Those Slow Winter Months

I know this time of the year is when the fishing kind of slows down for some of us and we become involved in other things that will occupy us until spring. As most of you know I am a big movie buff, whether it is your traditional movie or documentaries concerning history or the outdoors. I also get a lot of enjoyment from watching fly fishing videos. While viewing a fly fishing video the other day involving fishing the Mayfly I discover a gold mine of information from the website On Stream Guide. Be prepared to spend some time on this site covering a lot of fly fishing information.

Another pastime of mine is watching good documentaries from the History and National Geographic channels. A few of my favorites are:

The Civil War ---150^th Edition----The documentary traces the causes, courses as well as the major events and personalities of the American Civil War. Between 1861 and 1865, this epic American story of struggle and survival was written in blood, and in this series is told mostly from first-hand accounts and in the spoken words of the participants themselves, through their diaries, letters, and memoirs. The series concludes with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and the surrender of the western Confederate Army to Sherman in North Carolina in the spring of 1865. It then explores the legacy of slavery and the consequences and meaning of a war that transformed the country forever. 

America Before Columbus---History books traditionally depict the pre-Columbus Americas as a pristine wilderness where small native villages lived in harmony with nature. But scientific evidence tells a very different story: When Columbus stepped ashore in 1492, millions of people were already living there. America wasn't exactly a "New World," but a very old one whose inhabitants had built a vast infrastructure of cities, orchards, canals, and causeways. But after Columbus set foot in the Americas, an endless wave of explorers, conquistadors, and settlers arrived, and with each of their ships came a Noah's Ark of plants, animals—and disease. In the first 100 years of contact, entire civilizations were wiped out and the landscape was changed forever.

Trail of Tears---President Andrew Jackson enacted the Indian Removal Act which forced the Cherokee Nation to leave their homeland and relocate into unchartered territory. Many of these forced settlers suffered from exposure, disease and starvation and upon arriving in Indian Territory, they arrived with no past and no future.

First Landing---The Voyage from England to Jamestown

First Landing unearths the untold story of Robert Hunt's incredible sacrifice as expedition chaplain of the Virginia Company's awe-inspiring voyage to the New World - a groundbreaking trip that would result in America's first permanent English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. The story follows Hunt's struggle to leave his young family in order to make the arduous journey by sea in 1606. While most men looked to their own needs, Hunt brought much-needed unity to the frail outpost on the James River that would in time become the United States of America.

The Oregon Trail Find out what it was like for the pioneers who made the daring journey across the Rocky Mountains to settle the Oregon Territory. Hear their stories of bravery, excitement, tragedy, and sorrow from their actual letters and diary entries. Why were they going? What did they bring? What did they have to leave behind? Travel The Oregon Trail as they did across the plains, through the mountains and into a brand new world.

As I get older I find myself watching less and less commercial television. Programs that interest me fifteen years ago or more just doesn’t whole my attention anymore.