This rain we’ve been having the past few days is really screwing up my vacation.

I haven’t spent nearly as much time doing yard work as I intended.

Nor have I done as much fishing as I had hoped.

This evening, I headed out to Oatka Creek. I knew there was a chance of rain, but you can never trust the weatherman in Western New York.

But of course, I wanted to be outside, so of course, it rained.

I was able to throw about 10 casts before being chased back to my truck.

What made the 20-minute drive worthwhile was the chance to commune with nature, so to speak.

Where I entered Oatka was, as it turned out, the location of what I guess is an old mill. (I meant to show you a photo at this point, but Buzznet seems to be screwing with my uploads at the moment). UPDATE: Pictures now available here, here and here.

After i snapped a picture of the ruins, I turned around, looked down into a small ravine and found I was maybe 15 feet from a deer. The deer didn’t even notice me until I turned. I wish I had seen her sooner; I could have gotten a better picture.

The cool thing was, as soon as I saw her, I froze, and so she stopped running, and actually showed interest in coming back to the spot she was feeding. We stood like that for about five minutes … me not moving, her looking towards where I was standing, seemingly unsure if I was really there or not. I wanted her to move closer so I could get a better picture with my iPhone, but she held her ground and I lost my patience. I wanted to fish.

So all I have is the picture inset at the top of this post.

Related DVD: Successful Fly Fishing Strategies

I watched a video videos of other guys fly fishing, and found them pretty boring.

This video, is different — the set up and the actual fishing in this rocky river is interesting, but the post-catch footage makes the video. It’s an incredible trout and the guy who caught him treats him with such respect.

Interesting sounding book:  A Wisp in the Wind: In Search of Bull Trout, Bamboo, and Beyond

After watching this video this morning, I spent a good deal of the day practicing tying the knot. It’s very easy, seems very strong and should end my creek-side frustration with the clinch knot.

UPDATE: This note worked great when using practice fly line.  When I tried it with actual tippet material, not so much, at least not for my awkward fingers.

Related book: Fishing Knots: Proven to Work for Light Tackle and Fly Fishing with DVD

In my fly fishing magazine reading, I’ve seen references to the “double haul cast,” but didn’t understand what that meant.

This video explains it. I haven’t had a chance to practice the cast yet.

Related DVD:  Beginning Fly Fishing

I really didn’t understand the “roll cast” until I watched this video. A day after watching it, I can deliver a serviceable roll cast.

Related book:  Troubleshooting the Cast

I haven’t watched part II yet, but of the “how to cast” videos I’ve watched so far, this was the best. That’s probably because there’s more detailed explanation.

Related Book:  Lefty Kreh’s Longer Fly Casting, New and Revised: The Compact, Practical Handbook That Will Add Ten Feet–Or More–To Your Cast

Spring rains hit Western New York last night — a good drenching followed by scattered showers today.

My morning fishing expedition to Irondequoit Creek was a lesson learned — it’s deeper, faster and muddier after a big storm — not great for fishing. During half hour in the stream, I saw no evidence of fish under the surface.

I came home with the intention of mowing the lawn, but then the rains came back.

So I’ve been hanging out around the house, with a good deal of time watching fly fishing videos on YouTube.

The next series of posts will be of some of my favorite videos so far — most of which are training videos.

When it’s wet, waders come in handy: Hodgman Caster Rubber Hip Waders w/ Cleated Soles Green

Long-time friends know, I’ve always been a man of many hobbies.

I’ve played guitar, wrote songs, smoked cigars, run fantasy baseball teams, played golf, collected journalism books, played poker, built model cars and grown roses. Once in my very young life, I even collected stamps. Coins, too.

There was a time when I would throw myself into a hobby and that’s all I would do and approach it with a mindset of “this is my new hobby for life” and all of those other hobbies would be forgotten.

That’s not my way these days.

I kind of keep most of my hobbies going in some form or another — I still have my guitars, and even pick them up once in a while, and I win the occasional poker tournament  and hit (or try) a golf ball around green areas from time-to-time (playing tomorrow, in fact). And the roses are doing great this year.

But a new hobby is creeping into my life: Fly fishing.

Bill Blevins got me started.

After Bill took me out a couple of times (once last fall on Lake Honeoye and once this spring on Irondequoit Creek (Bill’s post with video)), I decided to start assembling my own gear (especially after losing six of Bill’s flies on that last trip — he ties his own). So far I have a cheap fly rod and reel, some flies in a box, Wal-Mart waders and a straw hat (subject of future post: How to get into fly fishing on the cheap).

I’ve been to Irondequoit twice on my own.

No caching yet. Just fishing.

Last night my wife asked me why I want to fly fish, do I think I’ll enjoy it and do I enjoy it?

Here’s pretty much how I answered the question:

• My motivation isn’t to be the best fly fisherman; at this point I’m not even motivated to catch anything (though, I certainly want to — why else throw your line in the water);
• I love living in Western New York. There’s so much nature, so much open space, such a vibrancy and variety of living things (which is why I’m also getting into native plants). Fishing is a relaxing thing to do out in parks. It’s always a way to learn more about and explore New York.
• It might be a way to make some friends in the area. Pittsford has a fly-fishing club I think I’ll join. Billie is always telling me I need to make some local friends (as in, “go outside and get out of my hair”!).

Speaking of Billie — in all the years I’ve known her, she’s never been much of a hobbyist. Well, she’s treated domestic things as a hobby (she collects homemaking, cooking and etiquette books, for example). Recently, she took up painting. That, I think, is very cool.

I told her last night, maybe by next spring we will be in a position to rent a cabin in the Catskills and we could take Pachuco, and she could paint and I could fish and we could just hang out. That sounds like a hell of a nice vacation.

Related book: Flyfisher’s Guide to New York