Hello
all and thanks for checking in at The O’Grady Fly Fishing Adventures blog. I
wanted to warn you all ahead of time that if you think my writing is usually
all over the place, today’s blog may resemble a box of chocolates. On Tuesday I
was talking to my brother-in-law on the phone and I told him how awesome the
fishing had been and it was too bad he wasn’t here. That evening he called and
said he was coming to P-town to get some learning. Our plan was Thursday on the
Ark, Friday in South Park, and Saturday wherever. Thursday, half way through
the fishing day, Cat called and told me that Prince had died and my mind was
immediately whisked back to 1986.
I have
told this story before but this is the perfect time to tell it again. My first
two weeks living in Colorado were spent at work, on the water or at my living quarters
that had no TV, radio, or any connection to the outside world. The only
entertainment was a tiny television with a beta player. To make matters worse,
the only tapes we had were Purple Rain, and The Breakfast Club. I had never
seen Purple Rain before and had only known Prince as the guy with the dirty
songs. After several trips through the B-club it was time to try Prince. I was
blown away, and when Prince walked out on stage and said “this is a song by the
girls in the band, Lisa and Wendy”, I nearly drowned in my own tears. And yes I
know, I’m a total softy wimp. Both movies were watched several times before we
moved to a nicer place, with real TV. As My first summer in Winter Park, I
spent quite a few evenings in the dance club. I was never really a dancer but
when Prince would come on I would head to the floor. I bought the cassette of
Purple Rain and absolutely fell in love with The Beautiful Ones. The song
itself is a little schizophrenic, the song is absolutely beautiful but at the
same time horribly sad. “The beautiful ones always smash the picture, always,
every time”. I know it is only a song but I can’t help but think that it was a
little window into the life of Prince. There were never horrible headline about
the guy but everything I ever read was that he was a complete loner. How sad,
so musically talented but all alone. Here is where the blog goes in different
places.
After
spending the weekend with Jim, Cat, Brandon, Winston and friends it hit me how
special my life is. Teaching family how to fly fish can be a little frustrating
at times but thank God I have the family, and sorry Prince you’re wrong, the
Beautiful ones don’t always smash the picture (thanks Cat).
Now on
to the fishing; Thursday and today were spent here on the Ark. Those days were
both very sunny and I found that the fishing was very technical. A good cast
and drift seemed to produce but anything less and you could hear the fish
laughing at us. I landed quite a few but I know that Jim struggled a little,
but he did manage a few good ones to the net. On Friday we made our way up the
Spinney and pretty much had our you-know-what’s handed to us. It was the only
day we weren’t keeping score because otherwise Jim would have been the big
winner. Our fishing tribute to Prince had Cat and I singing our own lyrics to
Prince songs. My favorite was with the always cold temps of South Park, Cat
started singing “Purple toes, Purple toes”. Saturday Jim fished by himself and
Brandon and I went out and watched / heckled, Jim still managed to land several
fish that day. Cat got stuck working in the shop today so my time on the water
was spent alone, fishing and thinking, probably why this blog is a little hard
to follow. While standing in a run today, an old friend walked up on me and was
out fishing with his daughter. Watching DJ and Taylor together sent a bit of a
chill up my spine. Later I saw Tyler and his dad and they both had a huge grin
on their faces. Once again, how awesome is life.
I hate
to sound like a homer but fish the last few days continued to be on the FOD,
Ninja, and the Crystal Black Beauty. I have tried playing with a third to the
arsenal but it doesn’t seem to matter what the middle fly is, those flies were
productive. The weather this week looks great for being outside but not the
easiest of fishing conditions. These are perfect conditions for a guide trip.
Sight fishing to picky fish, you will learn or….Anyway, get here before the
river blows up. As always, Connell, Cat, Jimbo, Darling Nicky,Winston and The
Drift Fly Shop want to thank you for reading…..
Dj and Taylor
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