Big Bambu in New York City

Visited daughter Rebecca for two days. She's in grad school at NYU but could take some time off to walk around the Upper East Side with us. Most memorable site was this art structure on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art created by two artist brothers from Jersey who supervise a group of rock climbers lashing together thousands of bamboo poles.

With Major Ski and Capt. Brady on the Bay

Ski is a US Army Major and Brady Bounds is a Chesapeake Bay Captain and Guide out of Solomons Island, Maryland. Ski will be going on his second tour in Afghanistan in a few weeks, and our country is fortunate to be served by such an intelligent and good person.

It was beautiful out on the water but windy. We motored over to the Eastern Shore, and Ski caught the first fish, a small striped bass. I think he caught a couple more before I landed a small bluefish using a fly rod. I hooked and lost a couple and then didn't catch anything while Ski and Capt. Brady regularly brought fish into the boat, some of the fish pretty good size. Brady pointed out that with the fish holding on the bottom the fly rod wasn't an effective tool. In addition, I wanted to learn to jig, so I switched to a spinning rod. While learning the basics of light tackle jigging over the next couple of hours, I was the only one not catching.

After refueling in mid afternoon, we ran back to the Western Shore where Brady once again put us on fish. There I got a couple of blues before coming in.

Had a good time and learned a few things.

Patapsco Again

At Dogwood Road. Bass and bluegill were all small. Used only the B & B.

I stashed my gear on a rock while I took a break.

Water level 1.38 at Hollofield.

"It's live and die rock and roll..."

"It ain't something you control.

A Stratocaster heart and high watt soul,

It's live and die rock and roll."

Those words are from the Ray Wylie Hubbard album Snake Farm which I listened to on the way to the Upper Potomac yesterday. This is one of those songs with a rhythm so driving and a hook so catchy, you've got to move when listening. Other lyrics from the album give us some insight into his theology:

"Well, I never thought to ask him, but the thought seemed mighty slim

If he ever much believed in God, or God believed in him."

And on sexual situations:

"She comes to bed in a negligee just to discuss cinema verite."

This picture of him is not mine, by the way.

Excellent day catching smallmouth bass and big bluegills mostly on Lefty's Red and White Streamer, but the fish were so aggressive many other flies probably would have worked as well. The tip broke off my 7 weight fly rod, but it didn't interfere with casting much. I'll speak to the folks at Temple Forks Rods about their lifetime warranty. All the fish were caught at the point behind Noland's Island.

Weather was beautiful. Temps in the 70's, and the water level was .73 at Point of Rocks.

Snakes

Don't care for them. On the Patapsco today, I saw two, or maybe the same one twice. In both cases, they were two or three feet away in the water I was wading. I'm not one of those people deathly afraid, but I'm not wild about them even if they're not poisonous. These almost certainly were not.

Home improvement people were keeping me home, but they all left at once so I managed to salvage the day by fishing water down from the Old Frederick Road bridge, a stretch of the river that I hadn't gotten around to. In a barely a couple of hours, I caught a few bluegills and a bass, mostly on a bullet head deer hair surface fly. A few years ago, I tied up a number of them when I was enamored, for some reason, by bullet head deer hair flies.

Getting back to snakes, we haven't seen any in the yard lately. Pam's deer fence caught a couple a year or so ago, and maybe they were the breeding pair. Good riddance.

I'm planning to fish that part of the Patapsco again soon, snakes or no snakes. Water level was 1.21 at Hollofield.

Driving to Lander, Listening to Neil

Good traveling music, Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall 1971 which was released a few years ago. Although he was about 26 when he wrote these songs and gave this concert, it's funny how often the word "old" appears in the lyrics, not just when he means someone else, an "old man", but even when he's talking about himself: "Now I'm getting old..." If you thought that at 26, Neil, now that you're almost 65, what do you think?

To me, Neil Young's lyrics are like Bob Dylan's. Sometimes they miss and sound silly, but when they're on target, and more often both are, they get under my skin in a way I find hard to express. At those times, their words haunt me.

Unlike Brunswick, a few miles up the Potomac, and Point of Rocks, a few miles downriver, only fishermen mention Lander, Maryland which is little more than a few houses and a railroad crossing near the river. Lander is also the site of a C & O canal lock, number 29.

It was a beautiful day with blue skies, the temperature in the 80's, the humidity low, and, most importantly, the smallmouth bass and bluegills co-operative. Most fish were caught on a surface slider, but the best bass came on a B & B. All the bass were caught above the first ledge.

Water level .79 at Point of Rocks and 2.37 at Little Falls.

Georgetown

Walking around this famous DC neighborhood today brought back many memories. I remember my hippie girlfriend bringing me here to get sandals in the 60's. In the 70's I remember seeing many musical acts at the Cellar Door at 34th and M streets. In the 90's I remember showing my son the joys of browsing in record stores that were still numerous in the area. They were generally selling CD's by then, but I'll always think of them as record stores.

Since the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal runs parallel and nearby sections of the Potomac River that I fish, I thought it appropriate to take a picture of where the canal officially begins. A white monument noting the beginning of the canal appears on the left side of the above picture. There once was a fly fishing shop near here, and some avid flyfishers fished for carp in the canal. Maybe some still do.

Having lived here all my life, I have associations of personal events, big and small, often when I visit areas around DC. Few hold as many past images in my mind as does Georgetown.

Lunch with Randy and Mike

For almost all of my work years, I was a manager and an important function of managing is the supervision of other employees. During my last five years, I had the fortunate privilege of "managing" two of the finest employees I knew in those forty years. I put the word "managing" in quotes because these two are largely self managing, and my function was primarily overall guidance and setting goals and priorities. Randy and Mike are currently working on the largest facility relocation in Raytheon's history. That Fortune 500 company is in good hands because these two could move mountains.

I am proud of my association with Randy Taylor and Mike Calhoun and am happy that our friendship has continued after my retirement. I had a good time today, guys.

Nolands Ferry on the Potomac

A ferry service began here in the mid 1700's, but I think the bridge at Point of Rocks four miles up the river doomed the business. Archaeologists say that American Indians had settlements on the Maryland side continually from about 8500 BC to 1800 AD.

This morning I caught bluegills big enough to put a good bend in the seven weight fly rod I was using. Most of them came on a Madam X pattern. The fish torn up the fly, so I tried a few others without success until I switched to a B & B and changed locations from the Maryland side of Nolands Island to the Virginia side. There after lunch I had a hot run of smallmouth action for about half an hour.

Most of the grasses were below the surface. Air temperatures about 90 by the afternoon, and water level 1.00 at Point of Rocks and 2.65 at Little Falls.

Shooting with John in Southern Maryland

I'm becoming reasonably good, but he's at a whole different level.

The Pond 1:30 PM

We think this is the first time we've seen an egret at our pond. It's a great or common egret. I saw some white wading birds yesterday along the Potomac, but I didn't observe them closely because my mind was on fishing.




















Lots of butterflies around too.

Seneca Breaks on the Potomac

This series of rapids is opposite Lock Number 23 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Lock Number 23 is better known as Violettes Lock, named after the family who last tended it. Just upriver from the breaks is a rubble dam which was constructed to divert water from the river to the canal, and the dam creates an area of slack water above it.

Today I waded along the breaks and caught many small bluegill on a six weight fly rod. Air temps in the 70's and water level .97 at Point of Rocks.

Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland

While it's elevation of 1,282 feet is hardly oxygen depriving, it does provide some relief from the summer heat. I hadn't driven up it for a few years, and the urge for this visit came on suddenly. Often when I'm fishing the nearby Potomac River, I look up and see it, or it suddenly comes into view while driving. When I was still working, I've seen it from the higher floors of Northern Virginia office buildings. I guess Sugarloaf Mountain has seemed to overlook much of my life's activity, so I thought it was time to reacquaint myself with it.

Sugarloaf is a monadnock, a residual of an eroded surrounding landscape. A short distance to the west, the Catoctin Mountains are a conventional part of the Appalachian chain, but a monadnock like Sugarloaf stands alone which creates a dramatic presence despite its modest height.

Typically hazy summer day, so the pictures are hardly spectacular. Above is the view to the east to a still rural part of Montgomery County.

Here to the right is a view to the south and west showing the stacks of the Dickerson Power Plant on the Potomac.

Patapsco at Mid Day

At Dogwood Road Crossing. Three bass, one fallfish, and countless bluegills, generally smaller than average Potomac fish, and caught on B & B and chartreuse maribou streamer. Air temp about 90. Water level 1.51 at Hollofield.

From Last Winter...

Going over 90 degrees again today, so I thought I'd put up a picture that I originally posted back in February. It may cool us off to look at or at least serve as a reminder of the winter.

Upper Patuxent Bass

Twenty years ago or more, I discovered that in summer bass made their way upstream from the reservoirs into the trout section of the Patuxent. I hadn't fished for them for years but decided I would try today.

The river hadn't cleared from recent rains, but although it was quite fishable I didn't catch anything for the hour or two I tried, wading upstream from where I parked. Rather than try downstream I chose to drive to a section downriver below the dam that had been designated a trout stream a few years ago. Last winter I briefly fished part of this stretch but had been unsuccessful and now wanted to explore another part.

When I arrived I liked the look of the water downstream from the bridge crossing and decided to fish it. I looked through my fly box and selected a small black and olive woolly bugger that looked like I had tied it sometime during the first Clinton administration. I wasn't optimistic about my chances since mid day in August is not a promising time for trout around here, and I had no idea what other fish may be present.

Surprise, surprise. I hooked something good on my first cast which turned out to be a fat 15" smallmouth bass. In the 30 minutes I was there I caught a smaller bass and two foot long fallfish.

Glad I decided to fish rather than just explore. Air temperatures in the upper 70's and water level 2.14 at Unity.

The Pond 5 PM

The day after another severe storm.














A hard winter followed by a hard summer.

















Looks peaceful enough now though.

The Pond: 11 AM

With Lou on the Upper Potomac

I usually fish alone, but it's sometimes more fun with another person providing they're the right type of person. Lou and I spent a few hours trout fishing earlier this year, and I thought we were compatible so I invited him to fish for smallmouth bass. Lou was no stranger to Potomac smallmouth fishing but hadn't done it recently, and I don't believe had used his kayak for this before.

We met up this morning at the Point of Rocks ramp, launched our kayaks, and paddled upriver. Fishing was very slow in the morning, just a few bluegills and no bass. After our lunch on a gravel bar, it picked up for me and I got a couple of bass along with more bluegills. Lou wasn't having much luck until mid-afternoon when he picked a small island to beach his kayak and waded towards the Virginia shore. There he found a promising pool and smoked them for about an hour including the best fish of the day, a 14" smallmouth.


Lou caught all his bass on a Zonker, and I had best results with a Shenk's White Minnow and a white and chartreuse Crystal Bugger.

Beautiful day on the river with good company. Water level was .83 at Point of Rocks.

After the Storms

Big one blew through Sunday afternoon. National Weather Service said later that they saw evidence of wind gusts that exceeded 90 mph. Hundreds of thousands lost power including us for 22 hours. No damage to house, but we may have lost two trees, one a 30 foot spruce.

Mild storm today. Winds not too strong, nice rain, air temperatures dropped 10 degrees, and no power loss. Walked over to the pond later and caught one bass on the B & B fly.

Patapsco River up from Daniels

Hadn't been to this spot for a few years, and it's worth the 45 minute paddle from the parking lot. Caught only one smallmouth, but it was the best one of the season so far. Caught it on the first or second cast of the day using the Black & Bluegill which is becoming the go-to fly this summer. Kept the fly on and caught a bazillion bluegills. Better make that two bazillion because I caught about twice as many as I did last week on the Monocacy.

Air temp about 90 in the early afternoon when I left. Water level 1.54 at Hollofield.

The Pond: 8 AM

Many runners and other people exercising here early before the temps get up in the 90's.

For me, one bass and two small bluegills on B & B, and one large bluegill on surface slider.

Two new arrivals at our house

Ten weeks old. No names yet.

The Lower Monocacy River

Monocacy is an American Indian word meaning "river with many blends", and like many Indian place names it flows musically off the tongue when said. Near Frederick Maryland a Civil War battle was fought along its banks, and where the Monocacy empties into the Potomac a C & O Canal aqueduct constructed mostly of granite stone quarried at nearby Sugarloaf Mountain was completed in 1833.

It was near the aqueduct that I put in my kayak and paddled upriver yesterday. When the current picked up and the river bottom became rocky, I entered the water to wade and fish. I caught only two smallmouth bass but about a bazillion bluegills, almost all the fish while using the Black and Bluegill fly described below on June 15.

A pleasant day, not as hot as it's been. Water level 1.74 at Bridgeport on the Monocacy and 1.11 at Point of Rocks on the Potomac.

AFI Silver Spring

One great benefit of living where I do is my proximity to the American Film Institute Silver Spring theater. It is an art deco styled building in the downtown area that holds smaller theaters in addition to the grand and restored original theater.
This summer the AFI is featuring films by Truffaut and Kurosawa, and last night we saw Francois Truffaut's Day for Night. Going to movies there seems like a good way to spend what is becoming a very hot summer.

Upper Potomac Smallmouth Bass

This is about the time I usually start fishing this area because the water's warm enough to wade wet. I beached the kayak on a gravel bar on the Maryland side of the big island at Noland's Ferry, just into Frederick County. No luck on the surface, so I tied on a black and olive wooly bugger and started catching 10-12" smallies. Although small, each jumped when hooked and fought well on the six weight fly rod.

Action was pretty much over by afternoon, but it was such a beautiful day I stayed on the river anyway. In most places when you've waded out to mid-river and look upstream or down you see no sign of human creation, and the water, woods, and hills look much as they must have when Europeans first came. Today I saw great blue herons as usual, and I think I also saw an eagle. A beaver smacked water to warn me off his territory and groundhogs scurried near the bloat ramp.

Water levels low (2.82 at Little Falls and 1.05 at Point of Rocks), and air temps in the low 80's by afternoon.

Visiting Farmer John

Visited John Van Brunt on his farm in Carroll County today. A number of years ago and well before he retired as a psychology professor at the University of Maryland, John bought about 30 acres with a pond and an old farm house and raised sheep.

We visited John often when our children were small, and the farm was an excellent place for suburban kids to learn about rural living. John doesn't venture out to the city often these days, and we got out of the habit of going up there. Lately, though, I've been re-establishing the friendship and have been glad I have because he's a person of many interests and an all round good guy. A few years ago, he converted the farm for use by a group that acquires mistreated horses.
I brought a rifle because John would like to see a thinning of the local groundhog population, but they laid low and I didn't get a shot. We took turns shooting his new shotgun in one of the back pastures. I'm looking forward to visiting him frequently.

Oliver: 1997- 2010

We had to put him down today, and both Pam and I are sad. He was one of the most affectionate and interesting cats I've known. He had this odd habit of dragging out wool sweaters and blankets from where we preferred them in the bedroom to where he preferred them in the kitchen. Some of the blankets were heavy and Oliver was a small cat, so this chore took a reasonable amount of effort. He did this "work" at night presumably to avoid being observed for reasons known only to him.


His best buddy, Gus, died in March. We called them brothers although there was no blood relationship. Gus was the only other animal Oliver liked. He despised Jerry, a third cat who lived only a few years.







Oliver could be cranky and quick tempered with humans also and expressed his displeasure with a fearsome hiss. He did this to my sister Elaine at a dinner party we hosted this past winter, and it hurt her feelings because she's a cat-lover. Later when we were still at the table he climbed over a couple of people to get to Elaine's lap where he stayed as if he wanted to make up. It's significant that one of the people he climbed over was Pam who was his all time favorite person.

When he was younger and had bursts of energy, he would sometimes shoot through the house and leap up onto the drapes where he would hang upside down emitting a low growl. He was the most verbal cat I've known and had seemingly an infinite variety of sounds. Some nights or mornings he would place himself outside our closed bedroom door and go through a concert of his sounds in an effort to get fed or get attention.

He was fun to share a house with and beautiful to look at.

We miss him.

Too many deaths over the past few months

Thoughts after a week at the beach

Very few.

I don't think the beach is conducive to profound thoughts. Maybe the rhythm of the surf crashing and the tidal movement lulls your mind into dullness. Maybe it's all the beer. Whatever the reason, my level of conversation rarely progresses past "Hey, pass me the sun block" as I act as a human sundial by adjusting the position of my chair to follow the shade of the beach umbrella.

One observation that I make every time I go:

Most adults never go into the water. My family seems to be the exception because we all think swimming in the ocean is great. Just get out beyond the breakers.

One of Marv's Paintings

When I first met my friend Marv he was an avid painter, and many of his paintings were nudes. I guess it was because he liked looking at naked women.

Catching Largemouth Bass in the Pond

Just over a month ago I wrote about watching the largemouth bass on their spawning beds in the nearby pond. Those 12-15" bass have been giving me some great sport during the last few afternoons on a 5 weight fly rod. Yesterday the bite came on a foam spider, and today on a new fly that I read about in the latest issue of Fly Fisherman magazine.

This fly is so simple that I should have thought of it myself. It's just black chenille and white rubber legs tied on a 6 or 8 hook. Because it resembles nothing identifiable that fish feed on, it's in the category of attractor rather than imitative flies. The creator of the pattern designed it primarily for big bluegills but mentioned that he's caught some good bass on it as well. He weights the hook by wrapping with lead, but the first couple I tied unweighted to run a few inches below the surface. Pictured above is one of the ones I tied and used today.

The fly was created by Jim Dean who lives in North Carolina but writes that he caught his first trout on Big Hunting Creek in Maryland, a stream I know well.

The President is Hipper than I am

I don't go around thinking I'm hip. My primary self image is as a father and as a fisherman, and neither of those is very hip. However, I'm used to being hipper than whoever is the American president. It's partly an age thing, but not completely. Music producer Ahmet Ertegun was in his 80's when he died, and he was probably the coolest and hippest man in the world. Bill Clinton tried for cool with his saxophone and dark glasses for a TV appearance in 1992, but his actual musical tastes were Fleetwood Mac who haven't been hip and cool in 30 years and Kenny G who was never and will never be hip and cool. Don't even think George W and hip at the same time because your brain will reject such an obvious contradiction. These two were the first presidents in my age bracket.

This subject is on my mind because a few days ago I discovered a jazz vocalist, bassist named Esperanza Spalding. Upon investigating videos of her on the Internet, I realized she performed at the White House last year. That President Obama was hip to her a year before I was should not be shocking to me, but it is. Esperanza also appeared on David Letterman, and after her performance Dave (who is exactly my age) said to sidekick and band leader Paul Shaffer (who will be hip his whole life), "You were right. She is the coolest guest we've ever had."

Why all the excitement about this young lady? Well, the string bass was my instrument so I can judge bass players with more intelligence than I can other musicians, and she is very good. She also sings and composes very well. Now, Pam thinks Esperanza got my attention mostly because she's sexy. Pam hasn't said this, but I know she is thinking it. Ok, Esperanza is obviously a lovely young lady, but it's her talent that is important to me. At least I think so.

Theology and Author Jim Harrison

Gnosticism played a role in the last two novels I've read, The Other by David Guterson and True North by Jim Harrison. I've read almost all of Harrison's many published books: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; and the short mention in this novel of The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels was enough to make me read it.

This is not the first time I've read a book about religion that Harrison complimented since his also was my first recommendation of Stephen Mitchell's The Gospel According to Jesus. Don't conclude that religion is a common topic of his writing, however, as the topic runs well behind drinking, fishing, and sex. In his novels there must be 10 times more descriptions of the beauty of bare female bottoms than of anything remotely theological (Harrison is clearly an ass man), but even though his religious references are unusual and brief his thoughts weigh heavily on me because I admire his writing

Harrison's memoir Off to the Side describes his embrace and subsequent rejection of Fundamentalist Protestantism as a teenager. He is well read in Buddhism which makes his interest in Pagel's and Mitchell's books logical since Mitchell is a Buddhist and Pagel's book on gnosticism discusses its similarity to some aspects of the Eastern religions.

Both The Gnostic Gospels and The Gospel According to Jesus challenge traditional Christianity although they show great respect for the teachings of Jesus. They both give me much to think about concerning religion and history.

Motorcycle sidecars are cool

Had a motorcycle for a few years but never had the opportunity to ride in a side car until today.

Pam and I drove down to Southern Maryland to have lunch with friend John who I'd gotten to know through Marv. Other than his loved ones, John's passions in life are guns and motorcycles. After lunch, I got in the side car, and we drove up route 4 to while Pam and John's wife Mary Catherine followed in our car to a store which sells model trains (a distant third interest of John's) and quilting supplies. I looked at the train stuff with John, and the ladies shopped for quilt stuff.

Before saying goodbye, Pam took the above picture of John and Mary Catherine:

One of Marv's Poems

On Things Not done

Though I put my thoughts to rhyme
Perhaps better would be to mime
But action I fear to do
Lest my fool folly to rue
And comes the day to fear
When dire blackness appear
It all is not to matter
For naught but dust to scatter

Marvin Hurwitz: January 3, 1933 to May 10, 2010

He was my best friend for almost 40 years.

His health has not been good recently, but the end came quickly. We had lunch together on Saturday and then visited a gun shop. When I dropped him off at his home we shook hands good-bye because he was planning to go out of town. He woke up late that night in severe pain and called an ambulance. His daughter, Dana, and I met at Holy Cross Hospital Sunday morning, and I stayed until mid-afternoon. Although still in pain at that time, he was lucid, but the calls from Dana later started to sound pessimistic. She went home to Southern Maryland in the evening, but the hospital called her back to come in the middle of the night. She called me, and we were there together until he died at 11 am.

Marv and I became friends when I was in my early 20's and he was in his late 30's, but he never talked down to me and always treated me as an equal. Since I retired 9 months ago we spent a lot of time together and never ran out of things to talk about. Lately he became interested in studying the history of the English language and, knowing I remembered much of the history I majored in long ago at college, he threw many questions at me to supplement what he read and heard on DVD's.

He was close to everyone in my family. My kids knew him their whole lives, and he was "Uncle Marv" to them. I think he was in love with my wife Pam but would have never done anything to betray my trust.

Good-bye, Marv. I loved you and will miss you always.

Largemouth Bass in Shallow Water

For a couple of weeks I've been watching them in the pond in the park. They come into the shallows this time of year to spawn, but I'm not certain at what stage of the process they're in now. Although they have generally disregarded flies I've cast in their area, I caught one the day before yesterday who put up a good fight for his size which was about a foot which is about the average size I've been seeing. He leaped twice which is something I always like to see. Even when I'm not fooling any bass, there are invariably bluegills that I hook. Actually, I've done much more looking than fishing lately.






The fish aren't the only animals reproducing right now.

An Old Maryland Plantation

Today we had the fourth session of our archaeology course and the first that we actually got hands on.

This visit was to the Needwood Mansion between Rockville and Olney. There was a couple dressed as the Robertsons who owned the plantation at the time of the Civil War. Staying in character, they complained of the Yankee Army looting their belongings and their slaves running off.




After touring the mansion, we then organized into groups and began to dig.






We then sifted the dirt through screens in search of artifacts. We didn't find anything dramatic, just some glass and a nail which we placed in a bag and documented for further study by experts. It was fun, and we learned a lot about the process.