2.8.12

SRNY

Be afraid.

Btw, any of my readers gonna be up that weekend?

Remembering

Most of you probably won't remember my post from last year, but it was one year ago on Saturday when I lost my best friend, Jake. He was my best friend since our senior year of high school and the best man in my wedding. To say it's been a tough year is an understatement. It's been downright awful. Especially since my other best friend died in 2005.

I spent the year fairly depressed, fighting medical problems, getting my gallbladder removed, and just in an overall bad mood. I've been told the first anniversary of someone's death is the toughest, and I honestly think it's true. I feel better now that it's passed, but I still miss him.

Jake was never much of a fisherman. We would go with spinning rods for bass and bluegill when we were in our 20s. It usually involved us both getting drunk, and me making half-assed attempts to fish while he took in (and smoked) all the lush greenery around him while sitting on the ground playing his guitar.
About 5 years ago, we decided to start a tradition of getting up on opening day, getting drunk, and trying to catch fish. Well, it only lasted that year. Jake wound up almost falling off a cliff into a 20 foot hole in 30 degree weather. I hate to admit it, but I was laughing my ass off seeing him scale a rock and avoid freezing to death.

2 weeks before he died, I talked him into trying fly fishing. I love the sport so much and I thought that if I could get him to appreciate it, he'd get into it too. He had recently separated from his wife and I thought he could use a release. I stayed up til 3am the night before we were supposed to go, and I filled a small fly box with about 40 flies for him. That next morning, something came up and he couldn't go fishing. Little did I know, we'd never have the chance to fish again.

When Saturday rolled around I had him on my mind all day.  I was tying a few flies in the morning and I came across the small fly box I was going to give him. I had re-purposed all the flies into my boxes when he said he couldn't go, but there was still a brassie I missed sitting in there. My wife didn't even hesitate when I told her I was going fishing. She understood and told me to just go.

I fishing for a while and picked up a fish on my meal worm pattern. Then they seemed to shut off.  It was getting dark and I figured "what the hell?" so I threw on the brassie. It picked up a fish on the 2nd cast. I'm not a religious person, but I think it was him giving me a nod.

RIP brother. I miss you.

Rod holders for your SUV...for 84 cents.

If you know me, then you know that I almost always keep a rod with me. You never know when you'll get a chance to fish. I hate to admit it, but my rod tubes and reel bags collect dust. I usually keep a rod strung up in my car, just sitting in the trunk broken down to two pieces.

 And if you know me, you also know I'm a cheap bastard. I'll do anything to save a few bucks here and there. I've been looking at rod holders for the car since I was sick of taking up trunk space and getting my rods banged up all the time from sitting in the back, bouncing all over.  Sure, the Sumo holders are nice if you're driving from spot to spot, but not ideal for my 45 minute drive to the nicer streams. I looked at those holders that allow you to mount your rod to the inside top of your car. My problem is my SUV isn't quite long enough for a 9 foot rod. It's poking the windshield. I was in Walmart the other day and came up with a solution. I found an 84 cent pack of generic Velcro, which I was originally going to purchase for brushing dubbing. It's called "Sew-On Hook & Loop Fastener" (Whatever the hell that means...)

I then had an idea.

I took the strips of Velcro, and stuck them right to the back of my back seats. They held perfect to the carpeted surface. I can now fit up to 4 rods in the back, and still have all my trunk space free. Problem solved for less than a buck! Let me know if this works for you. I think it's a pretty sweet and cheap idea.

Happy Mealworm - Hyperspeed Fly Tying Video

This video didn't turn out as great as I wanted. It's a new camera and I'm going to have to tweak the lighting a little on my next vid, and zoom in a little more. It's also my first time editing in Adobe Premiere, but it will give you an idea on how to tie it. I also apologize for the mangled zombie hands. It's cold here and they are dry and cracking/bleeding like crazy. Let me know what you think.


Music:
Skatalites - Phoenix City
Black Moon - Who got the props?

Dub The Thorax Stickers Now Available

I've been waiting a while for these and they turned out great. Head on over to the shop section to get yours. Two for $4, or three for $5. 100% of proceeds go towards my kids' college fund. Please help send them to Harvard by buying  a few stickers.  They're perfect for your car, fly box, tying bench, iphone cover, dog, cat, aunt, etc.

Damn, I want this.

I swung by the Strip'n Flywear site today and I saw this.

I've been a Beasties fan since I was in grade school. I remember waiting until my mom got paid so she could take me to the local K-mart to get License to ill on cassette. I need this shirt. Swing on by their site for some other quality goods as well.

Here's one that reminds me of the summer I graduated high school, which is also the first time I got to see the Beasties live.

Any other Beasties fans in the house? This post was brought to you by Troeg's Perpetual IPA, and the frustation of getting skunked on a night carp fishing mission. Good night.

A quick trip to brown town

The weatherman lied once again about the beautiful weekend we were supposed to have. I don't think it broke 50 and stayed foggy and drizzled all day yesterday, but a quick one hour trip to the stream turned out to be pretty damn productive. Four browns and a bow came to hand, all beautiful wild browns too. Griffith's Gnats, a Slumpbuster, and those new mealworm patterns were all productive.

Also, while I'm on the subject. I've gotten quite a few inquiries about these flies, and have a bunch of custom orders in. SBS and video coming soon. If you're interested in ordering some, I'll add them to the shop section of the site shortly.

Wanna hang with the bait chuckers on opening day?

This mealworm pattern should do the trick.

Dai-ichi swimming nymph hook
Lead tape wrapped along hook shank (I went with tape to keep the profile thin like the actual bug)
Latex rubber glove-cut in a strip, wrapped for the body
6 lb flourocarbon (ribbing)
Prismacolor markers for coloring
The epoxy of your choice

Today, I am a proudest parent on Earth.

It was a beautiful day outside and I wanted to spend some time with Michael. I realized he'll be 4 in a few months and one of my goals was to get him to land a trout on a fly while he was still 3. The kid is no stranger to fishing, he's caught quite a few fish, starting off with a bluegill on his 2nd birthday, and a trout a few weeks later, but those were on spinning gear and worms. We spent last summer slamming bluegills and bass on hoppers  with a 4 weight and he can almost cast a fly rod now.

It was in the mid 40s today, which feels like Florida compared to the weather we've been having, so I decided to give it a go with him. We hit the kiddy pool at the Little Lehigh because it's very easy to catch trout there, and I was sure he wouldn't last too long because he has the attention span of a cardbox box these days (which pretty much all 3 year olds do!).

15 casts and 30 attempts to get him to stop throwing rocks in the water later, we hook into the first fish and he starts working the reel. It was a wild brown which jumped like three times as he reeled it in. The look on his face was priceless. He did a great job, and slowly backed up while reeling until I netted it. I was surprised he didn't want to touch it, but I still managed to hold it up, snap a quick pic, and let it go.

I then threw on a woolly bugger and we quickly got into a rainbow, which he also brought in really quick (unfortunately a little too quick because it took a tiny bounce off a rock). Since it took a little smack, I didn't want to take it out of the net, but I did let him look at it for a few seconds before sending him on his way. Luckily, he was totally fine.

He then wanted to rush off to see his cousins so we packed it up. As we were walking back, I said "Michael, you know you are now a member right?"

"Member of what, daddy?"

"Member of the Men's club, because you caught your first fish on a fly."

"Oh wow Daddy. So I'm a big man like you now?"

"Yes buddy. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks daddy. I love you so much. Thank you for taking me fishing."

"I love you too, and don't worry, we'll be doing a lot more fishing."

It's finally clean and organized

But I give it a week before it's a shitstorm again.

Weekly Recap - in pictures

I spent New Years Eve in Skunkville.

And spent New Years Day playing in the snowy mud.

I tied lots of these.

And got lots of good mail from this guy, and this guy, and this guy, and this guy.

And finally, I had a week long love affair with one of the best video games ever made. I seriously almost teared up at the end. If you game, you owe it to yourself to hunt this down. I played it on 360, but you can even get it in your PS3,  iphone or ipad.