As you read this, I am fishing.

I took off Friday, figuring the fish were already wet and a little rain wouldn't matter.

I am stubbornly taking a chance with the Marconi hybrid peppers, however. Most of Maine has already had a frost, even coastal areas like the community garden in Yarmouth.

But our Cape Elizabeth garden has been frost-free. And we have dozens of gorgeous Marconi hybrid grilling peppers that are just barely starting to turn red. Blame the damp, cool summer.

I would pick the peppers green if I were home and a frost were forecast, but from my fishing spots in West Forks and Bethel, that is not going to happen.

But I am willing to gamble all those perfectly good green peppers on the chance that we will get the sweeter, tastier red ones. With the forecast for rain and clouds for much of my fishing trip, I figure it was a risk worth taking. You don't get a frost in the rain.

Now that the frost has hit most places, thoughts turn to cleaning out the garden. That is the topic of Sunday's column.

Wish me luck. I'd like to catch one really big landlocked salmon while standing waist-deep in river water, and a few small ones just to keep me interested.

I probably won't post again until Oct. 6.

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