Monday, March 4, 2013

Stone Cold Like Fingers and Toes



Slate green, liquid jade
Stone cold like fingers and toes

The lake above turning over
Winter’s breath chilling surface waters
Frigid shallows dance with warm depths
If “warm” could be used to describe ice cubes

The cold choreography of thermoclines

Top and bottom tango, pirouette
Spinning dull mossy ribbons into the tailwaters below
Swirls like tattered felt in fluid breeze
Gathering in pea soup eddies
Chilled to the taste of the dead

You don’t catch fish in this, they say
So, in sheer desperation, Señor Worm
(Admit it. You have some)
San Juan fire in alpine chill
Equatorial red in glacial green
Faded Christmas colors

Two small browns find their way to the net
They chase more for the heat than to eat, I suppose
But who could blame them?

Not I

For as the day wears on
Sky reflects water reflects mood
And I leave to find some heat of my own

Stone cold like fingers and toes




Thanks, here, to my buddy Darrin for an afternoon on his chilly home waters, for his photo of an old man chasing trout, and for the conversations that inspired this bit of verse.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I have one or two S.J.'s. I have them under glass and labeled "use only in desperation". Nice piece Mike.

Mike Sepelak said...

I knew it, Joel! You don't tie (and paint) a fly a day for a year without a couple of quickie SJs tossed in for convenience. :-)

Unknown said...

"Tattered felt in liquid breeze" - very nice, very nice. You may have had to resort to the jaun, but turnover is a tough time no matter where you fish.

Mike Sepelak said...

I ain't proud, Austin. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do... just short of dynamite. Good hearing from you!

Anonymous said...

Mike, from one ol' Fly Fisherman, to another, "Been There and Done That". Inexplicably, most fly fishers I know have some San Juan Worms buried somewhere in there plan!

Jule said...

Why do we flinch at using SJ worms that imitate an actual trout food, but brag about the rookie that we fooled with a royal coachman that imitated...ummmm....nothing? Nice work here Mike.

Mike Sepelak said...

Always a plan, Mel. Always.

Mike Sepelak said...

Now that is an excellent question, Jule. We fly fisherpersons are an odd lot, to be sure. I suspect the answer lies in the fact that SJs work so bloody well and we, for whatever reason, have chosen the hard way. Let's face it. If fishing efficacy was our goal, we wouldn't be wavin' fly rods.

After all, Royal Coachman is so much more elegant than worm, don't you think?

cofisher said...

Nicely done Mike. I'm not too proud to say that I keep a carton of earthworms in the frig. Or I did until my wife tried to serve them to me for dinner. Now I stick with the SJ worms.

Mike Sepelak said...

Yum, Howard. Mealworms, here. You've seen all the bluebird pics...