Spooled
10-30-2009, 10:05 AM
Wow, many familiars!
Hello my name is Bob Watrous and I am a fishaholic. Man I wish it was that easy. LOL I’d like to start with the understanding that I fish, I fish a lot. It’s not that I fish because I like to, but I fish because I have to. Wow, that almost sounds like my first date with my wife Wendy. Anyway, it’s just what and who I am. I fished as normal child starting on a camping trip around two years old. I say normal child because the early years of my fishing career, between the ages of 2 and 8, I only fished on camping trips, or day trips to the lake, etc. Just like most kids do or have done. Then when I was 8 years old I was befriended by old man Ron, a family friend, and he took me out catfishing at Becky’s bridge in his zodiac. I hooked a ten pound catfish on my zebco 33 and it was all downhill from there.
I went fishing with Ron just about every weekend for the next ten or so years of my life. There was one year, which was my 8th grade year, that we were on the water 50 out of 52 weekends that year. My Mom still has that calendar with all the markings stashed away some where. Ron started it all, I blame him! From that day forward I was mowing lawns, pulling weeds, and doing any kind of odd job around the neighborhood I could do so I could order stuff from Bass pro shops. I was addicted as a young child. In my younger years I spent most of time in three types of fishing; on a bass boat, striper fishing, or sturgeon fishing. Sturgeon is my ultimate passion. I’ve spent many years towing a boat through baja, running to Alaska, spending a lot of time on the Columbia, and basically any place there is water. If there is a hole in the ground with water in it, I’m scoping it out and trying to figure out how to catch whatever can be in there. Yes, everyone’s koi ponds included. It’s far beyond a hobby for me, it is fettish and I accept it.
Fast forward to today. I have not been able to control the addiction. I’m 34 years old and I have not had a single hour go by in the last 26 years without at least one thought, idea, or day dream of fishing going through my brain. I love, admire, and respect every single type of fishing there is and want to master them all. Yes, that is a tall order, but I sure want to try and accomplish it. I have a strange sense of humor, been told I have a funny kackle when I laugh, I am loyal to a fault, and will help anyone hook any type of fish on the planet. My style of fishing has been changing over the past couple years. I still, and will always, love to sit on my boat and wait for that one big fish of a life time to make my reel scream with ripping drag. I am a clambed fisherman and I am proud! What I am seeing in our fishery now scares me as I’ve been through the cycles and seen the good stock numbers and poor stock numbers. I now fear for the future and have made a commitment to practice selective harvest. I fear that if I don’t, my son Zachary may not have the opportunities his Pop had. After all, the poor kid will most likely be fighting this same addiction for his entire life. At three years old he’s already been crawdadding, crabbing, and fishing. He’s already caught fish on his own and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about the days when I get to start spending the entire day with him fishing, I won’t even go into the over night trips……
However, over the past couple years, my buddies, some of which are on this board already, have introduced me to a whole new drug. Flyfishing! It’s a hell of a learning curve, but it’s fun as hell. It has totally changed my fishing experience and I’m just a noob to it. I’ve talked with my friends about this before there are two main types of fisher people. Some are just waiting for the fish of a lifetime, and some are just looking for that grab. I have been the first type my whole life and have been slowly morphing into the second type. To me that grab is the culmination of homework, the hunt, the stalk, the experience, the self learning process, the trickery, and most of all the desire to get that grab. That is what flyfishing has brought into my experiences; the desire for that grab, the adrenaline , and thrill of the hunt. What can I say, I’m a junky!
So here are just some highlights from the past year or so. Hope you like them.
Bob
My two Best friends in the whole world. My wife Wendy and my son Zachary.
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/getting_ready.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1153)
He’s already getting his “sea legs”
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/sillydinner.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1162)
And he already wants to be the captain!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_1025.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1159)
Yup'nough said! LOL
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/zachary%20incline%20village%20sept%202009/IMG_2976_4.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/zachary%20incline%20village%20sept%202009/IMG_2974_4.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/zachary%20incline%20village%20sept%202009/IMG_2977_4.jpg
ONe of my latest life changing trips...
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1546.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1551.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1519.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1527.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1525.jpg
My pop with his 18.5 pound silver
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0922.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1158)
I like pink meat too
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_03341.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1165)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0821.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1156)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/DSC00041.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1145)
I have an affinity for stripers.
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0745.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1150)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/Franks_track_10-8-08_001.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1147)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0258.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1148)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/bobstriperbeckybridge.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1152)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/DSC00020.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1144)
I like them all with fins!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0786.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1155)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0839.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1157)
Even as twins….
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_1193.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1161)
And new species, thanks Hook!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/SunrisetoGristmill_0041.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1163)
Right now this is what I dream about the most! I can’t wait until he can last 24-48 hours on a boat!!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/zachbecky31.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1164)
A couple blasts from the past.
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0425.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1166)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0429.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1167)
Some pics from the latest drug I got addicted to
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/little%20trucker%2006%2020%202009/IMG_1406.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/little%20trucker%2006%2020%202009/IMG_1413.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Pine%20needle%20flat%20August%202009/100_45081.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Pine%20needle%20flat%20August%202009/100_45271.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Pine%20needle%20flat%20August%202009/100_45241.jpg
And this is how I like to end a good work day! I’ll end it with these photos. Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks for looking. Now go fishing! LOL
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/529/medium/IMG_1224.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=633)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/529/medium/IMG_1223.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=632)
Hello my name is Bob Watrous and I am a fishaholic. Man I wish it was that easy. LOL I’d like to start with the understanding that I fish, I fish a lot. It’s not that I fish because I like to, but I fish because I have to. Wow, that almost sounds like my first date with my wife Wendy. Anyway, it’s just what and who I am. I fished as normal child starting on a camping trip around two years old. I say normal child because the early years of my fishing career, between the ages of 2 and 8, I only fished on camping trips, or day trips to the lake, etc. Just like most kids do or have done. Then when I was 8 years old I was befriended by old man Ron, a family friend, and he took me out catfishing at Becky’s bridge in his zodiac. I hooked a ten pound catfish on my zebco 33 and it was all downhill from there.
I went fishing with Ron just about every weekend for the next ten or so years of my life. There was one year, which was my 8th grade year, that we were on the water 50 out of 52 weekends that year. My Mom still has that calendar with all the markings stashed away some where. Ron started it all, I blame him! From that day forward I was mowing lawns, pulling weeds, and doing any kind of odd job around the neighborhood I could do so I could order stuff from Bass pro shops. I was addicted as a young child. In my younger years I spent most of time in three types of fishing; on a bass boat, striper fishing, or sturgeon fishing. Sturgeon is my ultimate passion. I’ve spent many years towing a boat through baja, running to Alaska, spending a lot of time on the Columbia, and basically any place there is water. If there is a hole in the ground with water in it, I’m scoping it out and trying to figure out how to catch whatever can be in there. Yes, everyone’s koi ponds included. It’s far beyond a hobby for me, it is fettish and I accept it.
Fast forward to today. I have not been able to control the addiction. I’m 34 years old and I have not had a single hour go by in the last 26 years without at least one thought, idea, or day dream of fishing going through my brain. I love, admire, and respect every single type of fishing there is and want to master them all. Yes, that is a tall order, but I sure want to try and accomplish it. I have a strange sense of humor, been told I have a funny kackle when I laugh, I am loyal to a fault, and will help anyone hook any type of fish on the planet. My style of fishing has been changing over the past couple years. I still, and will always, love to sit on my boat and wait for that one big fish of a life time to make my reel scream with ripping drag. I am a clambed fisherman and I am proud! What I am seeing in our fishery now scares me as I’ve been through the cycles and seen the good stock numbers and poor stock numbers. I now fear for the future and have made a commitment to practice selective harvest. I fear that if I don’t, my son Zachary may not have the opportunities his Pop had. After all, the poor kid will most likely be fighting this same addiction for his entire life. At three years old he’s already been crawdadding, crabbing, and fishing. He’s already caught fish on his own and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about the days when I get to start spending the entire day with him fishing, I won’t even go into the over night trips……
However, over the past couple years, my buddies, some of which are on this board already, have introduced me to a whole new drug. Flyfishing! It’s a hell of a learning curve, but it’s fun as hell. It has totally changed my fishing experience and I’m just a noob to it. I’ve talked with my friends about this before there are two main types of fisher people. Some are just waiting for the fish of a lifetime, and some are just looking for that grab. I have been the first type my whole life and have been slowly morphing into the second type. To me that grab is the culmination of homework, the hunt, the stalk, the experience, the self learning process, the trickery, and most of all the desire to get that grab. That is what flyfishing has brought into my experiences; the desire for that grab, the adrenaline , and thrill of the hunt. What can I say, I’m a junky!
So here are just some highlights from the past year or so. Hope you like them.
Bob
My two Best friends in the whole world. My wife Wendy and my son Zachary.
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/getting_ready.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1153)
He’s already getting his “sea legs”
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/sillydinner.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1162)
And he already wants to be the captain!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_1025.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1159)
Yup'nough said! LOL
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/zachary%20incline%20village%20sept%202009/IMG_2976_4.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/zachary%20incline%20village%20sept%202009/IMG_2974_4.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/zachary%20incline%20village%20sept%202009/IMG_2977_4.jpg
ONe of my latest life changing trips...
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1546.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1551.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1519.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1527.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Desolation%20wilderness%20sept%202009/IMG_1525.jpg
My pop with his 18.5 pound silver
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0922.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1158)
I like pink meat too
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_03341.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1165)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0821.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1156)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/DSC00041.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1145)
I have an affinity for stripers.
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0745.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1150)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/Franks_track_10-8-08_001.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1147)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0258.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1148)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/bobstriperbeckybridge.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1152)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/DSC00020.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1144)
I like them all with fins!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0786.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1155)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0839.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1157)
Even as twins….
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_1193.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1161)
And new species, thanks Hook!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/SunrisetoGristmill_0041.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1163)
Right now this is what I dream about the most! I can’t wait until he can last 24-48 hours on a boat!!
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/zachbecky31.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1164)
A couple blasts from the past.
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0425.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1166)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/538/medium/IMG_0429.jpg (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1167)
Some pics from the latest drug I got addicted to
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/little%20trucker%2006%2020%202009/IMG_1406.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/little%20trucker%2006%2020%202009/IMG_1413.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Pine%20needle%20flat%20August%202009/100_45081.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Pine%20needle%20flat%20August%202009/100_45271.jpg
http://i568.photobucket.com/albums/ss123/clambed/Pine%20needle%20flat%20August%202009/100_45241.jpg
And this is how I like to end a good work day! I’ll end it with these photos. Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks for looking. Now go fishing! LOL
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/529/medium/IMG_1224.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=633)
http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/data/529/medium/IMG_1223.JPG (http://www.anglersunite.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=632)