Thursday, May 31, 2012

Dipping in the Bath Water

Hit the local lake for the first warm water session of the year. The scenery was beautiful, the water was warm enough to bath in(making the neoprene waders and even more ridiculous choice...) and the fish were assholes. And no, I don't want to talk about it.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Orvis Spectrablend Dubbing - Review

Over this past long (but not nearly long enough) weekend, I wandered into the local Orvis store. If you've never been to one, you get a Macy's feel, but it's for "fly fisherman." Since 90% of the store is geared towards lifestyle merchandise and not gear directly related to fishing, the outdoors distinction is somewhat dubious.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Happy Memorial Day

Today is a day set aside to remember those who have served, and died, for this country and the ideal that our belief in democracy and freedom is one worth fighting for. I hope every one takes a few moments today to remember our boys over in the Middle East, at Walter Reed, and the ones that never were heard from again in Vietnam. Those are our everyday heros who gave of themselves everything to something greater than all of us. Thank you to all those boys in blue, past and present.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Dinks catching dinks and Urban Warfare


With the misses at work and the tween off at her friends house, it looked like I might get in some Daddy/(younger)daughter time. Since she has been bugging for the past month of Fridays to go fishing, it looked time to cash in on that.


I quickly butchered some of her old sweatpants and we were ready for business.


We were at her mothers house outside of Philadelphia. I've never fished this area before by myself and really had no idea where to go that would be kid friendly(i.e. lots of stupid fish.) I had to stop in for some bait anyway(Ava's a lil too lil for a fly rod yet) so I stopped in at Tackle Box and Beyond. Nice little shop and they even have a small fly fishing section.


While there I asked about a good spot to go and the lady directed me to a spot she just left that she said she was pulling out panfish "right and left." She even wrote down the directions.


A very big kudos and thank you, mysterious stranger!!


With a combination of the gal's directions and Siri(I really should learn this area better.....) we were there in no time and walking back the trail.


The trail was a smaller trail that branched off one of the major urban hiking trails in the area. Even the smaller trail received a fair amount of traffic but no fisherman were to be seen. It's very odd to this semi-country boy to be able to go from a residential area to what seems the heart of the wilderness in the span of a football field.


I guided her hands on the first few casts but we were having trouble getting out into the pool. I saw a gill near the bank so we lobbed it to him.




Fish on!

Fish quickly to hand. I then showed her how to wet her hands before handling the fish and how to properly release it(which is, despite her first attempt, not chucking it out into the middle of the stream. She did get better, I promise....)


After that she was done with casting. It then became Daddy's job to cast and hook and her job to reel in and release once I had it off the hook. Between fish, she figured her time was best spent splashing and trying to give the fish heart attacks. Easier to bring to hand, I guess.
 This way we got about 10 to hand, with another 10 or so that suffered from premature release(no, not the kind to be had in Asian massage parlors.) Sizes ranged from bait size to one's with some heft so it was a nice mix. 


So as it stands now, this kid is whooping me in fish this year. But that's ok. I just won't take until I catch up. :-)


Afterwards we feasted our triumph.






Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Shhh, I'm hunting poachers...

Just read an article that at first glance shocked me to the core. The article? "Poachers Can Be Shot, Officials In India Declare." The shocking part? I thought it said Indiana.......

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Stupid Fish

I've spent the past two evenings walking stream side; casting what would be to the layman bits of fluff and thread placed on a hook hoping that skill, perseverance, and a little bit of that certain something will result in the perfect drag. Then is that magical moment when the fish, in out case a trout, gently sips the bit of fluff into it's maw and we will spend a few moments battling wills, light from the setting sun glinting off of ripples in the tailwater, until the fish at last comes to hand.

Monday, May 21, 2012

A little late, but....


All but six months into the year, almost 2 months after "trout season" opened, and I finally decided to saunter over and get my license? And admit my shame for all the world (or the three people who still read this) to see? I know. A big "WTF, mate?"

Well, to sum it up, the past year has been a bit difficult over at the FF volcano lair. I will try to keep from going into a "woe is me" litany and say that I've had to move into a much smaller volcano. I was finally able to land a full time gig and about the same time I received an influx of freelance web design work early this year.

This was a great change in my fortunes for which I can't begin to express how grateful I am, I did leave me with very little time for anything other that going to work and them coming home so that I could go to work.

I've finished a few of my projects up and now find that I do have a little bit of time. Enough time to finally get to sneak out to a stream, which is what I did this evening. But I'll post about that later this week.

I've popped on here a few times these past couple months and have seen that more people than ever are stopping by. Not really sure what ya'll are looking at, but I sincerely appreciate everyone that has stopped in and continued to view the site. It's enough to nudge me into making this a priority again, if a middle burner one. My only guarantee is that there really are no guarantees. But do look for a little more updates on my end

Again, thank you everyone that makes (and has made in the past) a stopping point on your search for fly fishing info. While silent, I have noticed.

Tight lines,
Anthony