I'm a film critic, a winner announcer, a drunk, and a fisherman.

So, I kind of ran out of steam with this whole contest thing. Admittedly, I got pretty drunk on Saturday night (more on that later) and I slacked on announcing the winner. I'm pleased to announce that my good buddy Dean over at Gin Clear won the Eat My Fly Outfitters shirt and hat giveaway.

As for contest Day 7....to be honest..I had something to give away. And now I can't find it. I think my kids stole it. But anyway, as soon as I find it, I'll post it. Or I'll just tie up a shit ton of flies to give away. Either way, Day 7 will happen. Just not today. You should all go enter Cameron's contest. He's got some pretty amazing stuff.

So yeah, back to Saturday. We had a friend's son's Bar Mitzvah at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night. Shit got crazy. Like real crazy. We wound up hitting a few bars afterwards. I don't remember much, but the Philly Phanatic was raving out. It's always a scene when they turn a baseball stadium into a night club.

I did manage to get a little pickerel fishing in before we left. Only had a follow, but the peace and quiet was much needed to level myself before a night of insanity.

As I spent yesterday and today recovering (yes, hangovers last two days now that the late 30s is upon me) I watched a few fly fishing flicks.

First up, "The River Why". I want the two hours of my life back that I wasted on watching this shit movie. I read that someone said this film was going to rejuvenate fly fishing like "A River Runs Through It". Well, Buster did not want to fish. He wanted to watch 2 hours of no plot, HORRIBLE acting, and  a bunch of steelhead getting bonked on the head. I'm not even going to post a video clip of this film because it was so damn bad and I'm angry because I heard the book is great but this movie ruined it for me. I can't bring myself to read it now. The only reason to watch this movie is Amber Heard's beauty, but you can just google her instead. WTF was up with the  guy from The Walking Dead and his chair rocking dog? And the random nonsensical words that Gus mutters? Or the clay wrapped around the worm? I feel like you had to read the book to understand half the stuff that happens.

Next, Low and Clear. I wasn't expecting much from this film and I wouldn't exactly call it a fly fishing film. I'd called it "An Anti-Bromance that takes place on a BC Steelhead trip". If you want to watch the intricacies of a 25 year old relationship between two guys unfold in front of you while one gets skunked and the other slams fish all day, go for it.

In all honesty though, it wasn't bad. There are some beautiful fish caught, the scenery and music are both excellent, but I felt it does move a little slow. If you're expecting nonstop fish porn, go somewhere else. If you want some thinking man's fly fishing art house film, this is for you.



So yeah, keep an eye out for contest 7, and if you're the dude who won day 1, You have until tomorrow to claim it or I'm picking a new winner.


Seacrest out.

3 year giveaway - Rules and prizes announced!

It's Sunday morning and I'm about to go fishing for the day, so I'll make this quick. We have 7 days of worth of giveaways, starting tomorrow 12/2. Here are the rules.

Rules:
1.you will get one entry in the drawing for commenting on each giveaway post. For every FB share, tweet, or Instagram post about it, 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 share this post get an extra entry for tomorrow's giveaway. Comment away.

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. 

That's about it. Now for the good stuff! Here is a list of the giveaways.

Monday 12/2 - Ryan over at RisenFly has kindly donated the blue digital camo buff seemless  breathable headwear and one of his slim flyboxes. I'm kind of jealous. I really like this flybox. Stickers will be thrown in as well.

Tuesday 12/3 - Us outdoor types do like the color green for some reason. I have a green military reissue watch from Infantry Co.  It's got GID arms, stainless steel back, and the band is canvas on the outside, and comfy leather on the inside so it feels nice to wear. I have one of these as well and I've been testing it for the past few weeks. I dig it so far. It will also impress the ladies. (well...depending on the type of ladies you're after..) I'll also throw in some sticker swag.

Wednesday 12/4- I'm going to leave this one a mystery. It may or may not include flies, tying material, and a stack of various stickers. 

Thursday 12/5- The crew over at Strip'n Flywear are back again this year and are donating one of their newest designs, the Thingamabeer short sleeve Tee.

Friday 12/6 - Stonefly Press sent me a copy of "The 50 Best Tailwaters to Fish" to review. I'm about 75% through it and it's one of the most informative FF books I've come across. Look for a full review later this week. I hate to part with it, but since I appreciate all my readers, I'm going to let it go.

Saturday 12/7 - Eat My Fly Outfitters have graciously donated their New Era Flex Fit Cap and a Catch and Release LS Tee (Size Large).

Sunday 12/8 - Mystery Prize part 2 - I'm not telling...just yet.

                          

Start sharing and drumming up entries. As I mentioned earlier, every entry I receive will mean .25 donated to Rescue.org for the Phillipines Typhoon support.

The fly shop is open for business!

I've had a fly shop tab at the top with really no content for some time. Well, I've finally gotten around to starting it off. I'm going to keep it fresh, and only have unique patterns for sale for a limited time. I've got some new worm patterns available now to start off, and I've already sold a few. Click on the fly shop tab up top and get em' while you can! Everything is safe and secure through Paypal.

P.S. If you wanna win this streamer, head on over to our facebook page. I'll be selecting someone based off the best comment later this evening.

February Dry Fly Fishing and Goodies in the Mail

Nick and I decided late last night to sneak out to the stream today, going against the wishes of our wives. These things unfortunately happen sometimes, and there's not much that can be done about it. :) When we got there, we realized we had the entire stream to ourselves. We had an inch or two of snow last night, and that usually turns most people away. Although it was still snowing, it was almost 40 degrees around 2pm, and actually quite comfortable due to a lack of wind.

My experience on this stream in February over the last two years told me that I needed to have some dry midges, but I wasn't 100% sure that would be the case today. As we rigged up, I refused to put a fly on. If I don't see bug activity right when I get there (the parking lot is very close to the stream), it usually means nymphing, but something told me I needed to check upstream before I busted out the lead and tungsten. A short three minute walk put us on some rising fish. I quickly picked out a size 18 Griffith's Gnat. These fish were pretty reckless with their rising, and I didn't think size would matter that much. I was going for a midge cluster, and it worked.

Within about 5 minutes, I was in to my first fish, a wild brown trout, about 10 inches, who was coming up every 15 seconds from behind a big rock. He took my fly on my second cast. As I brought him to hand, he did a quick head jerk and swam off. Not-so-long release, and I can live with that.

In the next hour hour I have two more bigger rainbows do the exact same thing, spitting my fly as I'm beaching them. I then finally realize that I had crimped the barbs when I tied these gnats. That explains it! It also reminds that I shouldn't leave for the stream without my net. Lesson learned.

I obviously didn't get pictures of these fish, but Nick actually took some video footage. I just got my hands on Adobe Premiere, so it will be a good way to get my feet wet with some advanced video editing. More on that later.

Nick unfortunately didn't have any small dries on him, so he had a tougher time. I gave him one of mine and he lost it in a tree. He headed out after that. I continued upstream and found another pod of fish rising. I brought a small brown to hand, and popped the fly without touching him. When they are only the size of your finger, it's better not to even get them out of the water.

Then it started to get cold, very very cold. Wind picked up. Snow picked up. The rises eventually stopped and I switched over to a smattering of midges, eggs, nymphs, and worm patterns. I covered a lot of water and threw a variety of flies at every feeding lane and holding spot. I picked up two fat rainbows, both of which I let go without snapping a pic because my hands were too cold. Not only did I forget my net, but also my half gloves.

So although this post isn't too photo-heavy with fish porn, I did snap a couple shots of Nick to test out Instagram's new filtering options with. I dig how they turned out. (see above as well)


When I got home, I was greeted with an envelope stuffed with stickers from The Fiberglass Manifesto. My ride is going to be covered with them. The new round pumped fist sticker is amazing. Thanks Cameron.


I've also been meaning to share a shot or two of the net I won from Tenkara Talk. This thing is beautiful and I almost don't want to use it. It might hang on the wall at the bar in the man cave until I get the balls to get it wet. Being a dumbass on Youtube can pay off once in a while.



Also as a reminder, if you are in to fly tying and want to join a terrestrial swap, head on over to OwlJones.com and sign up. Now, back to the beer. It's IPA nation tonight!

Scouting new water, a small milestone, and did someone say fly giveaway?!

I found a new shortcut back to my house the other day and slammed on my brakes when I saw this stream. When I found it, it was 25 degrees outside and it was NOT frozen over. This means it most likely has some spring influence with consistent water temps and could possibly hold trout. I took a pic of it so I didn't forget to go back and explore it. My god, it's taunting me. I want to fish it.

I might try to check it out tomorrow. I'll post my findings. In other news, we hit 100 followers today. I was pretty suprised by that, and pretty damn happy! Thanks to everyone for stopping by. You might also want to swing by and become a fan of Dub The Thorax on Facebook. Rumor has it that there might be a fly giveaway going on....

And the winner is...

I said I'd give it a week to announce a winner from the "name that worm pattern" contest. Well, it's been a week and with all pun intended, the early bird got the worm. I'm going to go with Monoworm! That was the first reply, and I think it just fits. The winner is Cofisher, author of Wing Knots and Tangled Lines. Shoot me your address and I'll twist up some bugs to send your way. I'm also happy to say that the worm did kind of work on Saturday. I had a bow take it but he spit the hook when I got him close.

A bigger post will be coming tomorrow, including a tying show and fellow blogger road trip recap, my first shot at pseudo-guiding people on my home water (which resulted in failure), and bugs. Lots and lots and lots of bugs. Stay tuned.

Feel like winning a free gift package from Rise including a new rod?

Head on over to the Owl Jones Fisheads forum for your chance to win some sweet gear from Rise Fishing. You'll need to sign up on the forum, which is good because you can stay and hang out.

The stuff he's having people do is insane. Expect a lot of weird, zany posts from me. I want to win this thing. Plus, tell Owl he should make a guest post on my blog. We need a crazy video up in here.

Also, congrats Mr. Jones on your appearance on Moldy Chum.

This message was brought to you by Sculpin IPA. My buddy brought a few bottles over on Saturday. Besides being named after the coolest baitfish ever, it's one of the best IPAs I've ever had.