Contest Day 4! Get some Mooseknuckle! (and the Day 3 winner)

Congrats to Don Cranfill, The Mad Paddler. He's the winner of Owl's original trout painting! Go like his Dragonfly Paddle Co. page over on Facebook and drop a line to congratulate him!

Now on to day 4. Today we have a giveaway courtesy of Mooseknuckle Lanyards. They are giving away their carbon fiber lanyard to one lucky winner in your choice of color!

Here's the lowdown on the carbon fiber lanyard.

• Type III Commercial Para Cord 7 Inner Cords Made of 14 Strings with a rating of 35 lbs each. 
• 14 Strings with a rating of 17.5 lbs each. 
• 32 Strand Sheath Minimum Breaking Strength of 550 lbs.
•  Drys Quickly Mold, Mildew, and UV Resistant 
• Made in the U.S.A. 
• High Density Foam Neck Padding and Fly Patches
• Corrosion Resistant Stainless Steel Spacers 
• 5 – 80 lb Test Duo-Lock Snaps™ 
• High Density Rubber Cinch Beads 
• Break Away Safety Clasp 
• Ultralight, Extremely Strong Carbon Fiber Tube Spacers 
• Anti-sway Stainless Steel Alligator Clip 
• MooseKnuckle Lanyards Quick Adjust System (patent pending) 
• Does not compromise the structural integrity of the foam. 
• Allows the user to quickly and easily make adjustments while wearing the lanyard. 
• Hand Assembled in the U.S.A. 
• Unconditional Lifetime Warranty! 
• Available Cord Colors Black Brown Pink

Yeah, this is one badass lanyard that will last forever. As usual, here's the rules.

 Rules:

1.you will get one entry in the drawing for commenting here. For every FB share, tweet, or Instagram post about this, you'll get another entry. My Facebook account link is at the top of this page for easy access to sharing.. You can find me on twitter via @dubthethorax and Instagram via @mike_phazeone

2.You can only comment once here so make sure you include where you shared this in your comment.

3. The maximum amount of entries is four per comment. (Comment examples-"Hi this is John Fisherman, I shared on twitter via @jfish, shared your FB post, and tagged you in my instagram photo" - He just earned himself 4 entries)

4..This contest will run until 12am EST. I will assign everyone entry numbers and use a random number generator to choose the winner tomorrow.

 5.if you're outside the continental US, shipping costs may apply.

 6.BONUS POINTS FOR TODAY - Follow @mklanyards on Twitter, for a bonus entry, Like Mooseknuckle Lanyards on Facebook for A SECOND BONUS ENTRY! Mention this in your comment.

You can also check this MK Lanyards video on Youtube for a full rundown of the specs.

Yesterday's winner, a special offer, and Contest #3 OWL ART!

Congrats to The River Damsel! You were randomly selected to win the Strip'n Flywear Pulp Fishing tee! If you didn't win, the guys over at Strip'n Flywear were nice enough to throw in a bonus offer:

 If you didnt win, Strip'n will include a free tubular bandana to the purchase of any 1 or more shirts. Just include "Friend of DubtheThorax" in the message box when they order.  From now through Sunday.  Free shipping still applies. 


Now on to today's contest. Owl Jones has been doing some great paintings and has made an original piece for this giveaway. He calls his style "Folk Art - Abstract Fusion" but whatever you wanna call it, it would look cool above your fly tying station, or even in your kid's room! Check out his site for some more great work. This is 9x12 acrylic and ink on stretched canvas.

Now for the rules..You know the drill by now!

1.you will get one entry in the drawing for commenting here. For every FB share, tweet, or Instagram post about this, you'll get another entry. My Facebook account link is at the top of this page for easy access to sharing.. You can find me on twitter via @dubthethorax and Instagram via @mike_phazeone

2.You can only comment once here so make sure you include where you shared this in your comment.

3. The maximum amount of entries is four per comment. (Comment examples-"Hi this is John Fisherman, I shared on twitter via @jfish, shared your FB post, and tagged you in my instagram photo" - He just earned himself 4 entries)

4..This contest will run until 12am EST. I will assign everyone entry numbers and use a random number generator to choose the winner tomorrow.

 5.This giveaway is only valid for residents of the continental US 

6,ONE BONUS ENTRY TODAY FOR FOLLOWING @owljonesart on Twitter. Make sure you mention this in your comment.

Giveaway Day 2 - Strip'n Flywear(and Day 1 winner announced!)

First off, Congrats to Angelo Castro! He was the lucky winner for yesterday's contest. You can check Instagram and Twitter for a screenshot of the random.org number that was generated. Angelo, please contact me with your address.

Today's contest - a Pulp Fishing shirt from Strip'n Flywear. Sizes S-XL are available.

Check out their lastest video to see what these guys are about.
 Rules:

1.you will get one entry in the drawing for commenting here. For every FB share, tweet, or Instagram post about this, you'll get another entry. My Facebook account link is at the top of this page for easy access to sharing.. You can find me on twitter via @dubthethorax and Instagram via @mike_phazeone

2.You can only comment once here so make sure you include where you shared this in your comment.

3. The maximum amount of entries is four per comment. (Comment examples-"Hi this is John Fisherman, I shared on twitter via @jfish, shared your FB post, and tagged you in my instagram photo" - He just earned himself 4 entries)

4..This contest will run until 12am EST. I will assign everyone entry numbers and use a random number generator to choose the winner tomorrow.

 5.if you're outside the continental US, shipping costs may apply.

 6.BONUS POINTS FOR TODAY - Post about this contest on your blog, and include Strip'n Flywear's video for TWO EXTRA ENTRIES! Good luck and thanks again.

Contest Day 1 is almost over...

But you still have time to enter! Check the previous post for more info. Remember, the more social networks you hit, the more chances you get to win. Here are the entry numbers so far...

.	1	Brian Schiele
.	2	Travis Rehm
.	3	Arrowreaper@gmail
.	4	Pat
.	5	Gin Clear
.	6	Eunan
.	7	Gaeron
.	8	Mad Paddler
.	9	Kevin Rosen
.	10	Troutrageous
.	11	River Damsel
.	12	Craig Thoreson
.	13	The Great Clod
.	14	Fly and Fin
.	15	Crory Mrarcarsioon
.	16	The Flyfishing Bowhunter
.	17	Angelo Castro
.	18	Fly Fisherman J
.	19	Craig Thoreson
.	20	Craig Thoreson
.	21	Swamp Yankee
.	22	Josh Bair
.	23	Josh Bair
.	24	Josh Bair
.	25	Josh Bair
.	26	donfishin
.	27	donfishin
.	28	donfishin
.	29	Drew Kerestine
.	30	Drew Kerestine
.	31	Gin Clear
.	32	Gin Clear
.	33	Gin Clear
.	34	Gin Clear
.	35	Travis Rehm
.	36	Eunan
.	37	Eunan
.	38	Eunan
.	39	Eunan
.	40	Robert Prince
.	41	Robert Prince
.	42	Robert Prince
.	43	goneflyfishing
.	44	Fumbling the fly
.	45	fumbling the fly
.	46	Angelo Castro
.	47	Angelo Castro
.	48	Angelo Castro
.	49	Angelo Castro
.	50	atfisher
.	51	atfisher
.	52	Fish4life
.	53	Fish4life
.	54	Fish4life
.	55	1sweetdiesel
.	56	Midwestern Fly Fishing
.	57	Midwestern Fly Fishing
.	58	Midwestern Fly Fishing
.	59	JMball
.	60	JMball
.	61	flyfishermanJ
.	62	flyfishermanJ
.	63	Gaeron
.	64	Gaeron
.	65	beertrout
.	66	beertrout

I also got to take a peek at the artwork that Owl put together for the Wednesday giveaway and it's pretty sweet!

Birthday Giveaway Day 1 - Performance Flies

Kevin Compton over at Performanceflies.com has offered up a generous package of fly tying materials for one lucky winner. With materials from Dohiku, Partridge, Jan Siman, Spirit River, and a slew of others available on his site, I'm sure you'll be happy with the package he sends you.

If you want to find out more about Kevin and his amazing fly patterns, check the interview we did with him last year.

Rules:
1.you will get one entry in the drawing for commenting here. For every FB share, tweet, or Instagram post about this, you'll get another entry. My Facebook account link is at the top of this page for easy access to sharing.. You can find me on twitter via @dubthethorax and Instagram via @mike_phazeone 

2.You can only comment once here so make sure you include where you shared this in your comment.  

3. The maximum amount of entries is four per comment. (Comment examples-"Hi this is John Fisherman, I shared on twitter via @jfish, shared your FB post, and tagged you in my instagram photo" - He just earned himself 4 entries)

4.Those who got in early on yesterday's post, get an extra entry, so your maximum is 5 entries. 

5.This contest will run until 12am EST. I will assign everyone entry numbers and use a random number generator to choose the winner tomorrow. 

6.if you're outside the continental US, shipping costs may apply. 

Good luck and thanks again

Dub The Thorax two year anniversary giveaway!!

I've been meaning to get around to posting this, but I've been pretty busy. The blog turned two years old last week. I can't believe how fast time flies. It feels like only yesterday I was tying some half-assed bugs and posting them on here.

Two years, 303 posts, over 76k page views, about 140 followers on Blogger and Facebook, and over 500 followers on Twitter later, I can't believe how far this little place has come.

I'd like to thank all of you for reading, commenting, and sharing over the past few years. I'd also like to give a shoutout to a few specific people that have helped this place grow, get more readers, and inspire me to keep posting.

Mike @ Troutrageous - He was the first person to post about my blog and add me to his blog roll. After two years, he's still one of my main sources of page views.

Matt the Functioning Fishaholic - He's retweeted just about everything I've posted and been very supportive over the past few years. He's also a fun guy to go fishing with.

The crew over at This River is Wild - These guys inspire me to write better blog posts and be a better fisherman. They also send me traffic from their local scene page, which I greatly appreciate. They've also influenced my recent carping addiction.

Howard over at Wind Knots and Tangled Lines - Howard comments on just about everything I post and has been a supporter since day one. You should follow his blog if you don't already. It's great.

There are countless others and I could go on for days but let's get to the giveaway stuff....

So here's the deal. I'll have a giveaway every day of this week, Monday through Friday to thank all my readers for their support over the past few years. I'll post instructions on how to win starting tomorrow with the first giveaway.

I've had a few generous individuals agree to offer up some stuff for my readers.

1.Kevin Compton over at Performanceflies.com has offered up a generous package of fly tying materials for one lucky winner. With materials from Dohiku, Partridge, Jan Siman, Spirit River, and a slew of others hosted on his site, I'm sure you'll be happy with the package he'll send you.

2.Strip'n Flywear has offered up one of their "Pulp Fishing" T-shirts (image above) to one lucky winner. Sizes S-XL. You should definitely go check their website because there are a ton of other great shirts and hoodies.

3.OwlJones.com may be defunct, but Owl has started to pursue his newest passion, art. Owl has a great lowbrow/outsider art style in his work, and he's agreed to offer up one original painting to one of our winners.

4.Mooseknuckle Landyards will ship one of their badass lanyards to you if you win. Go check out all of their products and follows them on Facebook.

5.Mystery swag - I have some freebies sitting around that I'm willing to part with. It may or may not include a hat, some stickers, and some badass flies hand tied by yours truly.

So there you have it. The contest will start tomorrow. For an extra chance to win tomorrow's contest, leave a comment here after you've shared this post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Thanks again for a great two years. Let's see if I can keep it going another two...

-Mike

Few but big fish, and a personal best

While the wife and kids built gingerbread houses at my parents house, I wasted no time heading out to the stream. Weather report was calling for it to clear up, get sunny, and hit above 50 degrees. It wound up being stuck in the low 40s, cold and cloudy. The fish were lethargic to say the least. I got on the boards fast with the biggest brook trout I have ever caught. I did not measure, but I would have to say he was at least 18 inches. He destroyed a size 20 clown egg.

I then ran in to my buddy Bob who was testing out a really nice new rod he just finished building. He smacked a big slab of a rainbow.

We then hiked about a mile and a half of the stream, missing fish here and there, but bringing nothing else to hand. We decided to call it a day and Bob headed off. One my way back to the car, I ran into my buddy Bill and decided to make a few more casts with him as it was getting dark. Nothing happened so we downed a beer in the parking lot and headed off. 

Not a great day, but at least the fish were big. It could have been worse. I could have been rapping to a goat instead of fishing.

P.S. I cleaned up the blog roll. Sorry guys, but no posts for half a year means you got the boot. I also added a bunch of new FREQUENTLY UPDATED blogs that I find either very information, or hilarious (Yes, I'm talking to you Macloosh).

It's the time of giving...

Well, just so you all know, to celebrate two years in the blogging business, I have a nice little giveaway contest coming up in the next few days (I can't believe this place is still alive after two years!),  although it's nothing comparing to what Cameron has cooking over at TFM. Get on over there for the full info on the Fiberglass Manifesto 12 Days of Christmas!  I can say, people really do win. I won a Bugslinger buff and hat last year.

More info on my MUCH SMALLER giveaway coming this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled.

Sometimes, lightening strikes twice.

Believe it or not, but I landed ANOTHER monster carp in the dark last night. I'm still in shock.

A year long goal, fulfilled.

I've been chasing this particular fish at night since the spring. I've been snubbed by him dozens of times, hooked him twice and let him run me into backing, and let him haunt my dreams.

After months of learning his feeding lane and memorizing his feeding times when the water hits certain temps, it all came together last night in a 25 min fight that had me shin deep in cold water at 10 pm without waders. I couldn't believe I did it with a 6 weight. My adrenaline is still pumping. Great night, great night. Note to self. Carp like egg cluster patterns. A lot.

NJ Fly Tying Symposium - Recap

Well, I'm back from the dead. I just had my gallbladder out so I've been out of commission for a little while but I'm finally back to normal and ready to get out for some fishing. I did get a chance to attend the Fly Tying Symposium the weekend before my surgery and I really did have a good time. They moved the show to the same place at the fly fishing expo, so it was a lot less cramped now, and there were some amazing fly tiers there. With less crowding, it was nicer to spend time at each tier's station, watching them twist up some nice looking bugs and asking a bunch of questions. Here's some photo highlights from the show.

Mike Schmidt from Angler's Choice Flies tying some badass streamers!

More big flies from Pat Cohen over at Superfly

Gaeron Friedrichs won fly of the day in my opinion with his amazing action Caddis pattern. This kid has SKILLS. Check his blog.

I tried to catch Charlie Craven's demo but it was so crowded that I didn't bother.

Eric Hornung, the Tattooed Angler. I met this guy through Instagram and his trout tattoo artwork is amazing. If I ever get inked, he's gonna be the guy to do it. (Thanks for the sticker Eric. It's representin' on the back of my SUV)

Eunan Hendron - This guy hasn't been tying that long but his salmon flies are a thing of beauty. I was lucky enough to participate in a fly swap with him recently and he tied these classic coachmen wets which I don't even want to take out of the bag because they look so nice.

But, the coolest thing I saw all day was this....Always puts a smile on my face :)

Also, I apparently caused someone to throw their panties...all in all, a good day.

Shoutout to Mr Furimsky for a kickass show. I really enjoyed last year's show but I think they outdid themselves this year. I look forward to the next one.

Searching for rectangles....

I do it about 5 nights a week. I stand outside in the dark, cold night on the edge of a foot bridge with some decent lighting, scanning the water. The lighting isn't great, but it's enough to cover about 15 yards of water. I'm looking for dark rectangular shapes peaking out of the shadows where the light ends. When I see movement, I hope off the footbridge and cast towards it from the shoreline. More often than not, I walk away empty handed. I usually target carp, but the area I fished last night appears to have some stocked trout wash in to it from Sandy's wrath. I pulled two fish, one over 18 inches, and quite ugly. These fish were stocked a month ago, and had a lot of strength to fight, which is a good sign.