I was just sitting upstairs in Elia's room talking to her while she played some CDs and we had this conversation.

"Would you like to hear a different CD dad?"

"Sure honey."

"What would you like to hear?"

"Oh, you pick, anything is fine." I said.

"No..I'm asking you. Do you like Puff the Magic Dragon?"

"I love Puff, that would be perfect."

"Um...we are going to skip Puff the Magic Dragon tonight. I'll put on something else."

She put on a different CD and I ran downstairs to write it down because I thought it was funny. She cracks me up sometimes. I'm blown away by how adult she can be at only 3 years old.

The last time I touched a fish was Nov. 7th. That is the longest drought since I picked up my fly rod after college.

Elia and I hit the fly shop today and I looked up from perusing some beads and Elia was standing by Don, the owner. "Excuse me." she says.

"I broke my Dora the Explorer fishing rod and need a new one. Where do you keep the girl fishing rods?"

Don laughed and showed her a 6 ft 2 wt. Pretty funny moment, complete with the shop owner trying to upsell my 3 year old!

I sometimes wonder if I'll remember these moments in another 10 years. They come from nowhere, and hit a father harder than anyone can imagine (except another dad) and the most amazing thing about it is that there are so many of these moments. You would think that the sheer volume of words and looks combined with the massive emotional charge they deliver would wear you down over time. But that hasn't happened. Each time Elia or JJ does something like that I fall to the floor again, and get back up thinking "I'm never going to forget that." The reality is that in some cases, I probably will forget the actual words, or the exact moment; but I think that big jolt of electricity that stuns you stays with you. It keeps building up and as near as I can tell, I've got plenty of room for more.

You really do love your kids more each day. Think about how amazing that is.

The winter here has seemingly lasted forever. My last carp outing on the Columbia seems like years ago, and it has been a long time since I felt that adreline rush, heart pumping moment seconds before a carp inhales your fly. Elia and I headed out today, mainly just to walk around the pond but I was secretly hoping to at least see some fish active. We walked about 50 feet and I spotted a fish, which had me sprinting for the car to rig up my 6 weight. Of course, as quick as I was (and anyone who fishes with me can attest to how quickly I go from pulling up to the spot, to putting a fly in the water!) that fish was long gone. Still, we walked around the pond, and somehow spotted 4-5 more fish in the murk and mud.



Tough conditions, and I never could make out much more than shadows or a tail here and there. Still, I should have nailed at least one of the fish. I put the fly in the right spot, but the fish were extremely lethargic, and I only thought "he took it!" once...and that was a whiff. What a 90 minutes of excitement though! Just stalking around, fly rod in hand and enough fish around to keep the eagle eyes active. I'll be watching for sun breaks every weekend, and I might just get a February carp.

Elia had a blast despite one slip in the mud. She carried the net and told me I'm still a good fisherman, even though I didn't catch anything today. I asked if she was ready to go home at one point, and she responded "I'm reluctant to leave all of these fish!" Yep...that's my girl!