Team Lund
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
~Henry David Thoreau
I have been fishing with family and friends since the beginning. The beginning is some time ago shortly before I lost a push-button zebco rod and reel combo to an ambitious walleye while floating with my family over Loder's Point on Lake Kanopolis, Kansas in a tiller driven "green queen" aluminum puddle jumper. I was sipping coke; Mr. Walleye was munching worms. That day I learned to use a spinning reel.
In high school, Josh Burger and I would race out of school, after discussing plans across the brass section of band, to his house N.W. of Salina and pursue largemouth bass, bluegill, and whatever we could catch from ponds located in nearby farm pastures. For $100 we bought a flat bottom river boat that would later be dubbed, "little flip" as we used a electric trolling motor to putter down rivers and over ponds. I don't advise eating bullheads from cattle pasture ponds, but I can't say I've never done it.
Sometime in college I borrowed, on a long term arrangement with my grandfather, a 1972 Lund "Alaskan" with a 40HP Johnson Seahorse engine and started pursuing open water fish on somewhat nearby reservoirs. I imitated everything I had learned while fishing with my Father (my life long fishing partner) and our friend, Barry Bohn. I later discovered, while fishing with James "Woodie" Stamper, the advantages of a small rig over my mentors' slightly larger fishing boats and learned to troll shallow water across points and pluck walleye from the rock structures. We would yawn through training as "Resident Assistants," shake our heads at the absurdity of so much attention placed on activities having nothing to do with education or advancement of craft, and shift our discussion to the seasonal behaviors of white bass. We also discovered you can flat run a boat out of gas trolling after those little buggers. Oops.
The Lund followed me. I met the love of my life, proposed to her while on a catfishing trip on Milford Lake, Ks (in the boat) thereby sealing the fate of the boat as a permanent member of our family. In my grandfather's final summer, we spent a good deal of time together. We went on one final fishing trip together, and he later made the boat legally mine for the official sale price of $1.
After an educationally rich episode in San Diego, Ca with not much fishing beyond the docks downtown, Trisha and I packed up and moved to New Hampshire where we currently reside. The Lund, "Big Flip" (a larger version of the aforementioned "little flip") joined us and we now happily boat the Lamprey River in Newmarket (salt and fresh), Great Bay, Bow lake, and are working on as many other bodies as we can find access.
It has been while fishing here in New Hampshire that the concept of "Team Lund" has taken place. A fellow colleague of the arts, Christopher Cote aka "Asa"(www.ccabridged.blogspot.com), and I spend the majority of our time plotting new theatrical or musical projects, picking on guitars or mandolins, grilling red meat, white meat, and greens, and discerning the subtle and not so subtle flavor characteristics of many beer and wines. Not many of these activities have been done without some discussion (and in many cases a great deal of discussion) of the current trends of fish behavior. We have been known to philosophize for hours the intricate personalities of smelt, striped bass, blue fish, largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, brook trout, brown trout, rainbow...ah, just trout, smallmouth bass, salmon, pickerel, bullheads/horned pout, channel cats, and even chub minnows. Neither one of us really know a thing about it. We are trained magazine readers and chatroom surfers. We cling to hearsay as if it were gospel, and we pursue small tips with great fervor. We are currently mastering the art of what we call "tip fishing." (see sidebar) A tip from an article, bait shop, or town drunk will send us into a gill hungry frenzy comparable to that of teen-aged boys on a top-less beach. In addition to being great beer testers, we also boast solid educations in the arts. Chris a magnificent composer and I a highly trained (I've got the student loan debt to prove it) actor/director, we have produced (as part of a larger team of artists) more than a few pieces of art through our company, Gamaliel Theatre Company (www.gamalieltheatre.com). It is probably from this side of our brain that "Team Lund" originated. 
Chris, in addition to composer, is also an amateur film maker. We video pieces of any given fishing trip. The slow zoom is my personal signature while Chris relies on other, less cliche, methods. He will then go home to his lair and create magic with well placed cuts and stunningly appropriate music selections. Our entertainment is furthered by the fictional world of being a film making company specializing in the real battle of fishing successfully with limited resources (unlike our commercial prototypes). The videos, beautiful creations, are bold and unrefined, easy on the palette, and leave a very soothing finish, but mostly they show two people utilizing skills of deduction, fervor for fishing, and highly creative spirit. We are Leslie Coates and Christopher "Asa" Cote. Together, we are "Team Lund."
~Henry David Thoreau
I have been fishing with family and friends since the beginning. The beginning is some time ago shortly before I lost a push-button zebco rod and reel combo to an ambitious walleye while floating with my family over Loder's Point on Lake Kanopolis, Kansas in a tiller driven "green queen" aluminum puddle jumper. I was sipping coke; Mr. Walleye was munching worms. That day I learned to use a spinning reel.
In high school, Josh Burger and I would race out of school, after discussing plans across the brass section of band, to his house N.W. of Salina and pursue largemouth bass, bluegill, and whatever we could catch from ponds located in nearby farm pastures. For $100 we bought a flat bottom river boat that would later be dubbed, "little flip" as we used a electric trolling motor to putter down rivers and over ponds. I don't advise eating bullheads from cattle pasture ponds, but I can't say I've never done it.
Sometime in college I borrowed, on a long term arrangement with my grandfather, a 1972 Lund "Alaskan" with a 40HP Johnson Seahorse engine and started pursuing open water fish on somewhat nearby reservoirs. I imitated everything I had learned while fishing with my Father (my life long fishing partner) and our friend, Barry Bohn. I later discovered, while fishing with James "Woodie" Stamper, the advantages of a small rig over my mentors' slightly larger fishing boats and learned to troll shallow water across points and pluck walleye from the rock structures. We would yawn through training as "Resident Assistants," shake our heads at the absurdity of so much attention placed on activities having nothing to do with education or advancement of craft, and shift our discussion to the seasonal behaviors of white bass. We also discovered you can flat run a boat out of gas trolling after those little buggers. Oops.
The Lund followed me. I met the love of my life, proposed to her while on a catfishing trip on Milford Lake, Ks (in the boat) thereby sealing the fate of the boat as a permanent member of our family. In my grandfather's final summer, we spent a good deal of time together. We went on one final fishing trip together, and he later made the boat legally mine for the official sale price of $1.
After an educationally rich episode in San Diego, Ca with not much fishing beyond the docks downtown, Trisha and I packed up and moved to New Hampshire where we currently reside. The Lund, "Big Flip" (a larger version of the aforementioned "little flip") joined us and we now happily boat the Lamprey River in Newmarket (salt and fresh), Great Bay, Bow lake, and are working on as many other bodies as we can find access.
It has been while fishing here in New Hampshire that the concept of "Team Lund" has taken place. A fellow colleague of the arts, Christopher Cote aka "Asa"(www.ccabridged.blogspot.com), and I spend the majority of our time plotting new theatrical or musical projects, picking on guitars or mandolins, grilling red meat, white meat, and greens, and discerning the subtle and not so subtle flavor characteristics of many beer and wines. Not many of these activities have been done without some discussion (and in many cases a great deal of discussion) of the current trends of fish behavior. We have been known to philosophize for hours the intricate personalities of smelt, striped bass, blue fish, largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, brook trout, brown trout, rainbow...ah, just trout, smallmouth bass, salmon, pickerel, bullheads/horned pout, channel cats, and even chub minnows. Neither one of us really know a thing about it. We are trained magazine readers and chatroom surfers. We cling to hearsay as if it were gospel, and we pursue small tips with great fervor. We are currently mastering the art of what we call "tip fishing." (see sidebar) A tip from an article, bait shop, or town drunk will send us into a gill hungry frenzy comparable to that of teen-aged boys on a top-less beach. In addition to being great beer testers, we also boast solid educations in the arts. Chris a magnificent composer and I a highly trained (I've got the student loan debt to prove it) actor/director, we have produced (as part of a larger team of artists) more than a few pieces of art through our company, Gamaliel Theatre Company (www.gamalieltheatre.com). It is probably from this side of our brain that "Team Lund" originated. 
Chris, in addition to composer, is also an amateur film maker. We video pieces of any given fishing trip. The slow zoom is my personal signature while Chris relies on other, less cliche, methods. He will then go home to his lair and create magic with well placed cuts and stunningly appropriate music selections. Our entertainment is furthered by the fictional world of being a film making company specializing in the real battle of fishing successfully with limited resources (unlike our commercial prototypes). The videos, beautiful creations, are bold and unrefined, easy on the palette, and leave a very soothing finish, but mostly they show two people utilizing skills of deduction, fervor for fishing, and highly creative spirit. We are Leslie Coates and Christopher "Asa" Cote. Together, we are "Team Lund."
posted by Leslie and Trisha at 11:47 AM
2 Comments:
Gorsh, you done and got me all misty.
Seriously, great post.
Hello from the Hubbard clan!
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