1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing
›
3. Jonathon is moving north for work at last!!!!!

Yes, fellow Troutnuts, after a 3-year period of unemployed misery, I am finally working again and will in fact be doing some aquatic entomology! At last, a chance to dust off the old Masters degree for some professional scientific work!!!!

It's been tough, that's for sure, hiding in the basement of my (late 70's) parents pounding away on posts to troutnut.com, but fly fishing has been a HUUUUUUGE part of why I survived so long without being a truly productive member of society (other than maybe a full month out of every year). Let me tell you, this sport will lift you up and rejuvinate you in a way nothing else can, at least that's how I feel about it. Life can really, REALLY SUCK and yet, tie a fly on the end of your tippet, fling it out there upon the waters, and be it a trout, sunfish, crappie, bass, or anything else that will take it and, behold, life is GOOD again. All those troubles just seem to melt away when something is pulling hard and making that long rod bend over, then a beautiful aquatic creature comes to hand, is carefully liberated to swim away and fight another day, and soon the whole process is repeating itself, over and over and over. All of the rest of the BULLSH*T that life throws at you somehow seems less important and significant, because this is what is REALLY important, connecting with the natural world and its wonders, even in the local lake next to the golf course that 50 years ago was just a gravel pit. The brilliant brookie, the battling bass, the sparkling spawning pumpkinseed, the spotted crappie, the slimy toothy pike all tell you that your troubles aren't worth a damn, this is what you SHOULD be doing, this will renew your soul and freshen your resolve to keep on keepin' on (thanks for those words, Robert Zimmerman!) and scale those obstacles so that, well, you can do more FISHING when you're on the other side of them.

Now a whole WORLD of fishing in northern Michigan opens up to me, quite possibly even in my backyard as it once did before up there in the magnificent pines and spruces and firs and white-cedars and aspens and birches. I will be looking for a nice little 2-bedroom cabin back in the woods on some lake, where I can fish off my own dock or launch my kayak for a paddle over to the weedbeds, or take a short drive to one of any number of rivers or creeks FULL of trout, or hit Tawas Bay on Lake Huron for the big boys, you know, the ones with TEETH that will take you into your backing. And when I arrive at work in the morning, it will be to sit behind a nice shiny new microscope to sort though and identify benthic macroinvertebrate samples, or head out to some swamp or marsh for a wetland delineation, or search through the Huron National Forest for some rare wildflower or snake or butterfly, or maybe even go fish collecting for some lake association. All of these wonderful tasks I have done before and will be doing again, getting to use my education and experience in a way not all that many people get to do for a living.

So, fellow Troutnuts, expect to see an address and phone number for some little shack in the woods with Jonathon's name on it, so you all can pay me a visit should you find yourselves in the northern half of Michigan's Lower Penninsula. People, I will put you on some fish, I guarantee it!!!!!!!

THANKS TO ALL for your words of encouragement through this most difficult time of my life!!!

Most sincerely,

Jonathon M. DeNike
Enviromental Consultant/Field Biologist (once again)

Dear Jonathon,

I couldn't have put it better myself. Fishing (like other activities) releases all of my anxieties as well. I'll send you my info in a message in case you get some free time to hit some water up north. Who knows maybe Chris and I will come down and fish some of his water down there and we can hook some beauties on the famous "troll" waters.

Glad to hear it. We hope you will continue to be around here.

Mark

Well said Jonathon and as always best of luck with everything we'll all be here!

Jonathon,

I forgot to tell you that my second major (under-grad) was psychology...and I minored in fish "whispering" :)...Dr. Spence will take his share of the credit, for helping to usher you through your dark hour, after prescribing a therapeutic trip to "Spencer's Pool" this past summer...The "cure-for-what-ails-you" was a willing 18" smallie with attitude...If my memory serves me right. There is nothing like the tug of a nice fish to help one clear his head of the things that don't ultimately matter, eh!?

Now get some work done while the sunshines, mister!

Congrats!

Spence

Good News, Jonathon~!

Best of Luck!

Lee with the nasty head cold, discovering the truth and peace that lives in a Neti Pot..

Lee, those Neti pots really do the job, I have done them myself and if you get the temperature and salt concentration just right, it feels like you are giving your nostrils a nice warm bath...I hope you shake off the cold soon!

No worries about me leaving this here forum, folks - the computer will be following up north in due course, depending on when I get my Internet service provider up there figured out. Trust me, once I am again in Trout Country for real, I will have plenty more to contribute. I'm not going anywhere but closer to better fishing!! Expect some big fish pics of many species to be showing up here this year with my broadly smiling face in them!!

Thanks to all for your well wishes and I will be posting my new contact info once I actually know what it is...

Jonathon

Congratulations, Jonathon. I hope it works out really well for you.

-Shawn

Congrats Jonathan! What great news. Doing something you love, and getting paid for it. I'm sure you've already pinched yourself a few times.

OK guys, heading north tomorrow to organize my work station and start looking for a place to rent. The boss is putting me up in a hotel for a week while I look around and get settled back into a working man's routine (no more wee-hours posts on here, they'll have to be earlier...). The microscope, supplies, and my favorite benthic invertebrate ID books are on their way, and 77 jars of stuff with bugs in it sitting in alcohol await me. I'll have somebody take a picture of me once the project is underway so you all can see me with a big fat smile on my face. I'm also taking my cross-country skiis and ice-fishing gear! Maybe stuff for steelhead fishing too??

Jonathon

Life can really, REALLY SUCK and yet, tie a fly on the end of your tippet, fling it out there upon the waters, and be it a trout, sunfish, crappie, bass, or anything else that will take it and, behold, life is GOOD again. All those troubles just seem to melt away when something is pulling hard and making that long rod bend over

Amen.....Congrats on new job. Hope it is a long term job with a lot of funding.

Congrats on the move to better trout country.

I am trying to pull of a similar thing. I am going to make every attempt to move up to the western part of Montana (probably somewhere in the Missoula area)-possibly as early as this summer. The details of how this would work are very unclear right now, and it would probably involve some serious financial hardship, but I think it's one of those things that will turn out to be worth it in the end.

I will have to change my username on here though:)