Dentry: A head in the clouds isn't necessarily bad

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Stalking monster trout takes a lot of concentration, which might explain why few fly fishers could tell you if the cloud that just passed over was altocumulus or a flock of turkey vultures.

It is the nature of outdoors folks. Most are intent on the microcosm. But, beyond that, many anglers and hunters I know also observe a side specialty or two.

Some are accomplished bird watchers. Some can name every constellation in the night sky and a few are authorities on wildflowers, fungi or weather.

But none in my acquaintance knows beans about clouds.

Since fly fishers are oblivious to stuff that happens above their hat brims, it took a friend of mine who likes to troll for walleyes to show me the light overhead.

After all, what is there to do but stare at the sky when the outboard engine is purring endlessly?

We were trolling at Nee Gronde Reservoir when we spotted a haunting cloud formation way up high. The clouds looked wavering bar codes, only colored, like some weird daylight version of Aurora borealis.

I vowed to look it up, and lo, a review book came in the mail that might help with that. As for the monster trout, another book, written by a young but accomplished Colorado angler and fishing guide, also arrived.

So I've been communing with both ends of the awareness spectrum. I think I've got the clouds down. But the monster trout might take a little more work.

• How to Catch the Biggest Trout of Your Life, by Landon Mayer ($29.95, Wild River Press, 2315 210th St. SE, Bothell, WA 98021).

If your grail is big trout, you'll be inspired by dozens of colorful photos of mighty catches. Then you'll learn how to simplify the crusade and fine-tune a victorious battle.

Mayer, 27, who guides out of The Peak Fly Shop in Woodland Park, has caught and released more trophy trout (most from Colorado) than an average duffer can spook in a lifetime.

His bag of tricks includes creating "the dotted line," a mental image of how any current will affect the delivery of his flies to a big trout.

Needless to say, the most eagle-eyed, expert caster isn't going to land a jumbo trout without knowing tricks for the end game, fighting the fish, including "walking the dog."

A companion DVD also costs $29.95, from the publisher or MadTroutMedia.com. The book and DVD can be purchased together for $25 each. Several area fly shops carry them.

• The Cloudspotters Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney ($13.95 paperback, The Berkley Publishing Group).

Clouds are omnipresent, but cloud authorities are rare. Here's your chance to become one. Maybe you've looked toward the mountains and seen the smooth, lens-shaped clouds that indicate the approach of Chinook winds. Amaze your friends: they are Altocumulus lenticularis.

Tell them what makes a sun dog. Or explain those holiest of sunrays depicted in Christian art (circular nimbus). Or why those udderlike formations are known as mammas.

I'm still studying the guide, but those colorful bar codes above Nee Gronde could have been rare nacreous (mother-of-pearl) clouds, which appear high in the stratosphere. The vertical stripes would be virga, tiny ice crystals falling.

Some clouds are named after fish, including mackerel and carp. Some figure prominently in history. In 312 A.D., the cirrostratus changed the course of history, resulting in the spread of Christianity.

Cleverly written, this book is a hoot, revealing some of nature's more ethereal features. Every troller should carry one.

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com