Outfitted for Life

First trout of the year.

2012-02-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Sarah and I went to Connecticut to watch the Super Bowl. I really had little interest in the game this year and even though it was a good one I was distracted. I was on the computer reading stream reports for the local waters. Aside from visiting, this trip was about fishing (I even think Sarah admitted that in the end).

I decided I would fish the Farmington River. There were many reasons for the Farmington over the Housatonic or one of the small streams but I can't pin down which one sold me on it.

Well, for what ever reason, the Farmington was the choice. I did not get up early because, as Sarah put it, this was a mini vacation (and the trout aren't going at the crack of dawn like they are in summer). Now for a trip in the beginning of February on a Monday afternoon, you would think I would have had the river to myself right? Well that's not the case at this stretch of the river! When I pulled in the parking lot was half full.

Once I was suited up and lined up I talked to an older fella who was smoking a pipe next to his car. He had a fly rod so I asked how the fishing was hoping he'd hint as to any action. He smiled and said they are ONLY hitting micro stone flies. I had no clue what a micro stone fly was but I said okay and hit the water. After briefly fishing a midge larva I spotted a couple fish rolling in the film.

After fishing the smallest wet fly I had thought I'd try a dry. So I grabbed the trusty rusty Griffith gnat. Had a raise but no take. After adding a little 6x to my leader I tried again and wouldn't you know they were eating gnats too.

Dry flies in February - what a great way to start the year. Maybe I was too quick to claim this coming year 'the year of the bass'. This trip really got me excited about spring fishing.

Well - back to the tying vise for now. I'll try to post soon on some of my new tying adventures.

Bruce

Owl Jones's tying contest

2012-02-02T21:10:00.001-08:00

I don't often do this but I think I'm going to enter the first ever Owl Jones fly tying contest. For those of you who don't run in the outdoor blogging circles or don't read fishing blogs you probably do not know Owl Jones. He is the writer of the blog OwlJones.com and yesterday posted this post OJDC’s First Annual Fly Tying Competition. The honest truth is I don't read every post he puts up (Owl seems to have more time to blog then the average bear) but yesterday I finished my lunch early and read his contest announcement.

At first I shrugged it off and thought I don't have anything to offer, but tonight while I was at the vise I decided to go for it. I have two very different flies I'm going to send. So now I need to sit down and make them. Look out Owl here they come!

-Bruce

I have been tying!

2012-01-28T17:09:00.001-08:00

So this is a very small sample of what I've been working on lately. I have not has a ton of time to blog, but I'll post about some new adventures at the vise real soon.

Bruce

Visit PA

2012-01-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend (Sunday through Tuesday) I traveled to PA to visit family and friends. Sarah was sick and had to stay home so this was a solo mission. Visiting with my family was a lot of fun and hopefully in spring I will get down again and maybe even do some fishing. My sister and I hung out Monday. We shopped, visited family and relaxed.

I saw some friends Brian and Chris. Chris helped me with my big "project" and I am very grateful for all his help. We also stopped at Cabelas and can you believe they did not have a fly box I wanted to see. They also did not have the holster Chris was looking for - this, my friends, is funny.

I got to see and spend time with my parents, which is always good. Mom cooked too much (I'm still full - thanks mom) and dad and I talked work, house projects, weather and life. They both filled me in on town stuff. These visits are a lot of fun because there is no real plan just visit and relax. Oh - and play with their dog Charlie! He is a fun little (big now) black Cocker Spaniel.

On my way out of town, along with the normal cases of beer (we can't get Yuengling in MA), shoofly pie, eggs, childhood pictures and fishing gear, there was one last thing to pick up - Sarah's grandparents bedroom set. The I hauled the car and the set home!

So all in all it was a full trip. Guess what I forgot to buy? My PA fishing license. This is my reason to get back again. Thanks for reading and there will be more info on that reel in a later post (remember it's the year of the bass)

Bruce

Paused.

2012-01-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

Regularly scheduled programming has been put on hold ...

... because Bruce is currently busy. :)

He'll explain later.

xo
sarah

Saltwater tying

2012-01-04T20:24:00.001-08:00

I don't have much to say in this post, but wanted to show some of the patterns I have been working on for the upcoming striped bass season. Trout flies offer their own challenges but my core group of trout flies are simple. At this point I can quickly restock boxes for spring trout, but saltwater flies are new and exciting! Unlike trout I have no idea what will work for me in the salt so I am relying recommendations from others, fly shops and even a local guide. So enough talk here is a sample of my most recent work.

Bruce

2012 the year of the bass?

2011-12-31T14:38:00.001-08:00

So I'm not giving up on trout in the new year. Trout fishing around here is just not as abundant as some of the other local fisheries, but I do think I'll do more trout fishing in 2012 then I did last year.

The biggest fish of 2011 and she was a porker brown.

That being said, I have found a new love for catching bass - bass of all shapes and sizes. This year I will be targeting them even more with the fly rod then I did last year. Sarah and I are already saving up for kayaks and with them should come even more reasons to take a fly rod or two.

With a little help from this guy and some of the my co-workers I hope to make 2012 full of fish like that.

Bass fishing is also opening up some new doors in the fly tying world as well. From foam and cork poppers to five minute epoxies and deer hair bugs - these big and exciting flies pose new challenges in tying, casting and fishing.

A small sample of the new flies I'm tying.

Last - and most importantly - bass are readily available everywhere. They are available where we are located near a couple ponds, as well as multiple brackish water ponds and rivers. This means large mouth and stripped bass are right out my back door! So with the challenges these fish bring both on the water and at the vise I am simply going to fish to them more.

Not to mention the occasional boat trip on the bay.

Hopefully 2012 will be full of these colors!

Happy New Year

Bruce

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T20:09:00.001-08:00

So I have not been the best blogger lately. Maybe my new years resolution should be to blog more. Well this post is to show I am alive and I will be posting some of what I have been tying lately.

As for tonight I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and I promise to post before new year.

Oh lastly look at what my wonderful wife got me for Christmas. It has been on my wish list for a while now.

Bruce

A good start.

2011-11-17T15:10:00.001-08:00

I have a few minutes for a quick post so here we go. I am on my lunch break but felt the urge to share this mornings action with my fellow fishing addicts. Knowing I had to work at 10 I dragged myself out of bed early to hit my trout pond.

As I pulled up to the pond and slid into my waders I noticed the water looked disturbed. There were trout just under the surface and they were feeding. I set up a midge larva just like last week and got fishing.

It was not long before I landed two trout. I had a couple blue gills take the fly as well. After making my 4 or 5 last casts I packed it up and headed to work. It makes the day go by a little faster knowing I caught fish that same day. I feel luck having a pond on my way to work and hope to use it till it freezes!

Bruce

A Productive Week

2011-11-15T20:35:00.001-08:00

Last week was a big week for me on the water. The local pond(that's right pond I'll explain that in a later post) I had been fishing finally produced some fish. I brought two nice rain bows to hand and helped two friends with theirs. My bows came on midge larva along with one other my friend/coworker Dan caught.

Then there was Sunday I met Bob(he is also a coworker and works in the fly shop with me) in Plymouth at a kettle pond. I have never fished in an ecosystem like this before. It is a really unique and intriguing kind of fishing. These ponds have light or white sand bottoms and are spring fed. The edged can be wades and that makes it a little easier to fly fish. The stocked ones have good trout fishing in spring and fall.

So Bob and I decided to meet up and fish. The problem we were faced with was the windiest day of the week. I hooked up with one but it shook me lose. So as the sun was setting I thought we'd be skunked, when I noticed Bobs' rod was doubled over. He was hooked up and it looked like a good fish. As it was getting dark Bob reached down and pulled up a large male rainbow. It was a beautiful fish and I was content to let the night end with this guy.

Results are in!

2011-11-11T18:49:00.001-08:00

This was my first give away of what I think will be many (it might be monthly or bimonthly) but it was not perfect. I was not specific as to which post to comment on and people commented on two. This is okay because I just looked at the time and date stamps on the comments to make my list.

This is the list:
1) Trout Magee
2) Tim
3) Kev2380
4) AZWanderings
5) Brk Trt
6) Fin Follower
7) Manual of Man
8) Shes a maniyak
9) Rebecca

Thanks all of you for reading and commenting on my blog. Much like OBN I used Random.org to pick my winner for me. Also I like how they posted pictures of the results. So here you go.

The winner is number four AZWanderings. Sorry the results were not at 7 when I said they would be but there was a service I needed to attend tonight.

Last Chances

2011-11-10T06:04:00.001-08:00

So there is only a little time left to get your name in for the fly box give away. I will pick a winner tomorrow at 7pm. The box has gotten a few additions this weeks as it has been sitting next to me vise. I have made a couple muddler minnows, some midge larva, and a couple buggers. At this point this box is stream ready so if you have not commented please do so.

Thanks for reading along.

Bruce

Monday Off

2011-11-07T19:39:00.000-08:00

I have been lucky enough to have Sundays and Mondays off since starting my job. Sarah works a lot including Sunday but has been trying to take Mondays off. So we try to do something on Mondays weather it is cleaning the house, going to Plymouth, getting up early to watch the sunrise or any number of other things. Well today we were both shot from a long week and a long weekend so we slept in and then relaxed all morning. I starting getting antsy around 11 or so I made lunch and with Sarah reading I decided to go hit the water for a little while. I thought maybe I could find a late season bass or two but with only a couple light hits I decided to go to the shallows and look for pickerel.

They were near the top soaking up the sun but that made them spooky. So with lots of frustration after scaring a bunch of pickerel and the fact that at 3:30 pm the sun was starting to set I headed to one last cove near the road. I set up and started to look for places that a pick could sit and wait to ambush a bait fish. After making a good cast with a light landing I gave a couple strips and saw the wake moving toward my muddler minnow. I kept my retrieve cadence the same and then it happened. Pickerel have one of the fastest takes in fresh water. When someone says lightening fast I do not think of lightening because you can see lightning, I think of a pickerel finishing a strike. The strike happened and I set the hook hard after a head shake I knew I was hooked up.

Pickerel have a fast, aggressive and often times violent attack followed by a big head shake. I am told the bigger fish will continue to fight hard but the smaller guys tend to give in after the head shake. Today I took an old fiber glass rod (its like a wet noodle) and an old Martin reel so that added to the fun of the fight. This fish was about 13 or 14 inches but it too gave in pretty quick. Once I got it on the canoe I understood why. It had a hook in its mouth where it had taken someone rig from earlier this summer. The hook was pretty rusted but did not snap when I gave it a light tug. So I trimmed the extra mono back as far as I could and told this little guy to be careful as I released him back to his weeds. To put a great end to the night before Sarah had to go to work she read me a section of her book that had us both crying in laughter on the couch. So not a bad Monday off if I do say so myself.

Give Away

2011-11-04T21:18:00.001-07:00

This is a friendly reminder that a week from today I will be picking a winner for my first give away. Another fun fact is that I will continue to put tried and true patterns in the box until I ship it out.

Last post I did not have many pictures or a good description of the box the winner will receive. This box is straight from work and it is a really nice looking box. This box is a White River Raise (Bass Pro Fly brand). It has the slit foam so you are not ripping it when you remove flies. Along with the slit foam this box has a built in threading system as well. It is olive or forest green and has room for close to 200 flies if you use every slit plus the threaders.

Okay well depending on how this give away goes I might buy something else from work and give it away as well. Here are some pictures and let's keep those comments coming!

Fly Tying and a Give Away!

2011-11-02T10:30:00.001-07:00

Fly tying has been this evolving thing for me over the years and just like fly fishing I am learning that the learning never ends. Lately I have been more and more confident in my tying abilities. On the same note I am working on and improving in the skills I still have troubles with.

This never ending evolution of skills paired with new materials, new waters and new species are the reasons fly tying is just as addicting to me as the fishing can be sometimes. This past summer I really targeted bass on my fly rod. The hard core trout guys might wrinkle their noses at it but I had a blast starting to learn what makes these large and small jaws tick. With the new fish came bigger hooks and in turn bigger flies. I am now spinning and stacking deer hair bugs. Also with these fish came new streamers and a higher love and respect for bunny strips.

That is just one example of new and exciting things happening at my tying desk. I am also starting to fish for stripped bass and still would love to land that first carp. All this excitement about fly tying has been pushed further lately with bad weather and cold mornings and nights.

So this long winded post is leading to something. I am thinking of tying some flies for people but first I am going go give some away. I have been putting some flies in a box all summer and it will be the prize of my first ever give away. The plan is to put is few more flies in it but not fill it. To get in on the give away action just leave a comment and I will use one of those random draw sites to pick a winner from the bunch. The winner will be picked next Friday and the box will be in the mail Saturday morning (if the winner is prompt about getting his or her address to me).

If it seems like an odd time to get a box of flies think of this. WINTER is coming and a half full box could be a great tying project to get you to spring.

Lastly I am willing to tie flies for anyone who does not tie their own or sees something on my blog they would like to have in their box. So if you want me to tie some flies for you feel free to send me an email and we will start a conversation about want you want.

Bruce

I'm still here!

2011-10-20T10:40:00.001-07:00

Hi readers and fellow bloggers. I am at work on lunch reading many blogs and thinking that it has been a long time since I have posted on my own blog. So this short post is just to say I'm here and I'm still fishing, tying and and working. I'll try to get back again soon to give a little more detail on my life in the outdoors.

Bruce

Striped Bass Full Story

2011-09-27T20:56:00.001-07:00

Last week my work schedule was different because my co-worker was off and Friday I had the late shift. So I got up early to chase striped bass again. Since starting at Bass Pro I have been met a lot of great fishermen and they have been helping me with plugs and tides. Friday I got it right. I hit the river on an out going tide, overcast sky's and a lot of luck. After about 45 minutes of fishing I had my first missed hook set and had the plug figured out.

Then it happened I caught my first striped bass ever! It was on my 7 foot medium spinning rod with a 3 1/2 inch topwater plug. Then after a little longer I had a few more missed hooksets and started moving around a little.

I crossed under a bridge that was near by and took a couple casts. There it was number two, three, four, five and six! Six striped bass on a spinning rod and a plug but something was missing. On one if my last casts I saw a striper come up and turn back to the bottom. So I quickly grabbed my fly rod and hit that same spot and bang! My first striped bass on a fly rod.

Now the hard core striper guys will say oh those are just schoolies but I was thrilled. These fish hit hard and pulled hard for their size! If you are a fly or spin fisher and you have access to a striper fishery you need to try it. I think I am hooked and truthfully I can not wait to get back and fish for schoolies again.

The first!!!!!

2011-09-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

I told Sarah the other day I was not going to post till I finished the fly box I am planning on giving away but I did not really plan on this!!!!!

First striped bass ever! Full story to come later, because I am off to work now...

The Bright Side

2011-09-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

So, even though it cuts into my fishing time, I guess I don't mind having a full time job if I get to talk about fishing all day.

I have learned something new almost everyday I have worked here. Last week my co-worker Bob taught me to use the reel winder and I am feeling more confident on it every day. It really is not hard to use, but I was still glad when Bob left me some combos to set up.

The process of putting line on a reel. Just take your time and tie good knots.

My most recent fishing trip was yesterday. I decided to hit the salt and try to catch a blue or a stripped bass. I fished a river in the morning, but after a couple hours of nothing decided to switch gears and spots. After driving to a park about a half hour away, I grabbed my spinning rod and a snapper blue popper. I fished from some rock and did okay.

View from the rocks.

Here is one of the snapper blues(one of about six). I really would love to catch something a little bigger in the saltwater because truth be told I have caught bass and trout that would eat this fish. Saltwater fishing is a different monster. I know I need to put my time in but honestly I would be more willing to put in my time if I knew how big these things really get.

Go back into the bay and grow little one (try not to get eaten).

That is it for now friends. I will be bringing the details of my give away by the end of the week.

-Bruce

Two Weeks In Photos

2011-09-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well everyone I am still here! That should be enough but if you need some specifics I can give them. How about some photos showing what the last two weeks have thrown at me?

So Bass Pro has been good and bad, I have a list a mile long of fishing gear I want but on the plus side I have been getting ideas for new fly patterns to tie.

So after my first week was over a storm rolled in and they closed the store.

This is what we thought was the reasons we had no power for a week.

It turns out it was not the reason but did I mention we had no power for a week (okay a work week '5 days')

So I bought some materials I have never worked with and some that I just didn't want to send money on before and started tying flies by candle light.

While I was at work(with electricity) and it was slow I was leaning about some new fishing spots near where we live.

Then on about day 3 or 4 of no power Sarah was so sick of hearing out neighbors generators that she came to work and shopped in Patriot place, and we went out for dinner. I had a beer and felt smelly and stinky but refreshed.

There is my wife in front of Gillette stadium.

I found another pattern that I wanted to tie.

Then in the candle light I tied a couple along with another bass bug.


This is the other bass bug. It latched onto this candle (Oh and check out Sarah''s puzzle in the background it's the Atlanta skyline)

Then we got new furniture (because what else do you do with no power but move furniture).

Somewhere around here we got power back and I finally unpacked my glass collection into our new hutch. This was rounding out the second week of my new job and I had remembered how hard it was to fish when you have a full time job. It is a funny trade working somewhere that I enjoy what I am doing versus actually fishing. So Sunday after church I borrowed John's kayak and hit the pond to chase bass.

I did okay scoring two large mouths on a home made foam popper.

This was my good one. I caught it while standing on a rock near an island. It was really windy and with no anchor I was having a hard time setting up on fish.

Proof that it was a good fish.

Another short coming from working a full time job again is that fact that I now see my wife even less then when I was home all day. Our lives do not match up any more so Monday we both had a day off and jumped at the opportunity to see some more sites we live near. So this past Monday we when to Plymouth to hang out and sight see a little.

Thought this was cool.

We walked out on a jetty.

Saw lots of people using their boats

Walked in a cool historic section of town (by historic I am talking 1600's).


Sarah took a lot of great pictures and some of them can be seen on her blog (The Strength of Faith).

Well that is what I have been up too these couple weeks. Sorry it was a lot of pictures but I thought that would be better then me babbling on for a couple internet pages. So I am going to try to be better about writing on my blog, and about fishing a little more. Lastly look for a give away very soon.

Thanks for reading
-Bruce

Now it is Official

2011-08-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

So I still do not know what I want to do with my life. I have worked many jobs after graduating high school. Some of these jobs I have enjoyed myself, but others I have crossed off as something I really do not want to do. So when we moved to this new house I started looking for a job again. That fact by itself might shock some and might not shock others, but if you look at the list of places I applied you might laugh a little. The first three applications I filled out were in this order; REI, EMS, and Bass Pro Shops Fly Shop.

About two weeks ago I had some phone contact with Bass Pro Shops. I did not get my hopes up but after two phone conversations I found myself driving the 40 minutes to Foxborough. The interviews seemed too easy. On the interview I talked with two managers - talking about fly fishing and business are two things I can do and it paid off in this interview. I was so confident in the interview that I did not go to the truck and call Sarah, but I went to the car section and bought a Bass Pro sticker for my truck. I then went out to the truck and called Sarah and said it looked good.

After a drug test and background check I was "officially hired".

Last week Sarah and I went on vacation to a friend's wedding and I was in a haze all week long. The job is just too good to be true, I mean stand around talking, reading, and learning about fly fishing all day long. The reason I am finally posting about it is because today I went and got my badge and shirts. They also tried to break me with 3 hours of videos and power points, about sales, procedure, and what not to do at work. Well they did not break me and it is official ...

I work at Bass Pro Shops in the fly fishing department!

The view from the rooftop pool at the hotel we stayed at on vacation.

Now I need to take a minute to say I am not taking back what I wrote in Bears Den (my thoughts on local fly shops), but urge you to remember that John L. Morris (the man who owns Bass Pro) is a small business man at heart. Oh and did I mention that John L, Morris is a fly fisherman, and I am told that when he visits stores he likes to show up in the fly shops. Just something to keep in mind.

Lastly if you are ever near the Foxborough area or you are Bass Pro hopping in the north east stop by the White River fly shop and ask for me. Thanks for reading everyone.

-Bruce

Quick update

2011-08-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a week and I feel like I need to give an update so here it is. I went crabbing with some friends this past week and we caught a bunch. When we got them home I was happy to hear that only one other person liked to eat them! Lets just say I was thrilled.

This is the two of us right after we started!

Then a crowd gathered.

Then there was Saturday mornings fishing trip. I went bass fishing with John early Saturday morning and caught two bass and a couple blue gill. Neither bass were huge fish but they hit hard and put up a fight and that is all I am asking. John had a tough morning but was hooked up a couple times and at least twice had big hits on the surface.

This is one of the two look alike bass I caught Saturday

My fly fishing the salt update is simple I have been out twice and both times had switched to the spin rod. Both times I gave the fly rod a couple hours and then tried the spin rod. The only thing I have landed in these two trips has been a couple baby blue fish on the spin rod. I am not going to give up and honestly I am hoping to hook into something before it gets really cold. Stay tuned....

Bruce

Bass Angler?

2011-08-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

When we first moved to our new town I was having trouble hooking up with bass on the fly. I have not mastered it yet, but I am doing much better. This past Thursday and Friday I borrowed a friend's kayak and hit the reservoir right before dark both nights. The first night I took a spin rod and a fly rod on the kayak. I tossed the spin rod a couple times and almost every retrieve was full of weeds, so I put the spin rod in the holder and reached for my fly rod. I had strung the fly rod up with a popper and started trying to find the right retrieve pattern.

The end of the unproductive day.

After about ten minutes of trial and error I had a hit. Then the trail went dry for an hour, until finally I found the kind of water I needed to be fishing. It was almost dark when I finally got 3 or 4 strikes on as many casts, but Thursday night was a bust because I was slow on every hook set. So as I was loading the kayak I decided that I was going to get out again Friday night.

The next evening came and I was on the water again. I did not take a spin rod this time, just a fly rod and a couple poppers. Instead of bouncing around I went directly to where I missed fish the night before. The bass were not looking for the same retrieve as the night before but once I found the magic retrieve pattern the strike was on. It was windy and I was making short casts and retrieves and with less slack line the first strike was also the first hook set. After I set the hook the bass ran to deep water. I knew it was a good fish when it started to pull the kayak.

First fish was a 17 incher baby!

It was a short fight but my first thoughts of a good fish were right. After taking a picture I got my key chain tape measure out and measured it at about 17 inches. I took a look at where I ended up after the fight and the wind blowing me away and I was far from where I hooked up. So I paddled back to about the hook up spot and started a new drift. On my second cast I missed another good one. Then desperate to get out of the wind I took shelter behind a small island and caught this nice 14 inch bass.

These bass were two very different colors I think its because of the water depth

Like I said at the start of this post I have not mastered anything but I am feeling confident enough to take just a fly rod and that is a start.

-Bruce

Small Mouth BIG Fight!

2011-08-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

So we had an unexpected window to show up to a house warming party for my sister-in-law last Sunday afternoon. Sarah and I left Massachusetts right after church and made it to the party in Connecticut before it started to wind down. We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing by and in the pool.

First hook up!

Once I woke up on Monday and had a good breakfast, I wanted to fish! I hit up Housatonic River Outfitters and asked them about the small mouth bit. The younger guy behind the counter was excited about small mouth bass, he pointed out a couple flies that he said would work.

Best looking bass award goes to the Small Mouth

I hit the river with a popper. After trying a couple different retrieve methods and failing I made an angled cast up stream and there was an explosion under my popper. I was so shocked by the violence of this strike that I missed the hook set by a mile. With this I went back to trying different methods again and still could not find that right retrieve, but got another strike. I missed again but this time I felt much better about my odds.

This one might have been the biggest. About 17 inches

Then like magic I had another strike just as popper hit the water and I did not miss this time. I set the hook and after one jump the bass started to drive to the bottom. It swam up stream and took all the slack line from my hand. Then once it was on the reel and I started to put pressure on it the bass when it turned tail and went down stream. The fight slowed and the fish tired and I brought a nice small mouth bass to hand. It was about 15 inches and had great color.

They all loved the green frog popper.

The small mouth bass is hands down my favorite bass to catch . Their colors and fight make them a great sport fish. The fish I was catching in this section of the Housatonic also had the added bounce of an amazing attack. Every fish I caught attacked my popper with reckless abandon and when the hits came they were fast and explosive. After a couple hours I found that the bass were looking for a little twitch. If there was no take right as the popper landed I could intice a hit by just give it little movements over large rocks and structure.

All were great fighters!

I had a blast for a couple hours and returned in the evening to try to land just a couple more fish. The total for the day was about eight or nine fish and I missed five or six which I felt was a good day of fishing. The thrill you get from these fish is completely different then what you get from trout or other bass. It is addicting and I have been dreaming of small mouth bass since we got home. I hope I can get back to Connecticut at least once more before the summer is over.

-Bruce

She's Back

2011-08-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

Her name is Abbie (but recently there has been a problem with that name.

So after two months off the road............. My truck is back! Let me just say I have nothing against not having a car but having my truck back is great. There is something about knowing if I need to do anything I can get in my truck and go do it.

There is an Abbie at church and her sister Kella is feeling left out so. Now her name is Abbie Kella.

She was showing signs of neglect after getting back on the road. So after changing the oil, putting some additives in the oil and fuel, and a cleaning the truck was looking and running much better. I got a new tool box from a church member who was just storing this one. I made some dividers and put a couple tools in the box but I left a large space for ~~fishing~~ other gear.

My new box!

I love stickers but sometimes cars covered in them looks bad so I put these in my box.

I have had a chance to do a little more fishing now that I have my own wheels. This also means I can do some more side work or drive to potential places of employment. I also think Sarah likes having the truck back because take trash day with her car was starting to smell. Well with my truck back on the road I am hoping to get more material to write blog posts about.

I staged this shot but I normally have at least one rod in it. It would have 4 or 5 like this if I was going on a long trip.

-Bruce

Missing In Action blogger?

2011-08-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

I know I have been MIA from the blogging world lately but I needed a short vacation. There has been a lot going on with me and I have been doing my best to document it all. I will be posting a lot in the next couple weeks and hopefully that will launch me into a more consistent posting habit. With this in mind tonight I tease and tomorrow I will give you the first full post.

Here are a couple titles ;

- She's Back

- William Joseph WST waders review Part 2

- Small Mouth Big Fight

These are the first three posts I will be posting and there are at least two more that I have written for your reading pleasure. So stay tuned and I will try to entertain and inform as best I can.

-Bruce

Food Blogger?

2011-07-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

So I have been fishing once in going on a week and a half now. That one trip was a feel good trip. I did not want to be skunked so I decided to fish for pan fish. Bluegills, yellow perch and crappy bass were all there but the bluegill were very hungry.

I have been blogging but not here. Wednesday I took pictures while I cooked dinner(like my wife does) so I could be a guest cook on her blog. So yesterday and this morning I wrote up what I did and turned it over to her. She did a little proof read and posted it! This was my first guest post and I am glad she let me do it. Please head over to her blog and read about my Garlic Rosemary Red Potatoes and Chicken .

Sarah blogs about food, faith, fitness and lots of other things, So please go check out my post on her blog and while you are there click around and see what we have been up to.

-Bruce

Troutrageous Stickers!

2011-07-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

My package

I love to get stickers for the gear and places I support. When I first started getting them I only put them on my car (which at the time was a Jeep Cherokee) but after selling it I needed to start collecting again. I have thought about my new collection - putting them all on the truck would be a waste of time right now because my truck is not on the road.

But that is another story for another day.

The story for today is: How can these stickers still travel hundreds of miles and spark questions even though they are not on my truck? When I travel by car I always take fly fishing gear. I am not just talking about fly rods and some boxes either - what good are boxes if you do not have the fly that is working?

Traveling fly tying kit!

Until today this was my newest sticker and it is my favorite.

Packing for a road trip for me starts with a tool box that has fly tying stuff in it. Sometimes I do not even look at this traveling fly tying kit on a trip but other times I use it to its fullest extent. The box is turning into a place for me to display stickers and logos that I either can not put on my truck (because I don't like clutter on the windows and bumpers too much) or are already there. This box gets unpacked at houses, hotels, campsites, and the occasional stream side picnic table. Family, friends and strangers ask about the different stickers, and this normally starts me talking about fly fishing and tying. This is one of my favorite pass times, next to actually fishing.

Now my newest and it is very cool!

Today in the mail I saw this letter. I knew it was not a letter but a package. You see, Mike over at Troutrageous! put his blog's logo on a sticker, and is offering them up for free! Seeing how I love all things sticker and all things free I jumped on the offer. So I will be shamelessly promoting Troutrageous! and since there are two stickers I will have one on my traveling tying box, and my truck.
So thanks Mike!

-Bruce

I guess I am a blogger

2011-07-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a trip to CT where I helped my father in-law do some landscaping around his house in preparation for a family picnic. Thinking back on my last CT fishing adventure I decided to take all my fishing gear. The problem was I had a lot of work to do and there was a pool. So my days of work were normally followed by a swim. This means that if Sarah ever gets sick of me fishing, all she has to do is get a pool and I will not fish as much.

Now that I am back from my work detail I have a lot of work to do around our house, and do not really know when my next fishing adventure will be. On a positive note our garden is full of veggies or stuff that is not ripe. The stuff we can start eating is the lettuce, sugar peas, green beans and onions. The not quite ripe bunch are the cucumbers, tomatoes, carets, and I now I am missing stuff, but the exciting thing is we can eat some stuff.

I am still hoping to do some saltwater fishing sometime soon, but for now I need to get this place in order. Our yard looks like a hay field and my desk is a mess. So maybe by the end of the weekend I will get a rod in my hand and start to target some local pond fish.

Lastly I can not believe I am saying this but I missed blogging. I said in the past that I really do not think I am a blogger, but I missed it. Another thing I missed was keeping up with some of the blogs I like to read. So I am going to be catching up on Arizona Wonderings, Small Stream Reflections, This River is Wild, Troutrageous! and the list goes on but these guys get a lot of my attention. So I have some cleaning, job hunting, blog catching up, fly tying and fishing to do in the next week so stay tuned.

Sorry for my disappearance over the last week or so but I am back and will be blogging about my fishing adventures again soon. Until then maybe I will have some other adventure to blog about.

-Bruce

Bear's Den (my thoughts on local fly shops)

2011-06-23T05:39:00.000-07:00

So I like to find local fly shops and support them as much as I can. I will not lie - I do shop at the big chains like Bass Pro and Cabelas but you get something at the local small town shops that you can not get with the big guys. If you look on the side bar of my blog you find the local shops I support whenever I am near them. I do not really seek them out, but either find them by chance or hear about them from other fisherman. With this post I hope you at least stop in at your local shop and pick up a couple things.

When I was growing up in PA the local bait shops and fly shops were the places to find out what the fishing was really like on local waters. As I got into fly fishing I found that these shops are a compilation of a time machine, a history book, a how-to guide, a lecture hall and - at times - a place to sling the thick stuff (aka tell tall fishing tails). They also sell everything the big guys sell and if they do not have it they will order something special just for you.

Today I wondered into a fly shop called 'Bear's Den Fly Fishing CO'. I am not going to lie - the name is really cool and I was worried that the store would not do the name justice. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the name matched the shop well. It is located in the basement of what I think was a vet's office (the truth is I did not look at the sign very well I was too excited to be at a local shop). I walked downstairs and turned the corner to see a small space stacked floor to ceiling with fly fishing and tying gear and supplies.

For my first visit to the Bear's Den I picked up some basics, but found tons of things I wanted to buy. Be proud of me Sarah I didn't buy a lot more then I needed.

The Bear's Den has more tying materials then I have ever seen in a fly shop. They have tying materials that until this point I could only find online. If you are not in the southeastern area of Massachusetts but have a fly tying item you need I would strongly recommend you check out their website. The website also has lots of great fly fishing stuff as well. It also has a discount section so be sure to stop in and see what they have on sale.

Now the actual shop has a lot of saltwater stuff. I am a trout guy, and I found only one tippet spool that was higher then 5x and it was fluorocarbon which any fly fisher will tell you can really break the bank. Now this is not a knock on the den and truth be told I might have missed some because they had so much stuff. The reason for all the heavy leaders and tippets is how close to the coast they are - you can get to saltwater in ten to twenty minutes.

Their proximity to saltwater brings a lot of anglers who are targeting stripers, blues and other saltwater fish of the northeast. As someone who has only really fly fishes for trout, panfish and the occasional bass I am looking forward to giving this saltwater stuff a try, and a shop like this is my first step. What I have found from other fly shops is that these are the places to learn how to fish. The people who work here and the regulars who shop here know more about the local water and fish then anyone else. So by shopping here and talking to people I am hoping to lean enough about bay and ocean fishing that maybe I will be able to hold my own.

Here is the list of fly shops I love to visit because I know you have not looked for the list on the side bar yet.

Slate Run Tackle Shop

source

This is where I got my first fly rod. Well my first was a gift - this is where I made my first fly rod purchase.

Housatonic River Outfitter

This shop is near Sarah's parents house and I tend to stop in anytime I am in the area. The people in here are tops they will drop anything they are doing to help you out or just talk to you about the local rivers.

The Fish Hawk

Source

source

This is an Atlanta staple if you are a fly fisher and you find your self in the Atlanta area be sure to head on over to Buckhead and pay the guys in there a visit.

I needed two shots of the Fish Hawk because all the frontage shots you can not really tell what you are looking at. This was one thing I really loved about this place, you were stuck in the heart of the city. Right on Peachtree Street, at 5 pm this street was bumper to bumper traffic.

Bear's Den

The door on the left leads to a flight of stairs and into the shop. Source

This is my NEW local shop! I plan on becoming a regular here and as I will be doing some saltwater shopping, questioning and learning from these guys. I did not have a long discussion with the guy in the shop yesterday but it was enough to make me think I could learn to catch something in the salt (sorry salt water anglers I do not know the lingo).

The photo selection of Bear's Den is slim, but this is definitaly the center piece of the actual shop. It is in the middle of everything and it is easily 25 feet long filled with flies. Source

So please check out these shops web sites and support your local fly shops! It is my belief that if you support local fly shops you are keeping an important piece of the sport alive. Not to mention the fact that you may gain that new fishing partner, learn a new technique or pick up that secret spot.

-Bruce

William Joseph Old School Satchel Review

2011-06-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

For years I have had a fishing vest at the ready, and it would have everything I need for trout fishing. Growing up I would set this vest up in late April or early May right around opening day of trout in PA. I kept the vest on a hook or a hanger and would grab it as I was running out the door. In the last few years my attitude toward the vest has changed. While living in Atlanta and fishing the Chattahoochee I found that a vest was just to hot to wear and ended up putting boxes in my pockets or using a small chest pack. The problems I ran into with these methods were, I either ran out of room and took too few boxes or I took too many boxes and felt like a baby rattle walking around. So I started looking in the internet for something different. I was almost sold on a waist pack when I found this Satchel that is made by William Joseph.

Thanks to Sarah for these great shots of the Satchel. It was like a little mini photo shoot for it.

At the time I was talking to a representative at William Joseph about the waders that I received to review from Outdoor Blogger Network. They offered to send me the satchel at a discounted rate in exchange for a field test and review and I could not refuse! I received the bag before we moved to Massachusetts and have been using it ever since.

These boxes don't even take up half the space in the main compartment.

The William Joseph Old School Satchel was what I settled on and after some extensive testing the verdict is out. I am tough on my gear and anyone who goes fishing with me can attest to that, so I wanted to give this thing a couple months of testing before a review. It came in the mail at the end of March and I have been testing and putting this thing through the paces ever since. I tried very hard to find or take issue with this bag but I have been overly pleased with it.

Under the flap on the front is more storage for extra boxes.

This bag has a vintage look and yet it is anything but vintage. The satchel has a huge main compartment that I leave open or put my camera in. This big main space can hold a packable rain jacket, your lunch, bags of rubber worms, or if you have about a dozen extra boxes or flies you will have space for them in the main compartment. If you are thinking, "Okay, a big bag with a huge open space - so what is great about that Bruce?", that is not all it has. The satchel has mesh pockets inside that keep everything organized. Also the outside of the bag has a two pockets for boxes, leaders, tippet spools, or any other tool you can think of.

This is the back of the bag that I keep a stream side note book, a knot book and my licenses.

The deceptions between vintage look and modern function does not stop at the storage compartments. It continues to the strap system. There is one main shoulder strap that you can throw over your shoulder like a messenger bag. This single strap cuts down on sweating that you will have from vests, chest packs and even waist packs that need to rest directly on you. If you need a little security, William Joseph put a buckling waist strap to turn this satchel into a waist pack as well. Now all this strap talk leads me to the bonus feature.

The safety pin and license is an add on by me but it works perfect.

I read a couple reviews about this bag, and no one mentioned this bonus feature but I hope I am not the first to figure it out. While on my second fishing trip with this bag I found that I needed to tie a blood knot and was kind of far from the bank to go sit down to tie it. With my old vest I would have put the rod on my rod holder across my chest and tied the knot without the fear of dropping the rod. I thought that this would be the one big complaint but as I unzipped the bag I found the solutions. As it turns out when the satchel is opened most rods fit in the space securely and the satchel supports the rod while you tie blood knots, nail knots or even study the water to match the hatch.

It is hard to show how the whole thing acts as a rod holder but here is my best try.

Since March I feel like I have given the Old School Satchel plenty of good tests, and it is has scored high marks in every situation I have put it in. As a bag on small streams it is great because it will carry all the gear you need and more. On rivers you can put the waist strap up higher on your waist or chest and keep it out of the water, and it is its own rod holder. I have even used it as a boat bag. While on a boat and a canoe I put rubber worm bags and a bunch of spin fishing boxes in it (on top of my fly stuff). So let me say William Joseph hit another home run with this one. The Old School Satchel is a perfect blend of old and new and I am not sad to say that I think I have hung my vest up for the last time because of it.

This shot was taken a while ago as a teaser to this review. Since I took this shot I have caught dozens of trout this size and bigger. The idea of putting this picture last is to show that it's in the same shape as it is now (the pictures above).

-Bruce

Disclaimer:
The William Joseph Old School Satchel was given to me at a discounted rate for field testing and a review. The thoughts and opinions above are my own with no outside influences.

The Continuing Adventures

2011-06-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

So my life has been non-stop for about a week now, and I have not checked in. I know it must be bad when Sarah called me up to the living room yesterday to say "Bruce you have not blogged in a while." Honestly I did not miss my time away from the keyboard but today is a cleaning day (6 days of traveling and 2 fishing trips in the past week and a half has left the house a little messy) and with all that cleaning I have had time to think about what to say. First let me say that my wife did a great job recounting two of the events.

A cool picture Sarah took on her iPhone of the farm country I called home for so many years.

First was my sisters graduation. I have not said it on here yet - Congratulation Steph! You will do great on the next step of your life. My wife shared this event on her blog in two posts and here are her two links, please go read about my wonderful sister's graduation, and see a little of where I came from. (Hard Work Pays Off) (Graduation Sneak Peak).

My beautiful little sister.

Next I had an anniversary, 2 years of marriage to my wonderful wife Sarah. The thing that makes me laugh and also makes me think she understand my fishing obsession is that Sunday night (the night before our actual anniversary) I was asked if I wanted to go try to fish for Striped Bass the next day. I carefully thought through the next day and asked Sarah if she was going to the office, then if she wanted to go out to eat, and then I said, "Would you mind if I went fishing on the bay till dinner?" Fully expecting to have to work for this I almost started in with my defense when she said sure (and the good sure not the one with undertones of no). So here are her accounts of the anniversary of our marriage. LOVE YA HUN! Rehearsing Anniversaring; 2 Years; More Wedding Pics; and lastly after hours on a boat cutting bait and catching nothing Anniversary Dinner

I have never been a fan of the finger point but Sarah loves this picture and truth be told there are worse pictures of me.

So now for a quick word about the fishing in this long span of time since I last posted last. We went to PA for my sister's graduation, but another perk of the trip was that my brother was home from Wisconsin for the same reason I was home. We grew up fishing for trout and other fresh water fish together, and we were fishing partners for years. I do not remember many fishing trips as a kid, teen, and even the first couple years in my twenties where Jay was not along. Then I moved to Atlanta with Sarah, and started fishing alone. I have been fishing alone ever since, and the truth is that first bass adventure with John a while ago, was the first time I fished with anyone in a long time. Jason and I fished together last Friday. We fished a spot we had fished together countless times as kids and we did well there, missing and catching some fish as we moved up stream. Here is my wife's take on my brother and I fishing together again. If you don't click over to read the post maybe do it to see the picture of the crappy Jason caught it was huge! (Temporarily Single)

These were phone pictures and so this first fish needed two shots.

This wasn't a bad little stocker, I put him back in hopes he outsmarts the gangs of people who were on the stream that day.

Then we went to another spot where he and my did fished a pond and I hit the stream. I did good on both streams I fished that day, and was shocked that the streams have not really changed a lot over the years. It was nice to have a fishing partner again but Jay and dad wanted to call it a day, when it started to get hot, so I followed them home.

I got nothing but browns all about the same size.

Until hit the other stream where I caught 3 of these little guys who were about 5 inches of so.

I think they might have been hold overs from last year or very early in this season because they had all their fins a the colors were great. Check out the red on the top and bottom of this little guy's tail.

Once we were home I convinced Jay to come help me try to land a carp (it is a goal to hook one on my fly rod). We when to a local pond where carp were everywhere and after spooking a bunch I had one take my fly where I promptly ripped the fly right back out of its mouth. Jason had no hits at all and after an hour it really was hot so we went home. Needless to say I miss having a regular trout fishing partner and will most likely never really have another trout fishing partner. I am planning on going to see what the fishing is like out his way at the end of the summer, and I hope that he can come here and fish with me sometime in the future.

This leads me up to the last two days. Saltwater fishing......

Just a couple days later I was looking at this... Saltwater and lots of it!

That could be all I have to say about that, but I guess I will give a little more detail. In the last two days (Monday and Tuesday) I went fishing with John and his brother Brian for stripers. Brian has a nice Sea Fox (center console boat mainly used for fishing) and we went in the bay looking for striped bass. ~~On my anniversary~~ The first day we fished for a couple hours but the tides were wrong and a storm was rolling in so we quit before any action. So the next day we went out again. After leaving the dock at 5:30am and hit some tried and true spots where John landed the only Striper of the day, which was too small to keep. We changed spots a couple time and still no good striper bites but now a rain storm was coming. After talking about quitting the Peter (the 4th of the 4 of us) convinced us all we needed to stay out a little longer. We changed tactics and started trolling and I am sad to report I lost the only fish we had while trolling.

Picture of Striper is coming

Finally we decided to do what would be best for our fishing pride. We decide to fish for Scup, which I am told are the sunfish of the sea in these parts. After a good boat ride we got to a spot I was told we would catch them. We were not there long before Peter landed a Fluke big enough to keep. Then we started to catch scup and by we I mean everyone but me. John, Brian and Peter all had scup, John also had a black bass and I was starting to think I was doing something wrong. Then I landed a fluke, and about 3 or 4 scup on just a couple drifts and that restored my faith in saltwater fishing. Needless to say we wished we had gotten some stripers or blues to show for almost 12 hours on the boat, but I think we all had a good time.

Now with a surf rod I am borrowing from my dad I think I want to try to catch some more of these saltwater fish. So stay tuned because this summer I am planning on putting in the time and effort to try and learn how to saltwater fish. I might even try to do some salt water fly fishing!

-Bruce

Joy

2011-06-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

Nothing to say about an amazing valley view.

We were in Connecticut Sunday evening and most of the day Monday because we were going to a memorial service in NYC. We did it so we would not have 6 plus hours of driving all in one day, but I did not complain because it meant we would be near some really fine trout streams and rivers. I had grand thoughts of hitting the Housatonic River and trying to catch some monster trout, but the weirdest thing happened on the ride to the river. The mountains were electric green and looking alive and all my thoughts of landing a monster trout on the river faded.


That first fish but the picture doesn't do it justice.

I had a complete change of heart and suddenly felt the need to reflect on a much smaller stream. So I went to a small mountain stream that I did not fish at all last year. It is one of my favorite streams near Sarah's parents house for many reasons. As I parked the car and strung up my rod I could hear the stream down the trail and right then the reflecting started.

One of many delicate releases this day.

This guy might have been a new addition to the stream by the state early this spring because the color was not like that others I caught the rest of the day.

This stream is kind of special because I fished it the second time I came to visit Sarah and her family in CT. That same weekend was the first time I met the lady who's memorial we were going to. Then a couple years later I took my brother fishing on the steam, the weekend my family came to visit Sarah's family (because we had just gotten engaged). There was also the week of our wedding where I fished it alone as an unmarried fisherman for the last time. I fished it alone because my brother could not be in the wedding due to some obligations he had to the Coast Guard (he had just gotten out of boot camp and needed to report) and the trip was going to be just him and I. Looking back that was the last time I fished that small brook that tumbles down between two mountains until this past Monday.

Up till this fish that had all been much smaller.

This is the only rainbow I have ever caught out of here, and the picture again doesn't show the colors the way they were. He had a lime green back, and a neon pink strip and when he was in the water it was an amazing sight.

I have never been skunked on this stream, I fished it in a downpour once and still managed to land two small brook trout. So it was only fitting that after I tied the ausable bomber (Thanks Small Stream Reflections this is my new small streams go to) on and made my first drift down the left side of a pool. A small trout came up took that fly off the water like it was the first food it had seen all day. I spent the better part of four hours Monday morning reflecting on that stream and fishing of course. I caught countless trout and even managed to land three of the biggest fish I have ever caught on this stream. Truth be told all those other fish did not matter because with that first one I was instantly filled with joy.

Saying good bye to the big bow. This was now the biggest fish of the day.

Joy. I remembered why I love fishing for native and wild trout. They are beautiful, smart, fast and joyful. With each fish and each memory I smiled bigger and at some point near the end of my fishing trip with mosquitoes and flies dive-bombing me I started to laugh because I was still catching trout and did not want to leave. Now as I am scratching those bites on my arms, hands and neck I am reminded of how great morning adventure it was.

Two casts later in the same small pool was this beauty! Until I landed this fish I didn't believe fish this big would be up this stream as far as I was, because I was in skinny water at this point.

On my 15th or 20th last cast I landed this fish and my ausable bomber was losing it's tail and a piece of hacked was dangling from the back.

Now I am looking forward to the next adventure on my National Take Me Fishing Week Tour: My home waters back in PA. My brother will be home from WI and I hope to get out fishing with him at least in the short time I will be there.

-Bruce

National Boating and Fishing Week Underway

2011-06-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

So after I wrote the post National Boathing and Fishing Week the writer of the blog Small Stream Reflections left a comment saying that he plans to do the same thing he always does (fish as much as possible). I plan to do that same thing, but the part that makes this week different for me is the fact that I will be traveling and it happens to fall on a week that is meant to promote fishing and boating nation wide.

In my post I planned to kick this week off by taking my wife fishing for free fish day again (second year in a row). We borrowed a canoe and hit the water, and instead of me putting a couple pictures around a nice story maybe you just read my wife's account of the afternoon. She posted this on her blog and it is a great telling of what happened on Saturday afternoon. The title of her post is Free Fish Day. Be sure to look at all the pictures, she is talented with that camera and I have been trying to get her to come along and take more fishing pictures for me.

Well I hope to post a lot this week and maybe that will help my posts stay really consistent for a while. Stay tuned for a really successful trout fishing trip, the trip was successful on more then just a catching fish level so come on back for find out more.

-Bruce

Home Field Advantage

2011-05-31T05:40:00.000-07:00

So I have been spin fishing again. For the past four years the only rods I owned were fly rods, and all I have done is fly fish for trout and pan fish. Since we moved to a place where trout fishing is not the norm, I have been trying to figure out how to consistently land bass on my fly rod. This challenge is proving to be a tall order for me for some reason (I guess I just think like a trout most of the time).

This was our fishing buddy for part of the afternoon. (it's a Cormorant)

In an effort to figure out what types of flies I am going to need to consistently land bass, I bought an old cheap spin rod to chuck rubber worms in the meantime and I have been fishing with John, a member of our church. You may recall my post on how I am still a fisherman first - on that trip I caught a lot of bass and one big one. John caught four or five big ones, but nowhere near the numbers I was catching.

This just goes to show that I catch bluegill on everything, even a giant bass hook and worm!

This past Friday, John had a day off work and the weather was amazing, so we loaded up the bass hunter (a cool little boat for still water fishing) and hit the water. As nice as the day was, the fishing was kind of slow. I hooked up with a big pickerel, but as it tangled itself in the weeds and rolled around it cut my line. It was a good sized fish and kinda threw me for a loop for the next couple hours.

Meanwhile, John was in the back of the boat hooking up with some bass and pickerels and doing well. I was having a bad day for catching fish, but honestly, bobbing along on a pond with the weather in the high 70's and a breeze, I was fine with just being there. So finally on a cast next to some lily pads, just as the worm hit the water there was a thump on the other end of the line. I set the hook hard and hauled in a bass that was the size of the fish I caught last Sunday. A nice, healthy, big bass and I felt much better about my day. After checking the power on the battery the captain made the call to start heading to the truck. We were getting near the rock I caught the big fish off of the last time we went out and I got a knot in my line and was not able to cast to it.

There it is! The only bass that I got on the boat.

So John lobbed one toward it, and I looked back just in time to see him setting the hook (in same hole I caught my monster in less then a week ago). As soon as he set it we both saw a big splash of water and as he got it to the boat we realized just what he had on the other end of his line. My fish last week was a hair over 15 inches and a little over 2 lbs. The lunker John hauled in Friday was close to 19 inches, and weighed a hair over 4 lbs. (4lbs 2ozs to be exact). I guess if you fish a body of water long enough you get to know the fish and end up catching big ones on a more regular basis.

Here is the monster fish, and the guy who has home field advantage on this pond. Maybe I'll put a fly rod in his hand and stand him in a trout stream sometime to show him that I can fish for something just not bass.

All in all John fished like a champ on Friday and probably caught close to 20lbs of fish. I guess sometimes it pays to have a little home field advantage.

Well done John, but next time I will land the monster.

-Bruce

Do your part! (Monomaster Reivew)

2011-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

I was fishing this morning and this evening and with little fly action on the water I only managed to trick a couple fish. Truth be told I just felt the urge to chase trout again, because I have been spending more time on the ponds lately.

After fishing two of my go to spots around here I continued to notice something that kind of set me off. In the morning I picked up a pocket full of scrap line people had thrown on the ground. Then this evening I picked up some power bait jars, worm containers, and another pocked full of line, all in the same spots I had been fishing this morning.

I know a lot of people who fish, and do not want to believe any of them or any of you just throw your trash and slack line on the ground. The thing is someone is doing this and it just drives me nuts to think people can not just pocket the stuff until they get to a trash can. Pockets what a wonderful invention, the least we could possibly do is fill them with other peoples trash. If you do not want to fill your pockets with the line for fear that you will forget it and end up running it though the wash machine how about a gadget?

I normally carry a plastic bag to collect trash and line while I am walking to and from the car. Over the winter I bought a Monomaster to collect all the line people throw on the banks. There are two things I love about this new gadget. First is, it is simple but effective. Second is a result of the first, that is I pick up all the scraps I see because I enjoy using it.

So weather you go out and buy a Monomaster or you just start carrying a plastic bag with you, please try to do your part and help clean the shore lines.

Monomaster In Action from Sarah Weaver on Vimeo.

On a side note, my wife said I should try to do some small less wordy blog posts so followers are not always bored to tears from my ramblings. So I might try to just add some short posts with a couple pictures through out the week. Also I have a couple gear review that I have been neglecting and plan to get them cranked out in the next couple weeks as well.

-Bruce

I'm Still a Fisherman!

2011-05-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

That is right I am still a fisherman and this weekend was a prime example of how I am still a blogging rookie. Saturday morning I went fishing with John and Kyle from our church. We only had a couple hours in the morning, but John and Kyle are from here and took me to a local spot that they knew we would have some luck at and helped me out with some spin fishing tactics.

We started out catching crappies, I caught two right out of the gate and was feeling good. Then John got one and we kept moving. As time was running out John caught a couple small bass and a couple small pickerel. Then it was time to get the boat out of the water and head back to the house.

Sounds great right? Now that I recapped the morning there would normally be some pictures of the trip right? Well here is where my rookie status comes in - I had a camera in my gear bag, and never took it out. In theory, I did not catch that lunker so it really does not matter right? Well yesterday after church and a post church clean up day, John asked if I could get out and fish again, and I said yes before even thinking about my evening plans.

Once again time was limited but we had a good two and a half hours and so he took me on another great guided trip. We hit a different body of water this time and once again I was out of the gates fast. He was still putting a hook on as I was setting the hook on the first bass. I hit a bunch of little bass in the first half hour. Then John got in the game with a bigger 2 pounders and a couple pickerel. We both went cold for a couple minutes and John moved us to a spot that he promised would have plenty of fish. Once we got there he put another big bass in the boat. I missed a couple, got some knots in my line and John started to catch more fish. Finally I was back to fishing and he pointed out a rock that always holds fish I missed a couple off of it before we moved on.

After some hits off a rock I decided to fish a big rock at a new spot. I cast my rubber worm out and let it sink a couple seconds, then gave it a couple twitches and gave a big hook set (the kinda stuff you see on tv shows). After setting the hook I thought that maybe I got stuck on the bottom, but then there was a head shake and I knew it was a good fish. I started to work it to the top and John was very helpful reminding me that "it would be a shame to loose a nice fish like this one".

I got it to the boat and admired it for a minute, then measured it to be a little over 15 inches and weighed it in at 2 lbs 13 oz. By far the biggest bass I have caught in over 4 years - but did I think to take a snap shot of the big guy? NO! Does this make me a blogging rookie? Yes.

One thing this weekend showed me is that as much as I think I am a blogger, the truth is I am still a fisherman first, and sometimes it is fun to just fish.

I do not regret not taking a picture of these fish because I had a ton of fun, and after thinking about the spin techniques that worked all weekend I think I can dream up some fly patterns to do the same. So stay tuned for that.

-Bruce

Pond Fishing 101

2011-05-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

So I have decided to start pond fishing as a challenge (because I have been nailing the trout lately). Plus I know more people who pond fish in town then trout. So two week or so ago I got some rubber worms and took my spin rod for a trip. I caught that pickerel and a couple perch. Since then I have been doing poorly, missing fish and getting skunked. So last week I took my fly rod with me, and caught a ton of bluegill.

This was the first and smallest


All these guys were taken on a damsel fly

And they all hit like a ton of bricks.

Well the problem with catching all these bluegill is I am hoping to catch bass, or perch. I am stumped because I have been to the pond 4 or 5 times now and nothing but big bluegill. Granted they are big bluegill, but they are not the fish I was hoping to catch. So all you warm water fly fishers what am I doing wrong? Or do I need to get on a boat or something? Try some stuff further then a cast away from the shore.?

I guess I need more practice, and maybe that means just spending more time at the pond.

-Bruce

New Look

2011-05-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

So my wife and I have been working on my blog, and though it is not finished the changes are underway. Please take a minute and read the new welcome, check out some new pictures, and do not forget to check up on some garden posts Sarah has been putting up. The transformation should be finished by the end of the week since it is going to be rainy and ugly here till at least Saturday. As for other changes I want re-think the tabs at the top, and I will be fixing the Outfitters and Online shops pictures to make them blend with the background.

Other posts to look forward to are a couple reviews (the William Joseph bag, and the Redington Putsuit). Also I am learning to warm water fly fish, and really starting to love the damsel fly nymph. Along with this warm water fishing comes some tests on the vise, so I will show you the different damsel flies I have tied. Lastly I will be doing some surf fishing starting in June so stay tuned for some saltwater action (hopefully I won't need to wait that long)!

-Bruce

National Boating and Fishing Week

2011-05-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

So I am very excited about national boating and fishing week (June 4-12) this year for three reasons and here they are.

Reason number one, is I will be taking my wife fishing on ~~either~~ both the 4th and 5th of June as these are the free fish days here in the state of Massachusetts. She is the reason I starting a blog and I plan on taking her fishing one or both of these days, as a little you share my hobby I share yours thing. There are a couple nice ponds we can picnic at and she and I will spin fish from the shore.

Reason number two comes from the fact that we already have some plans for that week. We have an event in New York City early in the week and we will be going there by way of Sarah's parents place in CT. Which means I'll be fishing here in MA and CT, but it does not end there because my sister graduates high school at the end of the week. This means Sarah and I will be traveling to PA as well and I plan to have a rod and reel on that trip as well.

Reason number three plays off of the fact that I will be in PA. While I am in PA with my family I will be able to ask my mom and/or dad to go fishing with me like I did as a little kid. We have not fished together in years and I think it would be nice to fish with them again. They are the ones who taught me to fish and who bought me my first fly rod, so maybe I will even try to teach them some fly fishing skills.

So that is my plan for national take me boating and fishing week, what is yours?

-Bruce

My Week In Fish

2011-05-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been over a week since I posted anything, but if you look at the garden link you will see I have been working on the garden a little, and I have been fishing as well. Sarah asked me the other day why after catching two new species and trying a new travel method I have not written about it. Well here are the cliff notes version of the week.

I spin fished a reservoir from the shore early in the week, and landed two new species (Chain Pickerel and Yellow Perch). The other thing that is new is that we are back to being a one car family for about a month. We did this for two years in Atlanta and did just fine so we will make this work till we get the cars and licenses switched to the new state. In the mean time I grabbed my new bag, and my Redington and my TREK. That is right, it is peddle power for about a month. Okay enough typing here are some pictures of my week I caught a lot of trout but only took pictures of a couple of them.

This month's mode of transpotation!

The waters are tinted red/orange here and I think that is why the fish are darker here.

Cahill is still a very popular fly

OKAY friends does this fish look wild or was it stocked this year?

Got this guy on a spin rod, but I'll be on a boat/float tube soon, and that's when I'll be throwing flies at them!

Perch!

This was taken with my phone, and this trout was taken on a quick trip one evening this week.

NEW FEATURE!

2011-04-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

So I feel like my blog is getting a little flat and now that Holy Week and Easter are over I am going to get Sarah to help me do some changes to my blog. Nothing major but something to freshen it up a little and maybe weed out some of what is not working.

Speaking of weeding the first change is going to be easy and it is already started. I have started a garden here at the new house and Sarah and I will both be writing about it from time to time. She has put two posts up and there is mention of the garden in both of them.

I want to give a little insight as to why a garden and why I am going to name it Aunt Verna's New England Garden. My fathers aunt Verna is like a grandma to me and my siblings. She lives in PA and has lived in the same house for as long as I can remember and at this house she has a garden. Verna's garden is a large vegetable garden and it is always full of goodies. The garden is amazing and so is she. A woman in her late 80's who plants a lager garden and meticulously tends it daily. So needless to say I have eaten lots of veggies from her garden and hope my own garden can emulate hers.

My garden is named Aunt Verna's New England Garden because I want this garden to be an extension of my aunt Verna's garden here in New England. I am hoping that with her name attached to my garden, it will have a good yield she would be proud of. I plan to call her sometime soon and explain my garden and her connection to it. Also I plan to talk gardens with her, for years I cut her lawn and we always talked gardens, weather and what she would plant and grow each year.

Now for the new blog feature, on the left side of the blog there is a picture of a tomato I grew on the deck of our apartment last year. This year I have a large garden outside in the dirt, a rain barrel, garden tools including rubber boots and I want to document it! So Sarah and I will be blogging about it as we go and it will be full of ups and downs I am sure, but as my aunt Verna always says "we do the best we can"

Enjoy
-Bruce

Evening Action

2011-04-26T06:24:00.000-07:00

So last night with less then an hour to go before sun set I grabbed my bag, and a rod and headed down the street a little more then a mile to the spot I caught trout the other day. It had been years and years since I could just grabbed my gear on a whim and headed to a small stream to try my luck The town we moved to has fishing close by and it is all medium to small streams. I excel at medium to smalls, for a lot of reasons but mainly because I fished water this size for over 20 years before moving to Atlanta.

Last night was simple I grabbed my bag and my 3 wt and when to what I am going to name the bridge hole. I jumped out the the truck slung my bag on my shoulder and took the rod out of the case. Then stream side I strung the rod up and tried to keep one eye on the water. The bug action was less then my last trip but there was still some action, and I saw a couple spots where fish were taking flies off the surface regularly.

Once I was strung up I stripped a bunch of line out and landed the best roll cast I can remember doing in a long time. It was a strong loop and when the loop stopped the fly dropped ever so softly onto the surface. Then almost instantaneously the trout came to the surface and sucked the light Cahill in. I set the hook and the fight was on, this fish ran up stream toward a bush that was hanging over the water. I have been shore fishing so I did not have waders to walk into the water to defend against getting tangled in the bush. After a couple tense moments I got the guy around the bush and pulled it ashore to my waiting wet hand.

Sorry about the water spot on the shot but I was excited to have a fish on my first cast!

Another beautiful brook trout, full of energy and some dark colors. The rest of the time till sunset was filled with me missing dry fly hits, because I think I was day dreaming or something. I love being in a small town with unique small waters to fish when ever I have an extra half an hour. Now it is time to figure out how to fish for stripers because that season is just around the corner!

-Bruce

Back to the Water

2011-04-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

So today is Good Friday, and it was a good day for me. Sarah had an at your own pace, come when you have the time, self reflective service written down that you could go to the church and read in the sancuary. Then there was me who picked one up, as I was headed to the stream to try to catch some trout. These kinds of services are great to do outside and to do it stream side made it that much more meaningful. Here is her service if you want to know what it looked like.

Now for what I am sure you paused at and thought 'He said last Thursday that he would have a license within a week and it has been a week and a day'. Well sorry for the delay but the house needed to be cleaned and I wanted to get some gardening and yard work done. Also drivers licenses are expensive here in MA. Well to make a long story short I bought both a drivers and a fishing license today and with in 5 hours I was fishing.

I took lunch to the church for Sarah (that is when I got my Good Friday service to put in my pocket). We ate sandwiches and talked for a while, then I stopped the conversation with the question "sooo some church members said that small dam up the street gets stocked with trout right?" to this Sarah said go ahead and fish. So I did and it was good (see that, it is a little church joke).

This little dam had lots of bugs raising off it and then fluttering around and falling back down. I was excited when I saw that first ripple of a trout eating a dry fly. The flies were very big and dark so I started with my biggest parachute Adams. After a while I quit with the Adams fly and then continued to try everything I had in both of my dry fly boxes. So I sat down and read that service, and looked out at these fish eating the flies that I did not have and was okay with it. I caught one of these flies as I was leaving and it turns out I should have been throwing a Trico or a Spinner which I had neither of.

I was not ready to go home but I had done all I could do at the dam. So I stopped at a bridge on my way home, and the same hatch was coming off there. This hatch was not exactly the same it had some Cahill and some Caddis mixed in. This was the ticket I was only at this bridge for less then an hour but I pulled out three nice fish.

First was a nice healthy brook trout

Next a darkly colored brown


Lastly was a little brown

Just like that the hatch died and the wind picked up. I was tired and hungry so I decided to call it quits. Had the hatch still been going strong I would have thought about this for a while, but it just died so the decision to leave was easy. When I caught the last fish I was able to stage a shot that I am going to use as a teaser for a future post.


This is the tease shot.

So just above that rod is a trout and above the trout is a new piece of gear that I have been testing. I really want to take it out couple more times, but it is looking good so far. Keep an eye out for the full review sometime in the next week.

-Bruce

New Home New Setup

2011-04-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

I am without a Massachusetts drivers license, which I need to get a resident fishing license, so to keep busy I have been setting up our new house. Since this is our second move in the past 6 months you would think I would be a pro at setting up a new house. Well that is not exactly true, each new space has a new set of problems to over come, such as rooms too small, rooms too big and then there are problems like where do I put my desk?

The last house we were in was way to big for us, but we loved having a guest bedroom, yoga room, her office, my office all on top of the basics. Well this house is more like the size two or three people should be living in and so there is not room for a outdoors room (man cave). The other thing we found when there was room for me to have my own hobby room was that Sarah and I would email, chat or text each other. This seemed stupid to me, so we spent lots of time hanging out in each others room.

That takes us to the new house, where we have a room that is the right size to share an office. So after talking the pros and cons out we decided to have a shared office space. Basically Sarah has an office at the church and will be using it more then her home office. So we most likely will not be bothering each other, plus it is nice to talk to someone as you are tying dozens of flies.

With the the area explained I am going to put a couple pictures of my work space, but along with them is going to be a question.

How do you organize your desk if you have one? Most of the drawers have tying materials in them and there is one for junk, but I still feel like it look cluttered. Should I get over it or should I look to make it even more organized? If it was your space what would you do?

Now for some good news.... I think I am going to go try and get a drivers license tomorrow, which means I will be fishing again soon!

A BIG Weekend

2011-04-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Sarah and I traveled back to CT where we lived for 4 months while she searched for a church. We spent an extended weekend there and had friends and family coming in to see her ordination. Friday I had one task and that was to bring pastor Kim (our pastor from GA) from the airport to her hotel room. Once I delivered her to the hotel I had a few hours to relax before I met up with her, Sarah and another friend for dinner.

So I hit Housatonic River Outfitters to talk cfs's, clarity, and bugs with the guy who works there. He was helpful and gave my options to me like this: "If you want solitude stay around here and fish the Housatonic, and if you want a great chance at catching fish drive to the Farmington". Then we got to talking about stocking, water temps and catch and release. As I walked to my truck I made my mind up that I would go for solitude tonight.

I fished the Housatonic and did not see another soul, but still had a good time. Once I was on the water I spent some time relaxing. I finally made a cast only to miss a hook set. The rest of the night I could not find another fish, but I made up my mind that the next day I would get up early and hit the Farmington.

source

According to the plan I got up on Saturday and drove the 45 minutes to an hour to the river. As I pulled up I understood why the guy at the fly shop said to come here. The current was moving very slow compared to the Housatonic and the water was gin clear. With these great early season conditions and the fact that it was Saturday, there was a person in every hole. It was my good fortune to find a space to fish. So with my new 3wt rod I tied a bead head prince nymph dropped off the back of a AZ Wonderings Hopper. It is very early in the season for a hopper but the spot had a fast under current and I wanted to make sure the indicator fly stayed up.

It had been a while since I fished a swift hole like this, so it took me a couple casts to get my wits about me. Once I had the feel of the new rod and the idea of where I should be drifting my rig, I stared hitting my spots and making good drifts. Then I made a cast a little further into this current and the hopper disappeared and I instinctively set the hook. Almost instantly knew I should have used my 5wt. My poor new 3wt rod was bent in a U shape and the fish was glued to the bottom. This trout fought hard to pull up stream and then tuned down and I had to chase. As the trout pulled down stream it was taking line from my rod and I was looking for slow current to guide it to . I finally found a pool and guided the trout into it.

Once it did not have the current to help take line, I started to make up ground on the fish. I brought the trout to my feet twice and both times it shot out and ran toward the current again. Both times I stopped it before it could drag me further down stream. Finally I backed myself to the shore and found a mud bar to guide the fish onto. As I got it close I realized that it was a big brown and two things dawned on me - first I should have used a 5wt and second I should have had my net with me.

Since I had played this fish so long I did not want to spend a lot of time taking pictures because I did not want to stress it anymore then I had already. I drug the big brown onto the mud bar, and knelt down next to it. As I removed the prince nymph from the big guys' top jaw I looked it over and knew my day was done. I laid the fish down next to my rod so I could get a shot of how long it was, and then gently took it into the current and let this beauty swim away. The fish was not phased at all, because it returned to the fast stuff and just did not show signs of stress which made me just as happy as the catch did.

It had been at least 5 years since I have caught a trout like this. I was over joyed about it and I was a mess for the rest of the day. Basically nothing could take me off the high horse I was riding, I remember saying 'it does not matter I caught a huge fish today!' as my answer to almost any question asked of me. Now that I have caught a big fish my juices are flowing fast and heavy and all I want to do is catch fish. So with that fact stated I need to get a MA fishing license. Until I get a new license I will not be fishing so my mission is to have a license by this time next week.

-Bruce

Rev. Sarah Weaver.........

2011-04-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

There is an exciting fishing story to tell about this weekend but have not written the post yet. This is not going to be a long post, but a congratulations to my wife who was ordained into the UCC yesterday and who is now officially official . Honestly Sarah put it best when she said words can not explain what all went on yesterday so here is her post with some pictures and a few simple words about it.

Here is her link go check out Sarah's blog to see pictures of the service.
Laying On Of Hands

This week on Outfitted for Life.................................... The biggest fish in I have caught in 5 years, if not all time!

-Bruce

William Joseph WST waders part 1

2011-04-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Love the logo

I finally understand why people spend a lot of money on waders. I have never spent a lot of money on waders and thanks to OBN and the connections they have, I did not need to spend any on these . A short history of my wader past can be summed up quickly I started with rubber waders, and that was followed by my first pair of neoprene waders. Neoprene waders are relatively cheap and since my brother and I fished, hunted and trapped in the PA winters they kept me warm. When the summers would roll around I would slip on my rubber hip boots and they would do the trick for the summer months.

Some real excitement in the air when I open a box of new gear!

Now my eyes have been opened thanks to these William Joseph WST waders and OBN. There is another world of waders out there, not rubber, not neoprene but some fabric that keeps water out but still breaths. It is early in the season and if these waders would not be new I would probably still be using the neoprene for warmth. The fact is they are still new and I was very excited to give them a go. The day they showed up I grabbed my new 3wt rod and took off to a small stream.

Sometimes I swim Against The Current

These waders are wonderful they breath very well. I had jeans on under them and the truth is I felt like I was wearing only jeans. Yes they kept me dry while I fished that is what waders should, but big question is did they pass the "Bruce test"? Well I had a chance to try them out on some small streams in CT in the past two or three weeks and they have held up well thus far. I picked two streams that offer two different challenges.

The honest truth is I fished the hole before staging some photos.

The one stream has large rocks and boulders that are tough on the knees of most waders. These WST waders have reinforced knees and the inseams are cut in such a way that you have full range of motion for climbing and crawling over large boulders. The other stream had a lot of sticker bushes, and some very deep wades. The stickers did not grab the material and did not poke holes in it either. Then there was some of the areas where my only option was to wade through some very deep water and these waders did great.

Do they look convincing?

The inspiration for the name WST is the most interesting function of these waders. WST actually stands for Wader Safety Technology, and this is an intigrated floatation device. If you use waders a lot you have probably slipped and fell but 9 times out of 10 you just stand up and have some water in your waders. These waders are equipped for that one time when you can not stand up or the current grabs you and take you down stream fast. If you find yourself underwater or being swept down stream there is an air bladder around the chest of these waders that is filled by a Co2 cartrage. Here is the situation you are on a river you have never fished before and you step onto a rock that is very slippy and fall in over you head. You are underwater and the current is pushing you down stream and water is filling in your waders but lucky you are wearing WST waders. You simply find the red rip cord and pull like you life depends on it (and if you were in this pickle it would depend on it), the Co2 gets punctured and the bladder fulls with air and you float to the surface.

Sorry it got blurred because I tried to zoom this one after the fact.

To sum it all up the William Joseph WST waders are a great pair of waders. Comfortable, breathable, with a full range of motion, and the Wader Safety Technology for peace of mind. If you are not the kind of person to spend your money on waders, maybe this will be the pair you finally break down and buy. Not only will you be buying a great pair of waders, but you will be buying peace of mind for that one unfortunate time you go under.

My only advice for waders and wader boots is about size chats and buying online. Both waders and wader boots have size charts that are made with some kind of math equation that has to do with height, weight, eye color, and month you were born. This equation is not always reliable so my advice it to go to an outfitter and try them on first. If you can not find the exact waders you are going to buy online at least try on the same brand so you understand how the sizes run(for these particular waders I would say to buying a size bigger then your first thought).

Took this by accident but I kinda like it.

Okay so there is one thing left to do, I want to truly test the WST system. This summer I will jump into my in-laws pool and test the rip cord. This is why I titled this post William Joseph WST waders part 1 because part 2 will be a video post of me using these waders in a pool.

OH yeah did I mention that you can really look the part when you wear quality gear, and that it outfitted for life!

Disclaimer:
The William Joseph WST waders were given to me free of charge for field testing and reviewing. The thoughts and opinions above are my own with no outside influences.

PACKING

2011-03-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hello followers,
I am alive and I will be blogging about my new waders after our move. This is the weekend Sarah starts at her church, and we move into our new house. With the move and the fact that we are still packing, I have not had a ton of time to write. So I am writing now telling everyone that, you will not hear from me till Sunday afternoon at the earliest. Have a great rest of the week, and I will tell you all about the move and the waders early next week.

Thanks for reading

-Bruce

I should be packing

2011-03-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Last week I packed two boxes and was instantlly sick of it. So my plan was to come home from work today and maybe hit a stream for a couple hours before I really getting some packing done. This plan however was not well thought out, because even though today was the first day of spring we had cold, snow and rain all day. At one point there was two inches of snow on the driveway. Needless to say I slid home from work and ended up taking a nap.

This photo is what my mind has been saying about the packing that needs to be done.

After waking up I decided to find the counter in the kitchen so I did some dishes. If you have not noticed the trend for the day, basically I avoided boxes and packing like the plague. After dinner I used my in-laws tread mill to start my training. This spring and summer I am planning to run a couple 5k's and some trail runs, and I thought that the first day of spring would be a great starting point.

Some good looking signs on the map.

Some other things I have been doing to keep from packing are;
1) Scouting bodies of waters in the town we are moving to by map.
2) Trying to find blogs of people who fish in the eastern part of Massachusetts (if you happen to be a blogger in this area please comment so I can follow you, and you do not need to fish trout)
3) Lastly I have been trying to plan a couple more fishing trips, because I have a review coming!!!! (those William Joseph waders came last week and I want to put a good review out for everyone)

-Bruce

FISHING!!

2011-03-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

It has been a really long time! Yesterday I went fishing, which was a big deal because my fishing had been put in limbo status when we moved here. With Sarah getting a church, and my part time job I felt good about getting an out of state license for CT now. So with my new license in hand I arrived at a mountain stream that is normally a little smaller then it was yesterday.

So I started taking pictures about a half hour after the excitement ended.

I was very excited to be fishing again. Along with the fact that I was fishing, I was excited to have a new license, a new rod reel combo, new waders (which by this time next week I will have a good review for), and some freshly organized fly boxes.

Here is a sign to show that spring is coming or does this mean it is here?

After jumping into my waders and stringing up the new Redington I made my way to the stream. The first thing I did was sat down on a rock and took a good look at what was happening on the water. This stream normally runs lower and less stained then it was yesterday but it was still fishable. I decided a Zebra Midge dropped from a Small Stream Reflections recommended Ausable Bomber would be a good starting setup.

Took this shot after one got away.

My first cast was a little rough, it could be best decribed as klunky. The second was great, I loaded the new rod and unloaded a shot putting the dropper very close to the spot I had been looking at. As I watched the rig drifting down the small riffle I spotted a shadow dart from alongside a rock. The shadow went right past the midge and nailed the bomber. I instantly started to laugh as I set the hook and with a little resistance I brought a beautiful little five or six inch brook trout to hand. With the laughter and excitement I took the fly out of the top of the trout's jaw and reached for my phone (to take a picture) but he wiggled his way out of my hands. I was not able go snap a shot of the fish but it was a story book start to the afternoon.

What do you think? I think the new setup looks good?

Sadly that was the only real excitement. I missed a couple fish on nymphs and had one hooked that shook loose. Honestly I really did not care, because on the second cast in this state I hooked and landed a brook trout. I am excited to have my CT license and the weather forecast for the next couple days looks great we might be hitting the 60s the next two days. Perfect weather for some really small stream action. I will keep my blog posted on any/all trips I take in the next couple days so do not for get to check back again soon.

Thanks for reading
-Bruce

Hidden Talents

2011-03-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

So this winter seems to be never ending. The fact that I have not actually gone fishing in months has been good for "the fly box overhaul of 2011", cleaning and organizing my gear and acquiring new gear.

A little more then a week ago I thought I would get out and fish. Well, with a couple days of rain in a row, the creeks and rivers swelled from their banks, started washing over streets and then started to carry houses away. So needless to say I did not even attempt to fish last week. But I have my fingers crossed that the mountain streams will be down in the next couple days and I can at least take my new 3wt for a spin.

Now maybe you as a blog reader are saying "Bruce you need to blog about these things so we can see what you are doing" - well that is my bad. I have not been good about it but fishing season is coming up and hopefully my blog will be chalk full of trips. Until then I will be showing off more flies, and maybe some hikes (because the weather has been nicer - that is when it is not raining), and I have been kicking around the idea of a giveaway!

Let me show you what I do when I go bug eyed after tying too many size 22 dry flies. The short background story is one of my best friends gave me a Dremel tool as a wedding gift. He handed it to Sarah and me and then said sorry to Sarah because he knew it would be mine in five minutes (I used it on our honeymoon, but that is another story for another time). So I bought some diamond tips for it and started playing with glass etching. I have etched glasses as gifts ever since.

This is the one I made for Sarah's blog thing. Oh and if you wear dresses today is Tuesday put one on.

In the last week I made this set of small water / juice glasses with a trout theme and one for Sarah and her women confidence initiative called "Wear A Dress Tuesday". When I finished the glasses I was pleased with how they came out and after showing Sarah she said I should make a set and give them away. With the fear of a flop giveaway being my first thought, I felt I would show them off and see what people think. I could do a couple with flies, some fish and the name of your blog (it could be anything).

These are the other 3, a brook trout, a rainbow after a dry fly, and a streamers.

Some nice angled shots, thanks to my photographer (Sarah).

Better look at that streamer, all of these are done free hand so they are not perfect.

This is not officially a giveaway but if you all think this would be a good idea please let me know and I will post an official giveaway.

-Bruce

The Lost Week

2011-03-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

So you might be saying to yourself where the heck did Bruce go? Has he dropped off the face of the earth, or maybe those floods in CT washed him away?

Well I am here and the floods might have tried to take over our basement, but we fought them back and I'm still here. First let me explain that I have not posted this week for a couple reasons. The first reason is I was riding the excitement of Sarah's job, I was riding that thrill till Wednesday. I am just very excited and proud of my wife! So instead of turning this into a full three days of singing my wife's praises I opted to just tell her, my family, her family, and some friends how great she is.

Then there was the rain. We have had a little water in the basement and I have been cleaning it and trying to prevent it from coming back (with rain in the forecast tonight we will see how I did). Also rain related problems are my morning commute. I have been working a part time job, but it is a morning shift starting at 5. My normal twenty minute drive has turned almost thirty five plus. That means I have been getting up earlier and instead of blogging in the afternoon I have been napping.

Lastly it is the start of Lent so I have been to church a lot this week. There was the call sermon on Sunday, then Shrive Tuesday with pancakes after, and lastly ash Wednesday. So this week really did not lend its self to a great blogging week.

I did find time to tie a couple flies, and today I took some pictures of my boxes nearing the end of the filling process. If you have been wondering how a person could have so many boxes and so few flies, it is because I went through them in the fall and purged them of all mangled, rusted, and worthless flies. I tried to save any hooks that could be saved, and mainly just wanted to get my boxes looking nice and being more on the functional again.

This one needs a couple parachute Adams, and three more BWO's

There is always room for streamers. I am constantly trying new ones and removing the junk.

I keep thinking I'm done with this box, but that is not true. Hairs ear bead head, more brown stone flies, and I want to figure out a good Crane fly Larva pattern to add.

This box is fun. I've got some of everything in here. Some AZ Wondering mini hoppers, some Small Stream Reflections inspired Ausable Bombers, two sizes of Royal Wolf, Henryville Special's. I am going to add some stone flies and a couple Goddard Caddis.

Now to wrap this up I want to thank Foul Hook for my newest box. I am not sure what I want to fill it with but for now I put some carp flies in it. One of my goals for this year it to bring one of these "golden bones" to hand. Last summer I was on the fish, but could not even get a fish to look at my flies. Here is the box, I really like it! The color is a little wild for my taste but if it use is for carp maybe it will be lucky. Oh and it came with a sticker. That is a huge bonus because I love brand stickers (I have them for my rods, and cloths on my truck).

Good looking box don't you think?


Still learning about carp flies so this is kinda a work in progress.

Okay everyone I am back.

-Bruce

The NEWS

2011-03-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

To some this may seem like a lot of build up for not a lot of actual news, but my wife (The Reverend Sarah Weaver) was accepted to her first church call. So at the end of the month we will be moving again, from here in CT to Rehoboth, Massachusetts. She is going to be serving Rehoboth Congregational Church. These are exciting times for Sarah and I, our families, the town and church in Rehoboth.

The proud new pastor in front of her church

Of course I am looking at all my new and exciting outdoor activities, and looking at maps of streams in the area. I have checked on fishing licenses and regulations. Also I have talked to some church members who either know about places or people who fish. I already have offers to be taken on a stripper fishing trips to the cape (which is less then an hour away)! Also I will have some new opportunities to teach people to fly fish, and maybe keep the sport going...

SO to the people of Rehoboth Ma thank you so much for welcoming us. Sarah and I are very very excited to be part of your church family. To you folks who read this blog regularly (if there are any of you) you can look forward to reading how I find and fish new waters!

I love this shot, this is Sarah in her church office. I think there is room in the corner for a fly tying vise ; )

Lastly Congratulations wife you worked really hard and your pay off is a wonderful church full of wonderful people!!!!

Friday afternoon tying session

2011-03-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

So Friday after noon I sat down to tie flies. I have plenty of flies that needed to be tied, but I was in the mood to crank out some streamers. I have a fly wallet that I keep them in and it needed to be updated. I love streamers, and if I am not working a hatch or my nymphs are not working out, a streamer will normally do the trick. There was a time when a marabou streamer was my first and last fly of the day. Actually a black and white marabou streamer got me my fist trout on the fly rod. Well here is Friday afternoon's work.

This is my version of a cone head zonker minnow

Here is my play on a black nosed dace

This was me playing with a little flashabou and the back nosed dase

Here it is a black and white marabou streamer just like the one I caught my first trout on

The famous Mickey Finn, a staple in my streamer box/wallet since day one!

Another streamer that has been in my boxes since day one. The Black Ghost

This is a leech pattern a wise old fly fisher taught me.

This is my dace again, and Sarah was working on an artsy shot for me. What do you think?

Okay everyone, tomorrow is the BIG announcement. So stop in, in the evening and there will be exciting news. Until then enjoy the pictures and if there are any streamer patterns you can not leave home without what are they?

-Bruce

Short Hike on a Sunny Day

2011-03-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

So today after lunch I decided to see how the snow melt was going, and it is going well. The sun was out in full force today. The temp was in the mid 40's and I am sick of sitting in the house. So I had my wife drop me off at one of my favorite trail heads, and I spent two hours trying to find hard snow to walk on. The soft snow was still between mid shin and knee deep, but I did not care anymore, I needed to get out of the house. The walk took me along a stream that I was told has native and wild trout in it. So this walk was part fresh air and part scouting mission. My camera is worthless at this point and a new one will most likely be a late spring to early summer investment. For now I am going back to my phone as a camera it does well enough as long as I keep it clean (it was not clean today so the shot is not great, oh and the sun was making for a tough picture).

Bright sun makes for a hard picture but I did not care this was too nice to pass up

Well Spring is coming, but there is still a good 15 inches to deal with in some areas. Maybe I will head to PA and do some fishing soon. I am very ready to get out on the water again. On a side note, I have not mentioned this yet, but I won a fly box in a give away last week. So thanks to the Foul Hook blog for the new box and when it comes I will take pictures and try to fill it. I already have an idea of what flies I want to put in it.

Okay it is late and the new work schedule has me up a quarter of 4 and out the door by 4:30 am. Do not forget about Sunday's big announcement.

-Bruce

Shout Outs Anyone?

2011-02-27T17:08:00.000-08:00

First let me say that lately I have not been blogging a lot for a number of reasons. Actually I could do a long post on why I have been slacking. I am hoping by writing this post tonight I will regain my momentum for the week. This post is all about giving three guys a shout out!

First is Owl Jones and his new and improved site http://www.owljones.com/. This guy makes me regret not getting into blogging when I first moved to GA, because I feel like if I had known about him, our paths would have crossed once or twice. Anyway I know about him now and his site always makes me laugh, but still provides some fishing insight which is why I read these things in the first place. Go check him out........ OH and the man can rap!!!!

The second is Ben over at Arizona Wanderings. This was the first blog I started reading regularly, and the first I added to my reading list. Ben is a great writer and has posted some of the most well written posts I have read on the net. He has a deep love for fishing, but also posts on others thing like hunting, cooking, fly tying and his rambling reviews are great if you are looking to buy a piece of gear that he might own. The reason I was drawn to this site was because AZ is a state I have always wanted to visit, but never wanted to live because I thought there were no trout there. I was wrong - there are and Ben has mastered catching them.

The last but definitely not least is one I just started reading. The title drew me into this one - it is called Small Stream Reflections. I am some what of a small stream junkie. People cannot understand why fish 5 inches and less give me so much joy, but really the fact that they are wild or native is just amazing to me. Alan gets it, and last summer when the small streams were all too hot and in the danger zone he stopped fishing them. He respected that fact that the fish were under enough stress and went after the lunkers in the nearby dam fed river. Lastly Alan does amazing work at the vise, he is someone who keeps the Rangeley Style streamer alive. This is something I would like to get into, and he seems to have lots of knowledge on the subject and is very skilled at making and using them.

Alan I tied a couple of these Ausable Bombers' because you speak so highly of them I hope they produce. Does it look okay?

I read only 7 or 8 fishing blogs on a regular basis and will showcase the rest another time, but for now go check these guys out. Lastly I wanted to send out a little teaser about a post that will be coming up on Sunday. There will be big news coming Sunday, and the ramifications of this announcement will forever change Outfitted for Life. So......... Stay tuned.

-Bruce

p.s. I owe my readers one post on the light Cahil.

Looks Good Bro!

2011-02-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

First let me say sorry for not getting to my Cahill post faster, but I have an update from the great lakes instead! My brother Jason has sent me pictures of some of his winter successes. Actually he needs his own section on my blog, because he always does well in his adventures. He got a really big buck this year, and has been keeping me up to date on all his ice fishing trips as well. Here are a couple shots of him and his fish. Maybe if I can get some regular stories and pictures from him I will give a more regular update on all his outdoor adventures too.

A couple of nice looking yellow perch, he says they are about 14 inches. The only real comment I get about this picture is that they were about 14 inches and that he and a buddy got them somewhere in northern Michigan.


Here is a small pike.

Well the wheels are turning about this little Jason section, but for now this is just an up date from my brother in the midwest. Thanks for the pictures bro, keep up the good work.

-Bruce

Yesterday

2011-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Two of the size 20s on the right is the Light Cahill and the left is a parachute BWO.

At some point yesterday I sat down and started cranking out dry flies. I had been tying them before but only in spurts. Yesterday though I got on a roll, and was unstoppable. I sat down and knocked out a good thirty plus dry flies. I was tying mainly BWO's and Light Cahills, and the master plan is for me show how to tie a Light Cahill in a future post. I was really thrilled with my progress on this fly box yesterday so I needed to share.


It might not look like much but this box was as barren as a desert when I stared yesterday.

As I said I will be highlighting the Light Cahill pattern in an upcoming post. I hope everyone in the northeast enjoyed the wonderful weather yesterday. It was unseasonably warm yesterday and along with tying lots of flies I took a rod out and had a little casting practice in the back yard. Yesterday was a good day, and there are more to come as long as the weather continues to show signs of spring.

-Bruce

Nymphing and Zug Bugs

2011-02-17T10:09:00.000-08:00

The first of the flies I am going to show is another nymph pattern. Sometime in my three and a half years in Atlanta I figured out how to catch trout on the nymphs. So I am sorry for the high nymph content lately but I found it to be a highly effective way of fishing even when the fish were not hungry. When I fish I always start with a nymph, but will abandon it for a dry fly faster then a vegetarian who found out the veggie burger is really beef. I have spent days on the river where the dry flies never came, but I nailed the trout on nymphs.

Nymphing can be as in depth and precise a dry fly fishing with respects to matching bugs in the water to patterns in the box. It can also be dumb down which is the method I try to use. I like to have a couple patterns to cover a wide range of bugs I might find. By using peacock herl for the bodies you can cover lots of colors. The herl will give your fly many different colors from greens, reds and yellows and even a silver shine. Many of these bugs have very pronounced tails and so this is the second thing to keep in mind when setting up a simple but effective nymph box. The funny thing about nymph tails is that they do not change as drastically as the rest of the fly does in its short lifetime. So in the world of nymphs there are no tails, two tails, and three tails. If you cover those bases and pair tails with the right colors you can have a great nymph box with less then half a dozen different patterns.

One of my favorite chameleon patterns is the Zug Bug. This pattern often passes as caddis larvae and cased caddis, but I have also fooled fish that were feeding mayfly larvae with the Zug Bug as well. I tie my Zug Bugs with three tails so that is why it can pass as a mayfly from time to time. So this fly is a work horse on the water and very easy to tie.

I am told Zug Bugs can be used to catch carp as well as trout.

These photos show step by step how to tie a Zug Bug. A step that is not pictured is the weight. After putting a base layer of thread down I like to put some lead wire down and wrap the gaps a little. You can see some of the lead in the second picture also, in that picture you can see I tied in three peacock herl ends for the tail. Then you need some more herl for the body, and a little silver tinsel for ribbing. Wrap everything toward the head but before you finish you will need to tie in a mallard flank, and some red saddle hackle. Pinch them both back and finish wrapping a head in. Trim the tail and the wing case, and I like to add a touch of head cement to my non bead head nymphs. I do like to tie a couple bead head versions of my nymphs just to add more shine, weight and variety to my nymph box.

With all this nymph talk I think it is time to start showing some dry flies. I have finished tying all the normal dry flies I like to carry. Now all that is left is to tie a couple strange dry flies, and then move on to some streamer patterns. My winter tying is coming to an end and with a couple warm days in the forecast maybe this winter is finally coming to an end.

-Bruce

Got you nothing for Valentines day

2011-02-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

This is a little preview for things to come starting with some flies. I am always surprised to get complements on my fly tying from other folks who fly fish and tie. In the last couple weeks I have gotten a couple comments from other bloggers complementing how nice my flies look, and some from my friends who do not blog. So with the cold of this winter I have been doing a lot of tying, and not enough blogging. My fly boxes are filling rapidly at this point, and I think it is time to start blogging more. So until the spring thaw comes I will be doing posts on fly tying.

The other exciting preview comes in the form of some new gear coming my way. William Joseph WST waders to be exact, this whole thing is being facilitated by the wonderful OBN. I am very excited with prospect of new gear just ask Sarah, because I just stopped jumping around the house five minutes ago. After it really set in that I was getting the waders Sarah asked what I will do if things are still frozen here? Well that is easy I will be driving to PA and fishing there a couple times. Sarah had an exciting day as well because her blog (The Strength of Faith) which has become a fairly popular food blog was accepted into the Foodbuzz featured publisher program.

With all the excitement of the day and us both having a lot of luck I was thinking I should maybe play the lottery. I did not play it, but I still have time to get to a gas station. When we finally sat down for dinner and as I looked across table at her I said "hey Sarah I didn't get you anything for Valentines day, sorry". She looked at me and said "I didn't get you anything either", then we both laughed a little, and went on eating. All the great news we got today just had us so excited and happy that laughing was all we could do. Well as I said at the start of this post check back a couple times this week because I will be posting some fly tying posts.

-Bruce

I'm Snow Crazy

2011-02-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

For the past couple weeks I have been tying flies inside as it snows and blows outside. I spent all last week in my outdoor room tying flies. Currently I am tying dry flies and am proud to say the nymph box is about finished. I have no picture of the finished product as of yet, but some shots of it filling. Sometime in the past week it hit me that I am going through major fishing withdraw. It started with me reading some old blog posts from some of my favorite fly fishing bloggers. Old posts from May, June, July and August about trout, bass, and carp fishing. Then I started watching online videos of people trout fishing in New Zealand, the mid west, and even Ireland.

With my progress at the vice, and all this fly fishing media I have been taking in lately I am starting to crack. I have even been dreaming of fly fishing for trout and carp in Pennsylvania and Connecticut and who knows where else. These dreams were crushed again this morning when I woke up to find another two inches of snow outside. So this morning I moved my fly tying stuff to the basement and watched some movies while tying flies. After my second movie I was starting to feel like I needed to get out and do something and that is when it hit me.

The coffee table in the basement has lots of room for fly tying

Now understand I am in the process of getting a job. Actually I am just waiting on them to call me and tell me when to come in for training. So this afternoon while waiting for them to call I decided to be creative and play in the snow. Then it really started to brew, a plan was hatched. I was going to get my fishing in one way or another. I grabbed a shovel and some other snow gear and headed outside. The nice thing about making your own fish is it can be huge!

Large fish

After making this fish all I wanted to do is catch it, and catch it I was going to do. I figured this would make a great target for some casting practice, so I ran inside and grabbed my rod. Remember how I said I was going through withdraws well maybe I should have said I was starting to crack. All this snow and ice and being stuck inside for days without fresh air or sunlight is simply starting to get to me. I really need to go fishing and this afternoon I did and caught the same fish a couple times. Honestly I do not care if anyone thinks I am crazy, because this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed myself in every part from the brainstorming, to painting, to putting my waders on and throwing a piece of yarn at a snow fish. Actually I am hoping to start a trend, so if anyone needs me to come out to their house and make a couple snow fish just let me know.

Something to break up the drag on another snowy day.

Note the blue water around me and the fish

Started out as a kinda stunt, but after a couple casts I took the casting seriously

Sarah took the pictures and zoomed on on this one but it was a good 35 yard cast.

This fly fishing stuff is a sickness and the honest truth is I really do not want to be cured anytime soon. In all seriousness I love winter time but this is getting a little crazy. If we are going to get hit by more snow I am now officially requesting that it hits us all at once and then starts to get warm slowly. There are fish in these frozen waters and I am starting to go crazy not being able to get to them. So if you like to fish you might understand where I am coming from and if you do not fish I hope you got a kick out of me acting like a child this afternoon.

-Bruce

Snow storms and fly boxes

2011-02-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

Here is an update on the snow and more importantly the fly tying that comes from being stuck in the house for days on end. Yesterday from about nine in the morning till one in the afternoon I sat in my room tying flies. I had the TV show M*A*S*H on my latpot and my nose to the grindstone. I breezed through some prince nymphs and then moved on to some hares ear nymphs. Those two patterns are standards in my nymph box. All that is left to do with those patterns is a couple bead head versions for a little variety and added weight.

an empty rough looking box

I was sick of working those two patterns and started looking at some of the flies that I had in the box from the season. The few flies I had left were either looking very rough, or ones I have not mastered at the vice. When the snow stopped I worked on clearing the driveway. The whole time I was shoveling I was thinking about the flies I tied last year and how they could have been better. Lately I have been thinking that I could be better at the vice or at least push myself to try new things. Last night I took a razor blade and cut the material off from some of the rough looking flies in order to save the hooks. Then started looking at some of the stoneflies and figured I could dumb it down enough to tie myself and make effective. I slept on that notion last night.

this is a half finished stone fly

When I got up this morning I tied my first, and it looked okay. Then I tied a couple more and I am pleased with what I have. Only time will tell if it looks close enough to fool a trout but at this point I know I can tie stone flies. As I sat at my desk eating a toasted peanut butter and marsh mellow fluff sandwich I noticed the wintry mix stopped. I am feeling good about this pattern, and feeling good about my nymph box. With a couple hours more at the vice I will be done tying nymphs for spring. So fellow fly fishers I have a question, what nymphs do you like to stock your boxes with? I like to keep my nymphs simple, because I would rather catch fish on dry flies. With two boxes full of dry flies of different shapes and sizes, I want my nymphs to be simple and versatile. So for those of you who fly fish, some input on other good nymph patterns is welcome. If you are from Connecticut and there are some area specific patterns you can let me in on I would appreciate that info as well.

this box is almost done

-Bruce

Where it all happens

2011-01-30T15:08:00.000-08:00

I had a busy week and the fact that I had a busy week coupled with the fact that I did not take my computer to New York City with me in the middle of the week means my blog suffered. With great hopes of updating my wish list and putting up three new posts last week, but what I did is just sad. In an effort to start this week out right I am doing another OBN prompt. This time it is a photo prompt so here is the photo tour of where I write my blog. Since I am letting pictures do the talking (and the captions) I will let you know that this week I plan to do better then last.


This is my desk, where I can write, tie flies, and a lot of other things. There is a window facing the woods on my right, and the room has all my rods, guns, knives, and anything else outdoor related.


This is a better shot of everything right after I set it up for the first time.

-Bruce

Whiskey

2011-01-24T18:50:00.000-08:00

A started drink

So a while back I reviewed a beer that I said was a great summer beer, Dogfish Head. In the post Peanuts, Hot Dogs, COLD BEER! I mentioned that seasons bring change so do my tastes. It was summer then and a beer was a refreshing treat after work or with a meal. Well in that post I mentioned liquors and one of my favorite things is to sit down and tie flies with a glass of whiskey or whiskey drink.

Sarah made this for me the moment it was open

When we were still in Atlanta my friend Gilbert got me a gift. Gib is getting me into single malt scotches and so he got me a bottle of Laphroaig. Laphroiag is something he and I tried for the first time at a pub in Atlanta called The Brick Store Pub. The pub is known for its imported beers, but it also has a unique and special selection of whiskeys and scotches. On one of the visits Gib made to Atlanta I took him there and he pointed out Laphroiag to me. We talked about it over a beer or two and then I asked the bartender if I could smell it and he let me.

nothing like a 10 yr old single malt

Smell scotch? Yes, I wanted to smell it because the bartender and Gib told me they use blue peat(moss) in the distilling process. Which means it smells very ~~dirt~~ earth like. The taste has the same earth tones you get when you smell it. Much like the beer review I will not try to sound like a pro, but I will say that this scotch is not something for starters. It has a strong bite, and the earth tones do not calm it but in some ways make it stronger. It is very interesting stuff and if you have a taste for scotch you should think about adding this to the collection for the unusual factor alone.

the first glass poured

Winter is a time to stay warm. It is a time to read a book in front of a warm fire. This is the time of the year to tie a lot of flies, and to keep warm with a glass of whiskey. So fill up those fly boxes and try to keep it to one small drink before bed.

a sad looking fly box waiting to be filled

-Bruce

The Starting Point

2011-01-21T05:55:00.000-08:00

I am going to flash back to my most recent trip to Pa, again. We were celebrating Christmas and I had gotten a new rod. Then on the trip to Bass Pro that followed, I bought the line I had been eyeballing. Lastly while we where there in Bass Pro I was given one more present which turned out to be a Pa fishing license. I am a non-resident and for the past three years I have been living in Atlanta, so I really had no need to buy a year worth of fishing in a state I visit two may be three times. Now I live a little less then two hours from the state of Pa and right around four from where I grew up. So when my dad said 'do you want a Pa fishing license?' I said yes.

A few posts ago I complained that I need to get my new drivers license so I can buy a fishing license for CT. That is still very true but I do feel better now that I have a fishing license and I plan to use it as much as possible. Hopefully once a job is properly landed I can buy a CT fishing license. I have also been thinking about maybe NY and/or MA as other states to look into getting licenses for. Right now only time will tell what states I will be fishing in, but this is a great starting point for the year.

-Bruce

Winter Bucket List

2011-01-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

So the truth is I really do not have a bucket list, and if I did I doubt it would be divided up into season. With that fact out in the open there are lots of winter sports I want to try. This past Sunday I did one of them and so I can strike it off my list that is not real. Sarah, her sister Bethany and I went snowshoeing. I do not read a lot of blogs but a lot of the people in the north east who have been lucky to get a ton of snow have been snowshoeing, and writing about it.

My reasons for wanting to snowshoe are not from these blogs, but they did not help in the matter. I really do not know why Beth and Sarah wanted to go, but it was cool that we all wanted to try this sport. The reason I wanted to try it was partly because for years growing up I heard my mom say how she wants to try snowshoeing. For a few years I did not agree with her, I wanted to snow board, ski, snowmobile, even try those dirt bikes with the spiked weeks you drive on ice but snowshoe, why? Somewhere along the way I changed my tune. In the past two weeks I have been sending emails and facebook pleas to friends, and family to see if anyone had a pair of snowshoes I could use. Then last week Sarah got in on the action and put it in her blog how I wanted to try this sport, and a day later a church member let us borrow his.

With the two pair of snowshoes we borrowed from Dr. Kamm and Bethany renting a pair for twenty bucks at Housatonic River Outfitters ( Sorry Beth and as soon as I get a job we'll pay you back or rent and you can use the borrowed ones) we were off. We had two trails in mind both as flat as we could find and both heavily traveled. When we got to the first, a truly flat trail by a river we saw a ton of cars and lots of cross country skiers. Then we made the call to see what the other spot looked like. There was not as much traffic at this place so we strapped in and took off.

There was a nice snow pack from people who had been snowshoeing and cross country skiing here before, so it made for easy walking. There is a rhythm to snowshoeing, and when you are walking on other peoples tracks the rhythm is paired with constant balancing. When you step on another persons track you some times slide a little, but not letting the slide mess with your rhythm was the key for me. None of us had poles, which from everyone I talked to about it are optional. I can see where they would be a great help, but also know I got a work out with just the walking in the snowshoes and I would bet poles would add to the burn.

We hiked maybe did two or three miles grand total, but for the first time out this was a good walk. I am hoping to do a more challenging trail in this week as long as we are still borrowing the shoes. After snowshoeing I decided that I do not really need the other winter sports and if I never get the chance to do them there will be no loss. That being said I will never turn down the chance to do other winter sports, and actually hope I can try skiing or at least get back on a snowmobile sometime.

I plan to add snowshoes to my wish list. I think they might be a great way to get to those back country fly fishing spots when you want to do some true winter fishing. Plus I love to hike and get out in the the wilderness to clean my head sometimes and snowshoes are the ticket. The gear is simple, and if I had a pair of them I would bet I would turn to them all the time. If you have ever thought about trying snowshoeing and have not done it for what ever reason lots of outfitters rent them. I would recommend renting a pair and trying it out, and then when you return them that same outfitter would most likely be happy to sell you a pair. Go out and have an adventure!!!!

-Bruce

NEW ROD AND REEL

2011-01-13T07:41:00.000-08:00

As a Christmas present this year my mom and dad got me a new rod and reel. It is almost the same as the one I put on my wish list a while back. My parents gave it to me in sections, mom handed me a rod tube that said Redington in white letters. After I had put it together and started waving it around mom tossed me a box. It felt like a reel box and when I took the wrapping paper off, it was the reel I was planning on pairing with this very rod. So there it was the basic rod and reel I wanted for months now.

If you go the the wish list and look at what I wanted I also had a fly line picked out. The same day I got the rod and reel my brother, dad and I went to Bass Pro where I used some Christmas gift card money to get the exact line I had been reading about. In one afternoon I went from having a self built combo on paper, to actually having it in my hands. There is nothing like getting a new rod and reel, it is an amazing feeling to hold a new outfit and dream of all the trout it will land. This combo will be landing many wild and native trout because it is a 3wt, and will stay on smaller waters most of the time.

Now the day after all this excitement I took it on a little test fishing trip. The waters were all cold and aside from a couple skittish brook trout and some suckers they had no fish in them. I really just wanted to test the line and rod as a pair. The cast was very smooth, and the line lifted off the water very easy. These two worked amazing together for all kinds of casts, false casts, roll casts, and even a shot cast I use in tight spots.

The rod is a Redington Pursuit 3wt. The rod I was looking at in my wish list was an 8 footer, but this one is a 7 foot 6 inch which in hind sight is probably better because of how many small streams I tend to fish. Also the shorter one is a 4 piece where the 8 footer is a 2 piece rod. The 4 piece rod is better because most of these small streams are back country and require a hike. Now about these 4 pieces, when they are not put together casting and catching fish they are tucked away in a smartly made rod tube. This tube has a built in divider which keeps all 4 pieces from rubbing and hitting each other. The whole thing is a nice little package and it will travel very well in all kinds of traveling situations.

Now for why Redington, well it is a simple story and it only took 8 or 9 years till I owned my own. Somewhere around 8 or 9 years ago in upstate PA my family was on vacation with my uncle and aunt. We were spending a morning fishing a lake that my uncle said had been stocked with trout earlier in the week. I took my fly rod, and fished all morning with not so much as a missed hook set. Sitting on the bank I watched only one person land any trout, and it was an old man who was fly fishing. I went to the truck for a snack and he was at his van with his fly rod. Much like I would now I went up to him and started a conversation. He drove an old Chevy van that he took the back seat out of and replaced it with a couple drawers. He opened the bottom drawer and he had six fly rods lined up in it, and then showed me the 5 drawers above it and all were lined with rods. Among these rods was a Redington he spoke very highly of, comparing it to some of his bamboo rods. He let me cast that rod and I missed a fish or two on a swimming nymph pattern he later gave me. Ever since that day I have been reading about the company and its products. I am thrilled to now have my own and I am excited to land that first trout on it.

Now I can not remember what reels this old man had in his van, but reels never really had my attention. That being said you can not have a rod without a reel. I have always been a fan of a simple look to my reel. In a search for something simple but built well and made with quality materials I turned to G Loomis. G Loomis is known for their rods much like Redington, but both make reel. Their reels have never been the standout, but from everything I have read they are as high a quality as the rods these companies make. I looked at Redington, most are mid arbor reels but I wanted this rod to look much more simple. A couple years back my brother bought a G Loomis Venture 5 it is a simple look, but has some edge to it. It is a gold reel and looks very simple. The Venture series is simple in all respects there are three reels in the series. The Venture 3, 5 and 7 each number corresponds with the line weight it can hold. So I got the G Loomis Venture 3 and it is a perfect fit to my rod. The weight and balance of the rod and reel is amazing.

This just leaves the line, and I am not a line tech guy so I went out on a limb with why I picked this one. Lots of reading and asking questions lead me to Rio Lines, and once I was there I was steered to Rio's Trout TL. This line is made for "delicate presentations" as their ads says, and all the science talk to back it up. As I fished the empty waters near my town I decided to put a dry fly on to see if I could see a difference in lifting a dry fly off the water. These are all things that this line is clammed to do better then the next line, and you know what, it does a wonderful job. The difference is not something that someone who does not fly fish would notice but I saw it and hope it makes a difference when a finicky trout is checking out the presentation.

My new outfit has me very excited and as soon as I get my CT license I will be finding a small stream to fish. The last picture is one of the rod on its first trip, I hit up two streams and caught no fish. This trip was a success for the simple reasons that I got a chance to test the rod and line on the water. Thanks for reading along and check me out again later to see what else I came home with from my parents house.

-Bruce

New Post

2011-01-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

Well everyone I have been in the town I grew up in since last Wednesday so I have been kind of out of touch. While home I gathered lots of new material for up coming blog posts. There was new gear, a fishing trip, new pets, and some good family fun.

Let me fill you in on the pet first. My sister got a puppy for Christmas, and he is in her words the cutest puppy in the world. He is an all black (except a spot on a paw and his chest) cocker spaniel that my sister named Charles or Charlie for short, and if you want to make it longer it is sir Charles. Well Charles is just one short story of my trip. Take a look at him and I'll start thinking of the next great story from my trip.

Sir Charles

-Bruce

Outfitted for life

2011-01-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

OBN's writing prompt this week is actually something I addressed in my very first post. I decided before just linking to my old post and calling this an easy one I would read the post. Now that I read it I think I will do more then just link to it.

Outfitted For Life: Outfitted for Life, the name came from Sarah (my wife), and it took only minutes of thinking about it for me to jump on board with that name. I love it for many reasons, the biggest of all the reasons is the fact that it leaves me lots of room to work with. The room to do more then just fishing post is still very appealing to me. I like sharing my hikes, and hope to get back to hunting. Also want to try some new sports such as bouldering, long distance hiking, and maybe even buy a mountain bike someday.

So the story that came to mind in that first post was one of my bother and I getting ready for a hunt. I have not told as many stories as I want to but going back and looking at why I picked the title I think I will try to tell more old stories. Here is that first story of why the title Outfitted for Life was a good choice.

This story was the first that came to mind when the title of the blog was made final. It takes me back to high school, it was the first hunting season I could drive. My parents okayed my brother and I to go hunting alone for what I think was the first time. We planned to hit a spot we hunted small game, and later on in our hunting adventures became a great waterfowl spot. Well we were packing up the guns and mom was giving us the be safe, look out for each other, and if your going to be late call speech. My mom looked us up and down, she cracked a half a smile and said well boys you look the part, and then wished us luck as we ran to the car guns, ammo and packs in hand. Between the two of us we were geared to the max for a small game hunt, I guess ever since then I've always tried to look the part if nothing else........ I try to go into every situation especially when it comes to the outdoors "looking the part". Looking the part now there is one of the first lessons if you want to be outfitted for life.

I still often look the part, whether I mean too or not it just kind of happens now. Looking back on this and a couple other old posts I have come to realize that my writing, and my stories are getting better. In an strange way I am really starting to look the part of a blogger, and that is funny on many levels. Well there you have it that is where Outfitted for Life came from and who knows where it will go.

-Bruce

A Christmas Go To...

2011-01-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

I have been called hard to shop for, and that goes double when you are limited to a budget. That being said Sarah always does well when it comes to getting me something. I drop a ton of hints, and sometimes I can be a 'pain in the butt' with all the hints. With the move I got most of Sarah's big ticket items before leaving Atlanta. When we hit the week and a half point Sarah looks at me and asks how much I spent on her gifts this year, and continues to tell me she had gotten nothing for me. I said I did not need anything and that I would be happy with socks because mine are getting old.

A couple days later Sarah was snooping on my computer, and I found out after the fact that she was on my amazon account looking at my wish list. She said she opened the wish list and saw what she thought was a good gift for me.

I like knives, and have a small collection that is growing. Sarah got me a really nice knife that I have had my eye on for a while. I decided today that I would write a post highlighting some of my favorite knives and maybe take a picture of as many of them as I can get in a shot so here goes.

First knife I am highlighting is my multi-tool. I carry this tool everywhere I am allowed, and also take it fishing with me. As knives go this has gotten me out of the most pinches weather its pinching barbs in regulated fishing area, or fixing my old bike on the side of the road this is knife has been there. It is a Gerber 01471 suspension pliers, on it is almost everything I need. Pliers, wire cutter, saw, two blades, can and bottle opener, and much more. Sadly the one you see here is my second knife, I lost the first and this was a present from Sarah because she knows how important it can be.

This folding knife has been in my collection for a long time. It is a Sig Sauer which is better known for their guns, but this tactical knife has been my favorite for years. I bought this knife, but used some money from a gift card my uncle gave me so it too was a gift. Most people see knives as weapons or get scared when I say I collect knives, but the truth is I see them as tools. This knife has been used as a steak knife, spatula, stirring stick, branch cutter, screw driver and countless other things. It was my survival knife for years, but now I carry it as a back up survival knife.

The reason my Sig Sauer knife is now only a back up survival knife is because of this guy. This is a Gerber LMF II survival knife (22-01400) and it is just that a knife built for survival. Four of my groomsmen and I bought this knife before my wedding with a couple of symbolic reasons. We were going to wear it under our tuxes but they are just too big and we thought it might make people mad to wear them on the outside. At the time of the wedding we had a groomsman in Iraq, and two weeks before the wedding I found out my brother (best man) could not make it because he needed to report to Wisconsin for new coast guard post. Anyway both of these guys got this same knife as a gift. Then there was the three groomsmen who bought it as a symbol of the one who could not be there, and this knife is something we all have in common now. It was build for military use, but makes a very useful survival tool. The LMF II can be strapped to a leg, belt or molly system, and it has a built in sharpener in the sheath. There are three holes in the handle so it can be lashed to a stick for self defense, it has a hammer on the end, and a glass punch. This is my primary belt knife when I hike and yes it is heavy but if I was to be stranded somewhere it would be worth its weight in gold.

So Christmas morning this year, Sarah tosses me a gift. As I was catching it I knew it was a knife, because a knife in a knife box is something that has a very distinct feel, sound, and shape to it. When the paper came off I saw the box and the letters CRKT, and judging by the size and weight I knew exactly what I was about to see. It is a CRKT(Columbia River Knife and Tool) M16-14ZSF, which according to my lovely wife was at the top of my amazon wish list. I have no real review for it as of yet, but it is very sharp out of the box as CRKT tends to be, and that it is well constructed. It came with an extra pocket clip and the wrench to fit the screws.

There are a couple reasons this knife was even on my amazon wish list. First is the look, it just looks cool and as shallow as that seems sometimes a look will do it for me(in the world of knives). Next is the brand I have read only good things about CRKT and I am starting to understand why.

As far as looks go this knife has every thing working for it. From the tan handle with the large holes, to the flat silver tanto blade. The pocket clip can be put on any one of four different positions, and then there is the part that is both function and style, the flippers. These two flippers make opening this knife so easy it is not funny, but very serious. The same flippers that help in the opening of the knife also turn into a hand guard so that you do not slip off the handle if you need to apply force to a forward motion.

Lastly the knife have a great locking system, it has an inside lock that only operates when you move this red pin on the top of the knife. With about a day worth of practice I was able to master the this locking system and even close the knife with one hand.

So once again my wife came through with a great gift, and I think she knows that if she can find nothing else for me at Christmas time she can always go to the "go to gift" and get me a nice knife. Sorry this has been a lot of reading, and if you are a knife person this really has not been very informative but if you are not I hope my views, passion, and respect for knives and all they can do for us has shown through. I will leave this post with one last thing, a picture of just part of my collection. These are the knives I wrangled up for the photo shoot, and when I am running short for post ideas in the future I will show off more of my collection.

-Bruce

Being a fly fishing blogger is hard without a job

2011-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I have been living in a new state now for more then a month and still I have no job. This does not mean I have no work. Last week we got twenty inches of snow. Here is Sarah's post on it, and honestly I love the process of waking up to move snow and get yourself dug out. It was a good storm and dumped a lot of snow fast. Along with the snow we are still setting rooms up, hanging pictures, fixing lights that need replacing, and some nice projects on furniture.

Still the job issue is really starting to get to me, for a number of reasons, bills, gas, and food are the basic worries. Honestly there is still another reason I wish I had some money in the bank account, and it is a little more selfish. I have been filling out applications and working to get a job and that weighs on me after a while and I need to break away for a day. My hike two weeks ago was nice but honestly in the back of my mind I am thinking about fly fishing.

It's the second day of the new year and I am without a fishing license for the state I am living in. This would not be a big deal if I had a job because I would be working till dark and the weekends would be spent with the house and wife. That being said it is killing me to not be able to clear my head on the water. I know what you might be thinking 'Bruce you're in Connectucute and it is 3 degrees outside' well all you people who think that trout do not eat in the winter, your wrong they do.

Hopefully sometime in the next couple weeks I will land a job and that will mean a new license will be soon behind it. Until then I am going to be trying to post some winter fly patterns. Also some cool stuff about the new house such as the deer that were in the back yard, and some of the wild life in the area. Lastly, OBN posts writing prompts and I am going to start to write off of those when I can. One more little piece about the license comes from a blog I read. The writer at This River Is Wild wrote a great post explaining part of the reason I want to get my license now go check it out and stop back later in the week to see where I am.

-Bruce

A hike as promised

2010-12-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

So today I got up, and when to my local outfitter looking for a detailed map of the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut. Sadly they were sold out and would not be getting more till Tuesday. Now not to be discouraged I decided that the research I did online would have to do. By this time it was 10:30a.m. and I had the fifteen minute drive home and still needed to pack a day pack. Once I was home I put a pack together and asked Sarah if she could drop me at the trail head. She seemed more then happy to do it and after I was packed she took me five minutes up the road to the nearest AT trail head. The section I wanted to hike looked like an easy three or four mile hike and it was.

It turns out it was a great day for a hike! The temps were in the mid 30's and there were no clouds to speak of. So as Sarah pulled away and I hit the tail I could already see a problem. I dressed to warm, and after a far to early stop I ended up shedding a shirt and hiking with my jacket open(still had a t-shirt on under the jacket).

The first section was the side of the mountain that got all the sun, and it was almost too warm. It was not the most challenging hike, but I had not been out in a while so I was a little winded as I reached the top.

Once I reached the top I found a nice rock and sat down. I had not had lunch to this point, but thought ahead and threw a cliff bar and some hot chocolate in my bag. I also packed my pocket stove and some fuel tablets so from my perch on top of the world I warmed some water for hot chocolate and a cliff bar. After sitting for 25 of 30 minutes I decided to press on.

As I headed down the other side of the mountain a couple things became very clear. The first being that this side of the mountain was much colder. Second there were land mines in the form of frozen pools of water just under the snow, which made for a dicey time going down hill. I managed to not fall this entire trip which is great because I fall when conditions are great so these poor ones had me worried.

Along with the ice and snow on this side I found myself following tracks of what I believe were coyotes. They were using the AT a lot. I saw deer and turkey sign all along the way as well, and I guess it only makes sense to see a predator when there was so much game sign.

In the last half mile I explored an AT shelter. Found these cool steps people made out of some perfectly flat rocks, and crossed a great foot bridge. I can't imagine what some of the first AT hikers had to deal with when it came to the rivers they had to cross. I sure was thankful for that bridge because the water was icy and cold, and I would have turned around and walked the 3 miles back if I had to ford that river.

All in all this was a great reward for working hard on setting up the house over the last two weeks. I am looking forward to hiking on the AT more in the spring, but will be using it this winter again I am sure. Also really want to take Sarah along the next time, maybe even on this exact trip. There are lots of great picture opportunities and she is a much better photographer then I am. Hopefully I will get one or two more outdoor adventures in before christmas, but I know I will blog again before so thanks for reading.

-Bruce

Outdoors Room

2010-12-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

So, after about a day of total work it is basically set up. I have an outdoors room, and from this room I will write a lot, read a lot, and tie a ton of flies. The idea is to keep all the outdoor stuff I have gathered over the years together. As I cleaned and organized the past two days I decided I would hang some stuff from my glory days on the walls, and in the process found myself hanging some from Sarah's things well. So now the room is an outdoors/trophy room which I think turned out nice. I want a couple more pictures of outdoor adventures but they will come because my wife does not go anywhere without her camera and we are going to do more outdoors thing here in Connecticut. So how about I give you the dime picture tour of the outdoors room.

Yes it looks full, but I have been collecting outdoors stuff for a long time. Plus you need to remember I have a bunch of metals from my wrestling and track days. Sarah got a great old desk from her mom and I got Sarah's desk from Atlanta.

The selves are great and I put some of my things on them, but most important I put some of my reels on the bottom one. The reel is my favorite part of an outfit and I have always looked for deals on old ones so I have a couple now

Now this I am really jazzed about! My tools can be in a drawer and they can all have their space. If it would not be midnight I would tie a couple flies tonight but I am shot.

This is the vice it is well lit by a lamp my father and mother in-law are letting me use.

Remember that large closet I mentioned in the last post?

Well everything fits, but I spent some time in there putting up hooks, and figuring out how I was going to make it work.

That safe is now safely fastened to the fall with guns and rods in it. I know over kill to lock your rods up but really it is to keep me away from them till I get a CT fishing license and a job.

So can not wait till this is a very true statement, but when my mom gave me this sign I knew where I wanted to put it.

Okay it is late and I spent a ton of time in this room today. As a reward for a couple days of hard work I think I am going to go for a hike tomorrow(a.k.a in a couple hours). If that plan happens I will post pictures and a review of where I went how long and hard the hike ended up being but for now I am hitting the hay....

-Bruce

A little life....

2010-12-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry that my last post was not even me, but Sarah and I were and in many ways still are in the process of moving. My parents and I got here a week ago today, and I have been almost nonstop since. We moved from Georgia to Connecticut, but a better way of putting it for me is we move from a city to the country. Trying to write an outdoor blog in Atlanta was hard because at times I needed to make a stretch in what I called "the wilderness". Here on the other hand is almost too easy, sadly the past two weeks have been filled with packing, moving, resting(maybe a day of rest), and now unpacking, but I can see a light at the end of this tunnel, and that light is a hike in my near future.

Currently we are in the unpacking and making this house a little more our own stage. We are much closer to my parents and sister in this house then Atlanta, and we are even that much closer to Sarah's family which is a wonderful change of pace. Now for some excitement we live a stones throw from a river, and better yet I could get to it and fish in less then ten minutes. The places I have had luck fishing are more like a half hour away, but even that is better then Atlanta. A couple of the outfitters that I think are worth visiting are in the area (Backcountry Outfitters and Housatonic River Outfitters) and I am told there are some I have not found in some of these small towns near by. So now that I am settling here in Connecticut I thought it was time to start blogging again.

Sarah has been hard at work on her blog since the move and if you want details on the move from her eyes check her out are www.thestrengthoffaith.com/. I am hoping to keep this blog more on the outdoors side, and aside from getting a christmas tree yesterday we have not done a lot of outdoors just yet. I am not going to post on the tree because Sarah did a very good job.

Before I pack it up and call it a night I want to show off what is basically a room for my outdoor stuff. I am not a fan of calling it a "man room" because I am trying to encourage Sarah and some of my other friends and family to come join me on an outdoor adventure. So for now I am going to call it the outdoors room unless someone else out there has a room with a name other then "the man room".

Here is the room now. I am hoping in a couple days it will be set up a little closer to the way I want it. Along with suggestions on the name I am also open to suggestions on basic organization and layout.

This is it, the smallest room in the house but I liked the shelves and what you can see looking out the window.
All my things are basically on the floor at this point, just a couple things in the garage still that will move up here once I start to straighten up.

This is something else I love the closet is big and will hold a lot of the stuff I collected over the years

I am hoping by mid week I will have a finished photo up, and maybe a little feedback will help with the process. Also I am hoping to go for a hike with Sarah and maybe that will make it on here as well. Lastly there is a desk in that first picture where I hope to tie a lot of flies and write for my blog so keep your eyes here for some changes because they are coming to most parts of the blog. Thanks for checking up over the past week even though I have been in hiding and that should not happen again for a while.

-Bruce

The Connecticut Outdoors - A Wife's Guest Post

2010-11-28T16:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Sunday night, and I'd really like to post, but my wife (love you Sarah) is making me pack up my "Man Closet" (the closet off of our balcony with all of my fishing/hunting/hiking/outdoorsy stuff in it) for our upcoming move. So instead, I've asked her to post about the top three outdoorsy things she is most excited about taking part in once we get out of the city and up north to Connecticut. Take it away Sarah ...

***

Hi everyone! Sarah here. I'm sorry to be taking Bruce away from you for the night, but, let's face it, we move in less than a week whether Bruce's stuff is packed or not.

And fly rods are expensive to replace.

They need to safely make the trip.

As stressful as packing, moving and transitioning is, I am actually really excited about moving up north to Connecticut. I lived there until I was 18 (at that point I moved to Pennsylvania for college) but there is so much I haven't experienced. My family isn't as outdoorsy as Bruce's family is, so a trip to NYC to see a show was always higher up on the agenda than an all-day hike or camping trip. I have a lot of time to make up for!

With all that said - here are the top three outdoorsy things I am most excited about jumping into when we get to Connecticut.

1. Fishing Photography

I think fly fishing is one of the most beautiful and peaceful sports there is. Photographing someone fly fishing is like photographing a ballet - it is just graceful and mesmerizing. The problem with living in Atlanta is that Bruce has to drive a good distance to get to a decent fishing spot. I can't always take the time to go with him - or stay out for as long as he would like (and if we're driving far we hate taking two cars!).

I am really looking forward to tagging along on some of Bruce's closer fishing trips. We will be living alongside the Housatonic River and I hope to get some decent shots of Bruce fishing, what he's catching and the beautiful scenery.

Wildlife and outdoor photography definitely isn't something that I'm used to. It's much different from a newborn shot I did a few weeks ago where I jumped up and down and babbled in a baby voice to get the little one to smile. It's much slower, much quieter and requires a lot more patience. Any and all tips are appreciated!

2. Hiking The Appalachian Trail

Last week I told Bruce that I wanted to hike up Stone Mountain early in the morning to watch the sunrise before we left, so Saturday morning we left the apartment when it was still dark and started the very cold hike up the mountain.

I don't know if it was the 30 degree temperatures, the 30 mph blustery winds, the straight-up elevation or the fact that I had just run a half marathon two days before, but it was a HARD hike up the mountain! I was not a happy hiker ...

... but it was totally worth it.

Last winter, Bruce and I were in Connecticut visiting my family and we did hike one part of the Appalachian Trail. It was difficult, but fun!

I took this from the top of the mountain. That's my mom's church! What a cool bird's eye view. I can't wait to see other parts of the trail.

3. Kayaking

I want a kayak.

I don't know why. No one in my family has a kayak. Only one of my friends owns a kayak. I've been kayaking all of three times in my life.

The first time was in Alaska on a cruise shore excursion. My aunt and I went "Glacier View Kayaking", which we thought meant we would be paddling quickly in and out of glaciers. In fact, it meant we were just floating along with a nice view of a glacier 200 yards away. At one point we got stuck in some sludge and the guide had push us out.

Anticlimactic.

The second time was in Florida with my same aunt. We thought we saw a gator about 20 minutes in, freaked out and paddled like hell to get back to shore.

The last time was back in Florida with Bruce.

We stayed out for over an hour and the next morning I could barely move my arms. What a good workout! Kayaking seems fun, because it can either be extremely peaceful or a really hard exhilarating workout.

I'm not sure where I would be able to go out - I'm assuming the Housatonic River, but I'm sure there are also places across the New York State border, as well the Connecticut coast.

I don't know much about kayaks (recommendations welcome!), but I have a feeling that I will probably want to save between $300 and $500 to get a decent kayak. I'm thinking I want a recreational kayak - perhaps this Emotion Kayaks Comet Kayak from REI?

I wonder if it comes in pink? (Sorry Bruce - I had to throw that in there)

Well, there you have it - my top three anticipated outdoorsy activities for the next chapter of our book together! I can't wait!

It was great to be with you all today. Please stop by my blog, The Strength of Faith, and say hi!

Adventure On,
Sarah