Phone Meets Phone

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Pay Phone are becoming extinct

Saw a relic of the past this morning, a once familiar object that is now fast vanishing from our landscape. Before long it will be extinct. Took a picture of it with my cell phone. How ironic is that?

 

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Winter Solstice

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

 

Winter Solstice

The longest night of the year has passed. Now the North Pole begins its tilt back toward the sun. And as it does the cycle of a new spring, new summer and fall lies before us. Sweet.

The days around the winter solstice have long been a time of celebration. Christmas is the most obvious example and is presently upon us. Back around 2000BC the Druids began their solstice dance at Stonehenge. Modern Druids are doing the same today. During their carnival-like holiday of Saturnalia, the Romans danced too. For several days, starting on December 17th, they exchanged gifts, partook of Roman feasts, special freedoms, gambling, and libidinous behavior.  Hey, winter can be fun!

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Gannets Gone Wild

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

Along the North Atlantic the gannet is the largest, and without a doubt the most spectacular, sea bird. With a wing of nearly six feet, this high flying daredevil falls from the sky in breathtaking  plunges of upwards of 100 feet. Its an awesome display of wild nature in action. You can’t take your eyes off it.

Gannets Diving at Dawn

Hitting the sea at speeds of 60 miles an hour, each gannet dive send a column of white water shooting skyward. How these birds survive I don’t know. As the gannet descends into the ocean blue, the water slows its progress. And then from the depths, the gannet reverses and ascends upward through the school of bait; taking its meal.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching gannets from the rocky cliffs of Ireland, as well as on the Rhode Island coast.  Here they arrive in fall, timing their appearance with the migration of large schooling forage fish, most notably the Atlantic sea herring.

Atlantic Sea Herring

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water, Fly Fishing On the Beach, Looking Upward, On the Road, Wild Things | 2 Comments

Fly Fishing for Big Striped Bass in November

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

Fly Fishing for Big Striped Bass in November

If you read my previous post, you know I held hope for a Thanksgiving striper. Well the stars aligned; and here she is.  Yes, for fly rodders on the New England coast, hunting for striped bass in November is a fantastic adventure.

Just before dawn I took a walk down a deserted Rhode Island beach – my 10-weight fly rod in hand. Gannets were working outside, always a terrific sign. And off in the distance, gulls worked the surfline. Naturally I jogged in their direction. When I got there sea herring were visible in the curl of the wave, back lit by the sunrise. Surely, something was pushing them into the surf.

Quickly I tied on a 7″ blue-over-white herring fly, and began probing the ocean’s edge. Moments later, a wild girl grabbed the fly. It happened within 10 feet of the rod tip. Man, when I felt her weight my heart leapt in my throat. Then with a slap of her shovel-wide tail, she charged down the shoreline, running parallel to the surf. Taking me in tow.

After 3 trips into my backing, she stopped and slugged it out in the blue-green waves. For a long time we were locked in a Mexican standoff. Honestly I couldn’t move her. Her strength was enormous. With the fly rod bent into the corks, I just kept the pressure on, as the surf thundered along the sand.

Slowly pumping the rod, I began backing up, gaining an inch or two of line at a time. Eventually I had her in the trough between the first and second wave. It was time to take a chance. Time to go for broke, but would the hook hold? Pulling as hard as I dared, I used the next large wave to beach her. Heavy, heavy fish!  It took both hands to move her.

Given her size, I’ll venture she was in the prime of midlife, likely born in Chesapeake Bay 15 years ago.  And had ever since come north in the spring to feast on New England’s bounty. No, she will not be gracing my Thanksgiving table. Moments after this picture, I let the beautiful beast swim free.  Now I’m praying for a bass for Christmas. And by then my wild girl will be back home a 1000 miles to the south – and have long forgotten me.

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The Winter Beach

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Ed Mitchell

Winter Beach

It isn’t winter quite yet, but on the coast you can feel “old man” winter coming.  The days are short now; the nights long, and the wind lives in the north. And some dawns are below freezing.

Harrier hawks glide over the salt marshes. While 30 yards to sea, loons ride low in the waves, some of them still in their summer clothes. Migrants from the north, they rarely call on the coast, but when they they do their haunting voices carry. Out farther, another visitor circles high – flocks of gannets. Their huge silhouettes and plummeting dives are easy to spot. They are the most magnificent marine birds of the northern coast; and another sure sign that winter is near.

Striped bass and bluefish still patrol the Rhode Island rim, but the “bite” has been poor. Yet there is reason for hope. Some bass are still as far north as Boston. So the season may just be late this year. Who knows? Perhaps the surf will offer up its rewards come Thanksgiving.

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