• rbaileydav

    by Published on 02-25-2014 12:35 AM  Number of Views: 27503 
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    2013 a Vintage year

    My goal for 2013 was to have at least one overnight fishing trip per month for the entire ...
    by Published on 01-12-2014 09:17 PM  Number of Views: 29452 
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    Editor's note - This is the second part of this story, the second post... if you want to see how this story started, head on in to the forums... and enjoy.

    -Gus

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    We had fished this river two days ago and I had thought it was as pretty as any place I had ever imagined but after two to three inches of fresh snow fall it was not even in the same realm of beautiful it had transcended even itself.







    We rigged in silence knowing the drill from our last trip and totally in awe of the scenery and visions spread before us. Sometime even those of us idiots who are to verbose for our own good know enough to just shut up and let the world before us speak with all of it’s glory, it was one of those days when you can’t help but tip your cowboy hat to the power and vision of GOD.
    ...
    by Published on 11-29-2013 01:16 PM  Number of Views: 35911 
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    I haven’t written in a while which is bad, but the reason that I haven’t written is because I have been so busy fishing lately, which is not good but … … great. Just another example of what a “best and worst” summer and fall that I have had, but fortunately the good outweighed the bad, and in the end that is all we can ask for.
    ...
    by Published on 04-25-2013 12:33 PM  Number of Views: 23102 
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    ForkFest 13

    Back in ’05, I have always wanted to say that like a true old timer, I asked a trusted “internet” ...
    by Published on 01-03-2013 10:41 AM  Number of Views: 9894 
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    As part two came to an end, I had just told you about my recent 3 day early October car camping trip, fishing the high country ...
    by Published on 12-03-2012 11:31 AM  Number of Views: 11362 
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    I was sitting having a cigar on a warm summer night listening to my IPOD and watching the stars, when an old Chris LeDoux ...
    by Published on 12-03-2012 11:29 AM  Number of Views: 9561 
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    Sorry I haven’t written in a while let’s just say my heart wasn’t in it. It has been a … shall we say … interesting … year, ...
    by Published on 11-25-2011 10:23 AM  Number of Views: 7181 
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    Editor's note: As is often the case, this post/article is continued in the next post in the forums. Becoming a smallstreams.com member is free, and always will be. Why not join us in the forums and share your own fly fishing tales and read the rest of this story? -Gus

    On our last visit, I had been telling you about my fishing trip into the backcountry of the Little Yosemite Valley and describing how I had managed to survive the hike and had even managed to catch a few fish the very first afternoon. So after all of the hiking and the fishing it is no surprise that I fell into a deep dreamless sleep content and happy with the world.

    I woke to the sound of two of my three tent mates, through hikers who were on a 50 mile circular dash around the Yosemite back country, stirring to get their stuff packed so they could grab a quick breakfast and be off on another 10 or 12 mile stroll. I giggled to myself thinking that I could just roll back over and go back to sleep for a while and that all I had to do for the next two days was fish, rest and maybe fish some more …….. and oh yeah smoke a cigar and have a sip of bourbon while watching the wonderful scenery of Yosemite change color and texture with the various different phases of the day’s light. ...
    by Published on 10-17-2011 11:55 AM  Number of Views: 6783 
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    Sitting at the office one day, I got an email from the Yosemite High Sierra Camps letting me know that they had openings the last week of their season which is in late September. Well this is normally a lottery draw for reservations and nearly impossible to get …. So I jumped all over the opportunity. I have visited Yosemite National Park and even fished there previously, but here was a chance to hit some of the more remote back country areas… far from the crowds and the roads, which we all know is where I feel the most at home. All without having to carry tent, bedding and food because they supplied that for you as part of the “hike in” tent camp experience nestled in the Little Yosemite Valley area above the Tuolumne Meadows. I figured this was a great compromise for getting back deep in the backcountry but keeping pack weight down and keeping enough people around me that my cardiologist and family wouldn’t flip out on me if they knew where I was going. I knew the scenery was supposed to be outstanding but I wasn’t too sure about the fishing, but a trip to the woods is a trip to the woods and honestly even though the Maine trip hadn’t been that long ago…….. I needed another break from society and reality… … as I get older I seem to need my breaks more frequently.
    ...
    by Published on 09-06-2011 03:29 PM  Number of Views: 9615 
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    Editor's Note: This is part one of a two part story that rbaileydav wrote... if you want to read the rest of the story, join us as a registered member of smallstreams.com!

    You can’t be lost………………… if you don’t know where you are going. That is one of life’s truest statements and one of life’s greatest luxuries. I am not a “young un” anymore and to be honest, I am a hell of a lot closer to fifty that I care to admit….. read that as less than another calendar year, but when I have a chance to disappear into the woods with my backpack strapped on and no specific destination in mind that is a true luxury. I recently had a business trip scheduled for late in the week in Portland Me. I can hear you guys out there already, so yes I know my business schedule doesn’t suck all that much does it … regardless of how much I might pregnant dog about it. ...
    by Published on 07-08-2011 07:02 AM  Number of Views: 7483 
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    A co-worker popped into my office a few weeks ago to let me know that my presence would be required at a meeting in Fountain ...
    by Published on 05-30-2011 09:14 PM  Number of Views: 6994 
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    Sometimes life throws you curve balls you can’t hit and the world just seems to be a joke I don’t get. My personal life has been in a shambles lately and I don’t seem to have the ability or capability to change it. I actually caught myself driving down the road on a beautiful early summer morning, headed out on a fishing trip, thinking about my marital options and solutions and realized that I was so very sad that tears were rolling slowly out of my eyes, of course I blamed it on the sun and the wind since the top was down but even I couldn’t convince myself that was really it, I was actually crying. Well after making a few indelicate and certainly not politically correct remarks about what lingerie I must be wearing and a stern “get your shit together” lecture I shifted my thoughts to my “home waters” which fortunately for me I was actually in route to. It had been way to long since I had visited my old friend and we all know that the special bond with your home water is something that always makes you feel better. As I came over the next hill top and dropped down into the valley I couldn’t help but smile at the towering ridges which shown in a shadowy blue relief against the mid morning summer haze. I could see the heat shinning through the distance, even though it was not quite yet June. My face actually broke into a smile as I crossed the river for the first time and realized that it was running at a perfect depth and with just a very, very light shade of color which those of us who fish her regularly, know always makes the fishing better than normal. ...
    by Published on 12-25-2010 07:45 AM  Number of Views: 3509 
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    The Christmas Gift

    The sun felt warm on half of my face and burned comfortably on one shoulder but the air was cool where it blew on my shaded side. The gin clear riffle shimmered like crystal with the refraction of the sunlight, the water deepened into a light green, filtering to an even darker green as the riffle poured into a deep eddy pool. I couldn’t see into the depths of the water but I was positive it held fish.


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