Ultimate Catch

I know this isn't fishing related but I love this photo. I recently was a groomsman at a good friends wedding and had Miguel shoot this shot of us with a point and shoot camera. It's a rare find to see me in a tux.

So how could I relate this to fishing? I got it! I caught the ultimate catch five years ago and she is still my everything.

Campsites

So unique
So raw
So fun
So quite
So core
So warm
So cold
So good
So me
So campsite

Retreat

I recently took a retreat to the wild alone to seek comfort. I got a little fishing in and just spent time alone in the beautiful creation. I had a few heavy upsets in the family and needed to reconnect since I felt poured out like a drink offering the week before.

Through this experience I realized I was putting Him in a box. He has been tugging on my heart, asking me to listen to Him, and when I finally let go of everything I expected him to speak right away. As if! Who am I to expect something like that? It's funny, He didn't speak to me as I imagined. Rather, after spending a few days alone, I realized later that he did speak to me in the simplest of ways. He simply put this verse on my heart, "Be still and know that I am God". Those words still comfort and haunt me to this day.

The wife snapping a quick one through the technical obstacles of small creek fun.

Camp Coffee

Well, my wife and I took a weekend excursion to the Golden Trout Wilderness in search for some technical, low-traffic water. We indeed found what we were looking for and had two days of solid dry fly, 4 weight excitement. If you could drift it right, BAM, you had a lively wild trout on. It required a few hours of backpacking through, what my wife will call, no trail, which in my mind is THE idea. It sometimes pays off to go where most don't and God blesses me immensely when I take that extra step.

My wife loved how resourceful I was on the trip when I broke out the 'coffee filter' in the morning. You see, we use to have this great, little cloth coffee filter we picked up from our trip in Costa Rica where we used it countless times as it became the greatest backpacking necessity. It finally broke on our last trip, so I improvised the day of, and grabbed some excess fabric for the Fabric Lab at work to use for our morning coffee. She loved it so much, she had to snap a photo.

I like the mood this photo portrays. Contempletion after a long day
backpacking / fishing in the Golden Trout Wilderness.

Rippin' Lips - Lady Style

Rippin' Lips - Lady Style. There is something so graceful when a lady uses the proper equipment on the river. Everything is a little more beautiful, sly, sexy, smooth; simply Lady. Oh yeah.

The Well

I love this photo from last weekend. Our friends, Ryan and Camille, gathering water for the morning adventure of snowshoeing and tubbing in some natural hot springs.

Brownie

Product testing in the best of elements.


"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle

hun

She rips in all things, including fishing with the feathered hook.

I am so blessed to call her my wife.

Dirtbag Weekend

The Eastern Sierras in the Winter is close to epic.

Imagine this for a weekend:

Dirtbagging in the back of the truck with a number of down layers in below freezing temps just steps from the river. Attempting to brew coffee on the tailgate first thing in the morning with an energy bar in one hand and a banana in the other. Carefully maneuvering around the small herds of cows in order not to startle the bull. Eating pasta, pasta, pasta, and, you guessed it, more pasta. When daylight resides, strapping on the headlamp for a little climbing exercise on some world-renown boulders. Getting to know a friend even better than before. Not seeing another soul for hours on end. Oh, and also, all this in the hopes of landing known Brown Trout the size of your arm.

Now, that is a well-spent weekend.

Rest

Ahhhhh. It's winter time and that usually means a time to rest on the fly fishing,



or maybe not...

Fly Fishing Film Tour 08

The Fly Fishing Film Tour for 2008 is underway.

The tour first premiered at the Patagonia Headquarters in Ventura, CA. The show sold out weeks in advance. We had quite a showing with close to famous folks gracing our presence including: El Pescador, author of the critically acclaimed Blog, Wayupstream, and highly sought-after Moldy Chum's very own B.B.

The best part of the evening was when I spoke to a gentlemen who purchased a pair of tickets from Craigslist the day before the show - so rad.

LA Creek

Dave Campbell and myself feeding the itch to fish near LA. Left before daylight and found our way back to the truck well after sunset. The hike and adventure was worth every minute of that perfect Saturday.

FeltSoul Media's new flick, Red Gold, features a beautiful documentary on the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska intertwined with stories of the local people. It looks like it's going to be a wonderful blend of fish action, story telling, and environmental awareness; a surefire blend for success in so many facets.






"If you are a broke fisherman, but can see the beauty in everything, you have a wonderful life." - quote from Red Gold.


Check out Travis and Ben's documentary passion at FeltSoul Media's website.

such is my idea of happiness

The movie/novel, Into The Wild, conjured up many past memories of my family and my mother's recent battle with cancer. My eyes filled with tears as the movie credits rolled. Many joyful memories flooded as I let out a cry that I haven't cried in many years. It was hard but good to let those memories come as I pained, chuckled, and longed for her presence once again. I blew the dust off of my old journals as I located the dates surrounding my mother's death. I read those shaky words for the first time in years and recalled so much during that time of hardship.

This movie struck a cord in my heart as I watched the adventure of Chris McCandless's life unfold to pursue the meaning of life, nature, family, oneness, aloneness, God, and love. I find it somewhat admirable that he took a look at his societal pressures and pushed them aside to figure out what meant the world to him, but more so, I find it a shame that he had to hurt his family in order to pursue his adventure. I would like to think that Chris may have come around and ran back to his loved one's after his time with nature ended since Tolstoy's words spoke to him.

"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor - such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children, perhaps-what more can the heart of a man desire?" - Leo Tolstoy.



These words speak deep into my soul.

Gierach

Tom Bie, the mastermind behind The Drake Magazine, wrote a wonderful article a few years back about a conversation he had in Lyons, CO with no other than John Gierach, the author of more than a dozen fly fishing novel, including his best known book, Trout Bum. As you may have guessed, I admire Gierach's wit and humor regarding life and the simple pleasures of fly fishing. He is a breath of fresh air in, may I dare say, the staunch circle of fly snobs. I relate with his dead-honest writing while making fun of himself first and not taking fly fishing so seriously.

Here is a blurb from Tom,

"Again it is Gierach’s lack of pretension that shines through. "In flyfishing there is a strong streak of snobbery," Geurnsey says. "But Gierach will turn in a column about fishing for carp or something and he’ll actually help bring some of his readers down to earth."

&

"'I don’t travel or fish to ‘get away,’ he (Gierach) once wrote, 'because my life at home isn’t something I need to escape from.' We should all be so lucky."


Read the rest of the article found on The Drake Magazine website.

SoulFish

Check out Mikey Wier's new flick, Soulfish. It's going to be a good one.



Check out his other fab films at Burl Productions.

Giving

This Christmas I gave Papa John, my father-in-law, his first fly rod outfit. A few months back we went fishing together for the first time down the Bear River directly behind his property. After the great day of fishing and showing him the basics in casting, Papa John, was intrigued by the idea of fishing with the fly. I knew that this would be my gift to him for Christmas. What a great way to share the passion my father gave to me. It was great to watch Papa John open his gift while I remember opening my first fly rod at the age of twelve. Looking forward to fishing more with him.

Watercolor

A Photoshop rendition of the coldest fishing day I have ever experienced. My reel froze solid in less than ten minutes. Ice gathered around the guides to a point where line couldn't pass through them easily or if at all. I remember continually submersing my rod , reel, and hand in the river to thaw the frozen guides and reel so I could make just a few more casts to the big one that was certainly right in the seam below the fallen tree stump. I forgot my gloves. I didn't last too long in that cold. That big one is still there.

Oh Mexico, Oh Mexico

I just began entering into the world of saltwater fly fishing as I now live just minutes from the beach. This new endeavor has been, shall I say, a little humbling. I will be the first to say I have no idea what I am doing. I can't read the ocean like I can read a trout stream, I have little knowledge of stripping techniques, no clue on what line is best for the conditions, clueless on effective fly patterns, where to position myself, and don't know how to cast 2 pound plus flies. You get the idea. But as in all things new I am up for this challenge.

Over New Years break I packed up my 8 wt rod and headed South to Cabo San Jose to meet up with some good friends who moved down to Cabo 2 years ago to pursue helping Americans invest in Real Estate near the Cabo area. They are currently building their new home on the Hill, which my wife and I had the pleasure staying at their residence while we explored the region. I had several days to cast from shore and kayak for the elusive Rooster Fish, Halibut, or other species of fish that I would be afraid to touch because I wouldn't know what it was. After hundreds of quasi-double-haul-attempted casts I never thought it would happen, but I finally landed my FIRST saltwater fish on the FLY! A whopping 3 inch Ling Cod-looking thing which attempted to eat the clouser fly that was half its size.

Let me put things in perspective:

Saltwater Winston 8wt rod: $700
Abel Super 6 Reel: $600
Sinking head line: $60
Hip Shooter Stripping Basket: $60
Patagonia hot weather attire: $100
New Double Haul pack: $120
A slew of Flies, boxes, Pliers, Line, Tippet, and Nippers: $200
Flight to Cabo: $800
Getting sun burnt, food poisoning, achy casting arms, looking like an idiot, and triumphantly landing the one and only 3" fish for the trip: Priceless

How great is that.

I think I am ready for serious sponsorship.

The American

The American.

I was by your side as I grew through the years.
You taught me how to understand and read you and others like you.
I jumped, skipped, fished, walked, and meditated by your banks every summer of my childhood.
I listened to the fauna and flora that flourished because of your presence.
You allowed me to ponder life as I waded deep into your seams and pockets.
You taught me to trust and to recognize the power of God and nature.
I miss spending those summers by your side.
I will once again find myself by our banks introducing you to my children or grandchildren.

The American.

Good ol' Southern California

Once again to feed the fish bug I headed with fellow comrade, Grinsel, into the very wild and desolate Angeles National Forest to 'stick some pigs'. A few months ago I had the privelage to fish with one of the industry's finest, Mikey Wier, of Burl Productions who showed me the fine art of pig huntin' with hairy bunnies (i will leave that up to your interpretation). Out weapons of choice: Fast 5 weight rods with various large size 2 to smaller streamers. We each had day packs loaded with lots of drinking water, waders, lunch, and cameras for the just in case moments. Considering our location, this day was close to epic. I couldn't help but imagine the hustle and bustle of gridlock traffic, crowds, and general choas brimming from LA while so alone in silence with the occasional sound of a trout leaping into the air as we set our hook. We caught a handful of small fish and a few rather 'large' trout, a relative term of course. It's great to know that there are trout in our backyard; it's just a matter of searching for them with our bunnies and all.