down the river. Now that I can see them with their upward curled tail and their pale wings standing almost straight up I can see that I’m tying my flies way too big and too heavy. My flies look like monsters compared to the ones that I buy. Now that I’ve seen the actual bugs I can see why the smaller flies work better.
I start fanning my cast across the water. I try a section a few times, move across and try another spot, move across again until I’ve covered that slice of river. Then walk up river a bit and start again. I’m quite sure that my sloppy cast are spooking the fish because the rises that I saw earlier have stopped entirely. But hey! If nothing else I’m getting my first real practice of in the water casting. As I’m working the pool a mother duck and her two babies kept swimming up and down the pool. Every now and then one of the babies grabs a May fly off of the surface. I’m reminded of a comment I read on FAOL : "I just enjoy being in the places where trout are."
I decide to get out of the water and walk back downstream and do another lap. Also, my leader has a massive wind knot in it so I just cut it off and retie. As long as I’m doing a new leader I check my fly box for something of roughly the same size and color of those mayflies. Some of the parachute Adams I just bought at are a bit lighter in color. Let’s try that one.
This time I really worked on laying the fly down softly without slapping the water with the fly line. The fish are rising again so they must not be spooked any more. That’s a good sign. In fact, on one cast one of the baby ducks started swimming for my fly thinking it was food.
"Not for you buddy" I said as I picked the line up and moved it across the pool.
At the upper end of the pool just below a small waterfall the fish were really rising. So I carefully waded up a bit further being very careful not only to lay the fly down softly but also to pick up the line without "zipping" the water. There are so many things to remember. "Keepeth thy back cast up!" kept going through my mind. "Keep those loops tight but don’t splash the line when you present the fly". I’m not even sure what I was doing differently, but there’s something subtle about laying the line down softly that makes the leader just turn over and lay that fly on the water with hardly a plop. When it works, it just feels different. Just keep trying to repeat whatever made that cast feel different. The experience is moving from thinking about a thousand things at once to a Zen like state where I’m completely casting by feel. When it works, it feels right. Keep making it feel right. Don’t think, just do.
A fish splashed about 20 feet away upstream and to my right. I just kept placing my fly upstream from him and letting it drift into his feeding zone. On the 3rd cast I thought I saw my fly go under so I hit it.
Time slowed down… and then stopped.
For what couldn’t have been more than half a second I thought I had somehow caught my fly on a branch, I pulled and it was like being hooked on a log. Nothing moved. Then, instead of a solid log the rod went "wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle" as the fish ran with my hook in it’s mouth.
"I’ve Got Him! I’ve Got Him! YEAH! I’ve Got Him!" I shout to nobody in particular. Maybe the ducks.
At that moment it comes to me that I really don’t know what to do here. I’ve never had a fish on with a fly rod. I’ve got slack on the water from stripping line during my drift and I’m just holding the tight line between me and the fish against the rod with my right hand. So I start stripping in line trying to land him. It feels like the 6x leader is holding just fine so I try to work him in closer to me. I’m pulling in the line and keeping the rod up. It’s so exciting that it feels like the whole world is a blur and I’m just running on instinct. This is unbeleivably cool … when the line goes slack.
The entire event probably didn’t last more than 10 seconds. I find myself standing there in the water with my mouth hanging open thinking "Oh my gosh, I did it. It actually worked. I hooked a fish"
Thinking that my tippet must have broken I reel in the line to see a tangle right at the fly. I was able to get it cleared and I start casting again. In about 3 cast he hits it again! But this time he shakes it off almost immediately.
My adrenaline is pumping and I keep working that part of the pool. I see the fish rise on either side of my fly but not hitting it. But at least I’m not spooking them. Then I make a disastrous cast that throws a huge wind knot in my leader as I pull it in I see that it’s a total bird’s nest. I’d be better off cutting the leader off and just re-tying it. But by this time it’s getting so dark that I’d have to do it by flash light. I look back at the pool and decide that hooking 2 fish is a nice next step in my journey.
The path to becoming a fly fisherman continues. I’ve progressed from spooking fish and losing flies in the trees, to keeping my fly in the water, to getting a fish to look at my fly. And now a fish actually took my fly. The next step is to learn how to land them. Every trip to the river is another step along that path and I feel progress each time I go out.
My gosh! The rush of feeling a fish on the other end of that line is amazing.
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Sat, 02 Jun 2007
I swear, I think I’m getting better each time I go out. I still haven’t caught a fish, but tonight everything was starting to come together.
It was a hot day today and I knew that going out during the day would be useless. So I waited until evening, had dinner at about 6, and got to the Bear river about 6:45. There was still plenty of light so I hiked into my favorite spot and sat on a rock about 10 feet above the river and about 25 feet back. This particular spot is just down stream from several small rapids with 3 to 5 foot drops. Then it settles into a deep slow moving pool about 40 feet across and 100 yards long. The bottom of the pool is covered with large boulders with deep, dark holes between them. As I rigged up a new 6x tippet and a parachute Adams I kept an eye on the river. As the sun slowly set the shadow of the western ridge started to cover the pool.
I sat and watched. Not moving, just enjoying the sound of the water and of the geese flying overhead.
Just a minute or so after the shadow covered the whole pool I saw my first splash. I waited and saw 3 distinct areas where fish were rising. I remembered how you folks told me that when fish are feeding they get very territorial. Well I could see that tonight as the rises for a particular fish were happening within about a 4 foot circle. After a few more minutes there were 5 distinct circles and each fish was staying pretty much in his own area. It looked like every one of the circles was just above a gap between the underwater boulders. I moved downstream so I could watch and cast back upstream.
I’ll tell you, when I get my waders I’m going to be a real fish hunter. I was scoping out where I could enter the water and safely stand to cast. But right now I’m limited to roll casting from the shore as there’s heavy brush and trees on both side of the river. Knowing I’d be roll casting a lot I borrowed my wifes rod. My rig has a 5 weight level line on it and hers has a 5 weight double taper. I can roll cast the DT better than the level line. The problem is that they’re booth fairly short rods. Only 7 to 8 feet. So I’m not getting a whole lot of leverage on my roll cast.
I just couldn’t get my roll cast out far enough to present to the fish. In fact, I could tell that my attempts had spooked them and they stopped rising near me. I moved upstream and tried again.
My second spot was even worse. I could almost get my roll cast out to the rising fish, but the current on the far side of the river was faster than the current near me. So the 20 feet of line coming directly from me would just sit there while the fly would get carried downstream and then start to drag quickly. But man! If I had waders I could see exactly where I’d stand and cast at a 45 degree angle up stream and across to the spot where the fish were rising. I just couldn’t get there from my side of the river.
I moved upstream again.
Now I’m at the same spot where I was sitting when I started the evening. There’s a big rock between me and the fish so they can’t see me. But I’m surrounded by bushes and trees. In fact, when I cast I’m standing partially under a tree and I only have a narrow gap for my rod. But this time I’m in a position where I can roll cast about 20 feet out and the current pulls my line and the fly downstream together. There’s a lane of current right down the middle of the river where everything is being carried and I can see two or three spots where trout are rising right in that current.
I flipped a parachute Adams out into the current and start mending my line. Man! It’s pulling line quickly and I have to make my mends nice and smooth to keep up. That’s not something I can practice in my yard. I had to learn to control my line or else my fly is water skiing.
On about the 5th cast I actually got a hit! I could see the splash as the trout hit the fly and the fly went under. I set the hook but I had let out too much slack in my line. So I pulled it back in and roll cast back into that current.
Two cast later I actually saw the wake of a fish as it swam hard right at my fly, but then it went down at the last moment. So close, so close.
It’s getting dark so I put a bright green strike indicator on my line so I could see what’s happening. I got in about a dozen more cast before it got too dark to see my indicator. I reeled in my line and took what seemed like my first deep breath in about an hour.
So this time I certainly got a strike. I think I’m learning to present the fly without drift a bit better each time I go out. AND, I came home with the same fly I started with. I didn’t lose any flies this time. (That’s the first time this has ever happened).
A buddy of mine down at “The Bent Rod” fly fishing shop in Auburn told me “You have to pay your dues first”. I can really see what he means. Each time I go out I’m feeling a little bit better. I’m getting closer to the fish. I’m learning, and I’m paying that price by just getting out there and trying and trying some more. But man oh man, when I present the fly properly and it drifts just right the fish really do react! And when I don’t drift it right the fish ignore it or they spook and go away. I have to learn to pay attention to the feedback I get from the fish telling me when I’m doing it right and when I’m not.
It’s bizarre, but even though I still haven’t caught a fish on a fly, this was the best trip yet! You’d think I’d come home frustrated from not catching anything again. But I’m not. I’m paying my dues and little by little, I’m getting paid back in experience and technique.
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Sun, 29 Apr 2007
Yesterday, I went fly fishing for the very first time. Here’s how it worked out.
On Friday, the day before my local river opened up, I took the dog for a hike along the Bear river. We played in the water and I swam out to a rock in the water and sat for a while. While I was there I saw a fish strike about 5 times in less than 5 minutes. I could see that he was striking right over a deep depression between two underwater rocks. “Well that makes sense” I thought. He has cover from predators and he doesn’t have to fight the current. As food floats over him he can just rise and get it. And this was around noon on an 80 degree day. If a fish was rising like that at mid day it must be great in the morning during a hatch.
So that was my spot. I knew I’d be coming back the next day.
Saturday morning dawns and I’m having a seriously tough time getting out of bed. As readers of this blog will know, I’m moving from one job that ended Friday to a new job on Monday. When I was a music teacher I lived “musician’s hours”. Getting up at 10 am and going to bed around midnight to 1 am was pretty normal. So when the alarm went off at 6:00 am I was completely groggy. (But now I have to do this every day so I might as well get use to it)
Somehow I dragged myself out of bed, had a quick breakfast and packed up the truck. I had my fly rod, a couple boxes of flies I’ve tied, my cheap waders, a few bottles of water and a folding chair. A quick drive of no more than 10 miles brought me to the trail head.
For the past 4 months I’ve never seen more than one other car in the parking area near this trail head. Today it was packed with trucks. Everyone was there. I found a parking spot and hiked in about half a mile to my pre-selected hotspot. I found a good place to enter the river downstream where I could approach the hot spot from behind some bushes. I set up my chair and suited up in some fleece pants for warmth and then my waders.
A buddy of mine told me that an Adams would work just about everywhere up here so I tied one on to a 6x tapered leader. I tried to be careful and quiet about entering the water and did my first ever on the water fly cast.
You know what? It’s a lot easier to cast when you’re standing outside on a big lawn than when your hip deep in cold water and surrounded by bushes. It took about 8 or ten tries to actually get my fly where I wanted it. And then it happened … .
Actually, nothing happened.
Not a rise, not a ripple. It was the most calm water you ever saw. I didn’t see any fish rise for anything. The only thing that bite my flies was the tree behind me. I donated an Adams and a Royal Wulff to a bush on the shore. I tried fanning my cast across that hole to cover the whole length of it and I never saw a single fish.
So I moved up river a bit and tried casting over dark spots down stream of underwater rocks. Nothing. I looked for seams between fast and slow moving water. Nothing happened. I started noticing that my left foot was getting really cold. My cheap single layer nylon waders were leaking and this was only their first day of use.
I gave it a good try for about an hour and a half. I tried a lead weighted pheasant tail nymph to see if I could get any response in deeper water. Not a thing. The whole time I never saw so much as a single fish rise.
So I went back to my chair, got out of my waders and squeezed the water out of my socks. As I let them dry in the sun I just sat back and watched the beauty of the river. There were lots of tiny white flies around as well as several large mayflies. I’ll have to tie some of those since that was what I was seeing. I watched a spider weave his web and watched some geese fly overhead using the river to navigate their path.
It was a darn good day anyway.
Back at the truck I met another fisherman and his young son.
“Any Luck?” I asked.
“Not a bite” he said. “It was just a long walk in the sun for nothing.”
I told him about the fish I saw yesterday and how I couldn’t find anything today. He said “It’s the same thing with the deer and the turkeys. When opening day comes they seem to know and they hide away. But the day before it’s like ‘OK kids, eat all you can. Tomorrow we have to hide’ ”
He told me they were going to go fish under the bridge. They can usually catch something there. I filed the that away in my memory for next time. Then he told me about a 25” trout he caught there once. I filed that one under “Fiction”.
I came home, had a sandwich and a beer. Let my leaky waders dry out and thought about my morning. I didn’t even come close to catching a fish today. But I was out there enjoying the process. I was in a beautiful spot playing with a nice fly rod on a beautiful river. For me, It was a good opening day and a good first attempt at fly fishing.
I had fun. I’m going to do this again.
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Thu, 26 Apr 2007
Wanna see something brilliant?
- Time
- Money
There are so many amazingly smart people out there. I think part of why I’m looking forward to going back to work in software. I really like working with bright people to solve difficult problems.
This is just one of the amazing demonstrations given at TED.
Jeff Han and Multi touch Unser Interface Design
I love this kind of stuff.
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Sun, 22 Apr 2007
Yesterday I played in a bluegrass jam with a bunch of old and new friends. It was held in a little white church out in the woods and rolling hills of Lincoln. Everyone brought a side dish and our host cooked up hotdogs and hamburgers.As I looked around the room at a bunch of families sharing a pot luck lunch in the community church building as others played bluegrass music I thought "This is America right here. Family, friends, food and music"
As the Beatles once said: "A splendid time was had by all"
The other thing that made me want to blog about it was that one of the guys brought a great old Gretsch guitar and a Fender Twin amp. He had that classic Chet Atkins tone. That made me want to look up Chet on Youtube to see what they had on him and wouldn’t you know it, I found a film of Chet playing one of the tunes that "The Sierra Swing Conspiracy" play. Here’s Chet playing "Dark Eyes"
Speaking of "The Sierra Swing Conspiracy", we had another rehearsal on Friday and we included a new bass player. Alana (A.K.A. "Charlie the girl" ) stopped by with her standup acoustic bass and it really added a lot to the sound of the trio.
The SSC will be playing at Music and More on May 20th at 4:00 pm. We’ll be part of a teacher’s concert that’s being put on by vocal teacher Chris Bello. It’s a free concert and it should be a lot of fun. There are some seriously good teachers at M & M and it will be nice to hear them play.
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Wed, 11 Apr 2007
It’s been a great year. I have some great students (and I’m not just saying that. I have some really good students) and I’ve really enjoyed teaching music. The business has grown quite well in the past year from 2 students to 35 students. But it’s become apparent that I need to bring in some more money to pay the bills so I’ve accepted a job at Vision Service Plan.VSP was voted the best company to work for in the Sacramento area and I’m very happy to be part of their team.
So what does that portend for my students and the slow jam?
Students
I’ll be starting the new job on April 30th. So the week of April 27th will be the last lesson for all of my students. Be sure to schedule any make up lessons before that date.
There is a possibility that starting in June I’ll be able to take a small set of 6 to 8 students. I’d like to teach a two hour set two nights a week. That would give me 8 available lesson slots. Talk to me at your lesson if you’d like to be one of those students.
Slow Jam
This Thursday, April 12, will be the standard slow jam at Music & More. However, it will very likely be the last slow jam. So if you want to play, come on by and let’s go out in style.
Lutherie
I’m not accepting any more commissions at the moment. I’ll be building for my own pleasure only for at least the next year. I’m going to finish off all those projects that I’ve been putting off for far too long. By the end of this year I want to be playing my own guitar and mandolin (at least). Any new instruments that I build for sale will go on Ebay. I’ll not be taking orders from customers for at least the next year.
I’m going to finish this guy first
The Sierra Swing Conspiracy
I absolutely want to keep playing with Sean and Ethan. We’re going to try to keep the gig at the Auburn Art Walk in May. It just depends on how long my commute from Rancho Cordova takes. But I really enjoy playing with those guys and I totally respect their talent. I would really like to stay connected to the music scene and the band is a great way to do that.
So keep in touch and keep watching this blog and I’ll keep letting you know about the music scene in Auburn.
P.S. I’m back to playing Go again. If you’d like to play a game sometime go to www.gokgs.com and set up a free account. I’m on KGS as "’DruLeePars" Because of a software change my rating went up to 14 kyu, but I’m actually playing at about 20 kyu. So I need to play a bunch of games ( and probably lose most of them ) to get my rating stabilized. If you want to play then just email me and we’ll set up a time.
Take care, have fun, and keep playing music.
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Mon, 02 Apr 2007
Here’s a few photos of the copmpleted cocobolo duclimer.
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Fri, 09 Mar 2007
We’ve come to an agreement. We’re nowThe Sierra Swing Conspiracy
Ethan Lewis: Violin
Sean Robinson: Mandolin
Greg Brouelette: Mandolin and Guitar
All hail the spirit of Django
Watch this space for upcoming gigs.
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Wed, 07 Mar 2007
First of all, the Slow Jam is tomorrow, March 8th at 7:30 at Music & More. When we moved it to Thursday last month there were several people who I couldn’t contact to let them know. So we did a litle jam on teh first Thursday and the first Tuesday. Well, now everyone knows we’ve moved to the 2nd Thursday so I’m expecting at least 8 musicians. It should be a good jam.Our recent performances
The band (who’s name is still in limbo) has played a few benefit concerts lately. Last week we played at a benefit to raise money to help a group of High School kids go to Costa Rica. Two weeks before that we played at a dual benefit for Habitate for Humanity and the Auburn Interfaith Food Bank. I just received an email from the organizers saying that we helped raise $2870 for those 2 good causes.
Our acoustic trio always makes a great impression. We have a darn good sound for only 3 people. But we were glad to share the stage with "Dr. Bach and the Jazz Practitioners" as well as Tom Briar who’s a fantastic ragtime piano player. It’s good to see early jazz represented so well here in the gold country.
So what’s next for us?
First of all, we need to decide on a name. We’re also in discussions about doing gigs at the Auburn Art Walk and at a local renaissance fair. (We’ll have to learn a lot of celtic music for that one. But Ethan is an authority on celtic music so we have a good person to lead us down that path.)
We’re also trying to set up a 2 hour set of an eclectic mix of bluegrass, Dawg music, gypsy jazz, straight ahead jazz and celtic music. That would give us a chance to play places like The Club Car in Auburn.
Whatever happens, I’ll be sure to keep you informed right here on this blog.
Last Night’s Jam
When I was done teaching last night I drove down the hill to Loomis to the Tueday Night jam at "The Wild Chicken." I surprised myself because I taught 11 students in a 6 hour span on Monday and another 8 students yesterday in just 4 1/2 hours so I was pretty tired. But once I started playing I couldn’t wipe a big silly grin off of my face. It was so much fun.
I’m sure that part of it was the pride I felt when I looked around the room and saw 4 of my students. But a big part of it is the simple joy of making music with other people. If you can make it to the Slow Jam tomorrow night then you may feel that joy as well.
I hope to see you there.
What I’m listening to now:Tony Rice
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Thu, 01 Mar 2007
We’ll be playing at a dinner benifit on Saturday. It will be held at the First Congregational Church on Auburn Ravine Road in Overmiller Hall.We’ll be on at 6:00 to play some more gypsy jazz, swing, and Dawg music.
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And then the snow really showed up …
Remember, the official town motto for Colfax is “Above the fog, below the snow”. Well yesterday, the snow level came down below 1000 feet and we’re up at 2200.
Here’s the back yard
More view from the back yard
The front garden
Part of the property at the side of the house
Thunder thinks this is great. He’s right at home in his element.
Here’s our little house in the hills.
This is the rest of the downhill side of the property. That’s our neighbor’s house.
The roads were pretty bad last night and they were turning cars around on highway 80 at Applegate last night. That’s about 5 miles downhill form us. So we had to take back roads to get home. Luckily, I was at the theater teaching and I stayed there while a student was waiting for his mom to pick him up. She was coming from Meadow Vista which is just down the hill from us and she told me which roads were plowed.
The only problem I had was getting up our driveway. It took me about 7 tries to get up it last night. Then Merja got home and her car slid down the driveway and got a little bit sideways. We got her turned around and then shoveled some more snow and she got right up on her 2nd try.
This is this morning after a lot of the snow had melted. Last night it was 3 to 4 inches deep and icy.
So that’s our little house in the snow. I’m sure it will all melt away in a few days. But it sure looks pretty right now. But remember, just 30 or so mile up the hill is Donner pass. When I was driving home I was listening to the radio to hear what roads were closed and highway 80 was closed from Applegate (just down the hill form us) all the way to the Nevada border. So we got it pretty lightly.
Now, last year when we got snow it was the first snow in 5 years. Now it seems that it snows every February. Oh well, that’s just one of the cool things about living in the mountains.
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Fri, 23 Feb 2007
Last year
This year
But now it’s all melted away. So I guess Feb 22nd is the day it snows up here.
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Thu, 22 Feb 2007
There’s something about Feb 22nd
Well today is the 22nd again. It’s been a really dry year without much rain and only a couple of weeks of cold weather. But today, it started to snow again.
What is it about this date that makes the snow fall? We’re suppose to get a few days of this storm so it may be a white winter after all.
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Wed, 07 Feb 2007
Just a quick reminder, Tomorrow, Feb. 8th, is the slow jam at Music & More. We’ll be starting at 7:30 pm. I hope to see you there.
Why do people believe weird things?
Here’s a great video of a speech by Ted Shermer discussing skepticism and a general freethought point of view.
Why do people believe weird things? It sometimes seems odd to us that people believe such bizarre, delusionalthings with no proof at all. When we were at the Mandolin Symposium last year at UC Santa Cruz they were also hosting a symposium on dowsing. "Dowsing!? " Are you kidding me?
UC Santa Cruz didn’t think that maybe, just maybe, hosting a dowsing convention might reflect negativly on the university’s credibility? That’s amazing.
These people would tell us that they could use dowsing to tell them everything from how to fine underground water sources to which foods are most needed by their bodies.
What I found interesting is that there were probably 3 or 4 times as many signs around campus leading the dowsers to their seminars than there were leading the mandolin players to their seminars.
You’d think the dowsers could find the seminars without the signs wouldn’t you?
In any case, there are quite a few more videos at ted.com which discuss all sorts of interesting ideas and research. If you feel the need to hear some really bright people discuss thier work in a clear and consise way then go spend some time at Ted.com
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Sun, 04 Feb 2007
Slow Jam has moved from the 2nd Tuesday to the 2nd Thursday of the month. This upcoming Thursday (Feb 8th) is the 2nd Thursday of the month and we’ll be having our jam at Music And More at 7:00 pmWe moved the jam so we wouldn’t be conflicting with the every Tuesday jam at "The Wild Chicken" in Loomis. I hope to see you at Music & More this Thursday.
Friday night we did the "Open Mic" night at Lake Of The Pines Music. A lot of the kids who take lessons there played songs on guitar or piano. Then the folks who work there got together and did a song. Then I played a couple celtic tunes, one of which I compleatly messed up. Oh well, sometimes stage fright is still an issue even when you’ve been doing this for 30 years.
Then I invited Sean and Michael up to play a couple of Django tunes and it went really well. We really had a big sound for just an acoustic guitar, a mandolin, and electric bass.
The next performance of "The Swing Band With No Name" will be on Feb 18 at the Pioneer Methodist Church in Auburn. We’ll be playing at 2:30 as part of the Music for Humanity concert. All proceeds go to benefit Habitat for Humanity and the Interfaith Food Closet.
Speaking of "The Swing Band With No Name" we’re considering calling ourselves either "The Hot Club of Auburn" or "The Hot Club of the Sierras." It’s a reference to Django’s band "The Hot Club of Paris" which is where Gypsy Jazz really got it’s start. We’ll see. I guess it’s a better name than “"Poultry In Motion"
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Tue, 30 Jan 2007
"Back in the day" (I can’t believe I’m using that expression) I use to love to program computers. I started out in Jr high school writing games in BASIC, I went to High School and had a blast playing on an IBM 360 mainframe that was timeshared to our school.I remember when the Apple I came out. It was a kit that you had to build yourself. It came with 4k of RAM That’s right boys and girls, 4000 bytes! Total!. If you wanted an additional 8K of RAM you had to buy an additional circuit board for $200.
Then the Apple ][ came out. Then the Amiga, the Coleco Adam, the Texas Instruments TI994A, the PC Jr, the Apple Mac and so on.
Let’s see how many of the old programmers remember this: "Back in the day" (Dang, I’m saying it again!) there use to be these books that you could buy with 101 computer games written in BASIC. You would have to type in the code yourself. Of course, you’d usually make some sort of typing mistake so you’d have to debug your code. Then you’d play the game (after you saved your code on a cassette tape. Damn I’m feeling old!) If you were a real geek then you’d modify the code to add some feature that you wanted it to have and you’d make the game your own. That’s pretty much how I learned to write software, by copying other people’s code. I can’t begin to count the number of times that I was typing in somebody else’s code and said to myself :"Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!"
So now it’s coming up on a year since I’ve written any code for a living. And the last couple of years at my last job were pretty frustrating because I was essentially the liason between an atrociously bad vendor and my company. In the last 2 or 3 years at that job I probably only spent 3 months actually being a programmer. On one hand I was being told that I was a great programmer, on the other hand, they wouldn’t actually let me write any code. But when things broke I was right there fixing the problem and getting things done. So I knew what I was doing, but for some reason they wouldn’t use my talents.
In any case, I was browsing the internet and found something that reminded me of those good old days of building your own games in BASIC. It’s started to rekindle my love of programming.
Robocode is a game I’ve played with in the past, but I just started messing around with it again. Basically, you have a tank. Then you write some code that describes how that tank will behave. The code you write is in Java, my favorite programming language. Then you put your tank in an arena with other tanks and let them fight it out while you watch the carnage.
Yep, that’s good clean fun.
Robocode was written as a tool to help people learn the Java programming language. After a year off from programming and with the few years before that being pretty light I found myself making all the newbie mistakes all over again. Forgetting to import classes, messing up my package structure, using classes that I havn’t defined yet and so on. If there’s a way to mess up I was doing it.
So why was I having so much fun?
It brought me back to the days when you could actually write a game on a tiny computer in your bedroom and it would be fun and interesting enough to play. This was before the days of 3D graphics and CDs and games that took up gigabytes of space. I mean Geez-Oh-Petes! Gigabytes! I remember sitting in a car with a buddy as he was browsing through a local computer magazine when he said "Hey check this out! 2 gig hard drives just dropped below $200! " Now you can get 250 gigs for less than $100.
I guess Moore’s Law still works.
Robocode is so old now that a lot of the tutorial links are broken and web pages that use to support it have vanished. But it’s still a fun way to play with some computer code. So go geek out, get Robocode and bring yourself back to the days when we "hand rolled" our own games and wrote the code ourselves.
Those were the days.
[edit] It turns out that there’s a brand new version of Robocode as of YESTERDAY. Go get it.
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[/geek] department
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Sun, 28 Jan 2007
I have a few performances to prepare for.First of all, I’m the special guest artist at the Lake of the Pines Music open mic on Feb 2nd at 7 pm. I’ll be bringing Sean Robinson with me and we might even be able to get Michael Paul (LOTP Music’s owner) to sit in with us.
Then on Feb 18 the acoustic band will playing Pioneer Methodist Church in Auburn at 2:30 as part of the Music for Humanity concert. All proceeds go to benefit Habitat for Humanity and the Interfaith Food Closet.
The only problem is that "The Band" doesn’t have a name. I have no idea what Ethan, Sean and I should call ourselves. We don’t really fit into any particular format. A typical set will include some swing tunes, a gypsy jazz tune or 2 and perhaps a couple of bluegrass tunes. Then we’ll toss in a few celtic tunes. Depending on how we feel we may some jazz standards or a few Thelonious Monk tunes.
It’s an eclectic selection of music for a band made up of acoustic guitar, mandolins and fiddle.
AND I have to return a call to KAHI radio. Apparently, they want to interview me and have me play a few tunes. I’m excited, but also a bit nervous. I really need to do some practicing to get my chops up.
AND Don’t forget that the Slow Jam will be on Feb 13th which is the 2nd Tuesday of Feb. However, starting in March we’re going to move the slow jam to the 2nd Thursday of the month so we don’t conflict with the weekly Tuesday jam at "The Wild Chicken" just down the hill in Loomis.
Lots of events to go to. I hope to see you folks there.
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[/music/mygigs] department
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Thu, 25 Jan 2007
Our president seems to think that it’s OK to wiretap phone conversations without a warrent.The Supreme Court has said that he’s wrong and that he’s breaking the law. The president has said “we have a difference of opinion”.
It’s not a difference of opinion Mr. President, It’s called the Constitution. Maybe this video will remind him of how America is suppose to work.
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[/ramblings] department
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Sat, 06 Jan 2007
The First Slow Jam Of The Year Is THIS Tuesday!
We’ll start at 7:30 and play until we get tired (usually somewhere around 9 or 10pm). Hope to see you there.
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[/music/jams] department
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