Posts by Aaron Proffitt

  • Diving in clear, cold rivers

    Quote from Nate

    That place looks spectacular Aaron, I look forward to seeing more pics. I agree with Judah, distraction makes a huge difference for me. If I'm pursuing a fish or a bug, my bottom time feels irrelevant, however if I'm just hanging on a rock looking around, I find myself continuously glancing at my watch as I feel like I've overstayed my limitations.


    Thanks , Nate. I ddin't have any pics off hand so when I went to looking up the North Fork river, which is where Drew and I would go , these were pretty good representations of the area. Actually, the bluff picture really looks like near where we've been .

  • Diving in clear, cold rivers

    Quote from Dan

    Sounds real nice Aaron, as long as there's some relief on the bottom and at least 10ft depth.


    Time seems to slow down when you're doing it. In reality it's just enough time to do what you need to get done. If not, you stop to breath. There's no risk since it's not deep, so you can stop worrying and completely rely on your body to tell you when you need air. This kind of activity, as well as picture taking, really builds up breath hold. To then apply this breath hold to dive deep is just psychological. Learning to conserve energy while deep and going after fish takes more time.


    Dan, those areas along the bluffs are usually between 10-20 feet deep . Not very deep to be sure. But it's one of the few areas that I've dove that are relatively near home that produce a lot of good eating table fare . And the vis is great .


    So sick of shooting damn carp . Make great bait , though .

  • Diving in clear, cold rivers

    One we get areas nailed down , Judah, I'll send out invites . It's been a few years so, the waterways may have moved and shifted. I think I know some areas a bit closer to my current home, as well.


    Not "here" , precisely. But 'home' home. LOL.


    Good points, bro. Thanks.

  • Diving in clear, cold rivers

    Here's some pics to give you a good idea of the waters and species . The one with the bluff is a great example of the ideal area Drew and I would look for. Clear and slower water, with deep drop near the bluff . And a rocky bank to safely get a fire going .


    Like I said , as he and I were fishing we both kinda said at the same time ," How come we don't still do this ?". That's getting ready to change.

  • Diving in clear, cold rivers

    My brother and I were discussing this when I was home on R&R back in December .


    He and I headed out to flyfish the White River that was located a few miles from where my family and I were staying . R&R for all of us , you could say . Lots of trees , babbling water and a great overlook of Beaver Lake ; which incidentally really needs the rain . Bad. I saw sandbars and timber stands that you'd usually never see except for maybe the top tips of them.


    Fishing was 'ok' at first until it dawned on me that I was actually seeing rises and those tiny wet nymphs that are standard for winter rainbows and browns weren't the ticket after all. So once we switched over to dries, it was game on . No pictures , but then the fishing isn't the point of this post .


    Drew , my little brother , reminded me of how when we were younger we used to dive similar rivers in the Missouri Ozarks in early spring and pole spear the 'suckers' that would make their migrations from the lakes in order to spawn . In between , waiting on schools to move through, we'd gather crawdads .


    Now, when gathering the mud bugs we'd simply move underwater from rock to rock and grab 'em . For the fish, we'd sit on a high point and wait until we saw a school move in and then get into the water and intercept . Usually you didn't have to get very deep , as the schools we'd see were only in four feet of water . But the larger of the school , would hug the deeper outside edge of the bend . This was the place to go . In order to beat the current and not spook 'em , we would go just a tad up river and then by the time we'd hit the deeper channel we could drift down where we really wanted to be ; anchor onto a rock by holding on and then hit 'em with pole spears as they came past . The key requirements were a 5mil wet suit , a lot of weight, and a bonfire going on the rocky bank. It's a cold ,cold activity diving spring fed rivers in late March and early April . No fins needed .


    We're going to start doing this again when I get home. The sheer amount of fish and filets produced doing this was incredible. Both of us miss doing it.


    Long post to try to paint you guys a mental picture - that out of the way. What he and I remembered , while trying to figure out what the hell the trout were hitting, was how incredibly long our static breath hold seemed to be . Maye it's was a perceptional thing . But it seemed like we were down forever either grabbing crawdads or spearing suckers. Even when we were actively spearing and stuffing fish into our net bags , it seemed like an infinite amount of time we could stay down. Was it a combination of being mostly relaxed and not moving coupled with really cold water ? I'll get some pics to help illustrate.

  • Winter in Afghan pics

    Quote from monster slayer

    Sorry to derail, but which do yo consider to be the best fighting knife there is?


    Appreciatte your comments.


    Tono,


    I have a Cold Steel with the t-handle that I keep on my MOLLE gear for pretty quick access , rides high on my left side over my mag pouches and outer most on my gear . The last thing I want to have to do should I have to cut myself or buddies out of seatbelts or whatever is having to feel around for my damn knife. Just like dive gear arrangements, something that could save your life needs to be readily available without having to think about where it's located.


    Kinda like sidearms . I see people wearing their sidearms in the most mind boggling configurations. Grates on me. And the fact is, if you have to go for your sidearm, brother, you are in one hell of a good fight. So why would you be carrying where you either can't get to to it or in a loose,flimsy shitty shoulder holster that is swinging all over the place ?

  • Winter in Afghan pics

    Quote from mrmike

    Many thanks to you and the guys around you. Be safe and try to keep it to snowball fights. How cold does it get out there? I've never heard of snow in afghanistan, everyone's always bitching about the heat.


    Mike, I'm up in the mountains for the most part as you can see. And I didn't think the heat was all that bad as far as here . In fact, I think the summer was worse back home in OKlahoma. Now, I had to go out to Herat over the summer for a bit and it was stifiling there. I hear up North around Mazr-i-sharif has major temperture swings , but it also sits at a much lower elevation. Haven't been up there during the summer, thought it was nice when I was up there in late fall . Except for the damn rain.


    I think we've gotten down to right around 5 degrees . Right now , it's not all that bad . Think low of 20-25.

  • Winter in Afghan pics

    Thanks all ... and as always, great comments.


    It's cold, muddy and can , at times , be miserable. The cool thing is none of us share a parent unit we're all 'Individual Augmentees' . We get orders and then get thrown together , in this case as a Joint Command. In my chain of command ,for example, all four branches are represented. Three different service branches signed off on my eval alone.


    And yet , I have never served in a more "family" centric enviroment. That makes an enormous difference. Makes pretty much anything tolerable and dare I say ...fun ?

  • Winter in Afghan pics

    And before anyone gives me any shit... I'm a deployed smoker. Three a day . One in the morning with my java , and I had just rolled out of my "rack" when that pic was taken. One after lunch and then one of an evening. A pack lasts me just over a week out here . Hardly ever smoke back home, except to enjoy an H. Upmann at home on my porch with whatever my bar is serving .


    :D

  • Winter in Afghan pics

    I've said from the time I got here that it's a beautiful country and it really is. Which makes the story of this country so tragic. Lot's of wildlife ,too. But if you are going to get out and see the place and take the time to take pictures , now is the time to do it since we've had a lull in fighting . We're in between fighting seasons as it were. In two months , it'll be back to having heads on a swivel and pulling the trucks out of mud due to flooding. But for now...