Word: chouinard
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Country like this could bring out anything in a man--ecstasy, murder, grace. I grow aware of this as I follow Yvon Chouinard along the rocks down an offshoot of the Snake River, in Wyoming's Jackson Hole, in the Grand Tetons. Chouinard, 60, the president and founder of Patagonia, the outdoor-clothing and -gear company based in Ventura, Calif., that seems more interested in protecting the environment than its profits, is about to teach me fly-fishing. Ahead of us, the quicksilver water burbles and shushes. Across the river, the cold mountains, patched with snowfields and dark bruises, poke...
...this is new to me. Even the Rockies look different here, more brooding and stuck up. The only fishing I've ever done is the kind Chouinard dismisses as too easy for words--"with live worms!" At the local store, where we got our one-day licenses, I noted the names of the flies on sale: Ausable Wulff, Hare's Ear, Goofus Bug, Wild Muddler. Wild Muddler appealed to me. Chouinard--who is small and tightly built, with the forearms of the blacksmith he once was--wears green canvas sneakers with holes, a pair of yellowed sweat socks, denim shorts...
...roll cast instead, with little weights on the line and flies that look like nymphs. Roll casting requires less arm movement. You swing out the line upriver and let it drift down in a natural motion. I find I'm not half bad at this, thanks wholly to Chouinard, who is as aware of the process in teaching as in everything else...
...sort of fishing guide who takes you to the fish, points out the fish, tells you to keep your rod pointed down and when to "strip"--tug the line. All that baby-sitting will produce, he says, is a caught fish. What Chouinard wants to produce is an act of understanding. He teaches me about the different water speeds at three different depths. He shows me how to "mend the line," to slow up the motion of the fly. After 20 minutes of correcting and watching me, he suddenly leaves, and I do not notice his leaving...
...Flames strengthened themselves late in the schedule with the addition of Boldirev, Russell and Rota from Chicago. Bouchard can play as well as any goalie in the NHL when hot. Guy Chouinard, a 50-goal scorer and linemate Bob MacMillan are two of the most underrated players around. Leafs should win in three tight games...