The JGR Dispatch

A Valentine's Day Worth Remembering

2012-02-14T10:35:00.004-05:00

It is true, that I am in love with this:

And this:

But, there is something else that I love more than any of the above, and that is my marriage to her:

Happy Valentine's Day honey!

“BYOK” Tygart Creek Kayak Float

2012-02-13T12:59:00.000-05:00

I just signed up for my first kayak trip this year. I am so excited!

One part that encompasses my 2012 outdoor goals is to float some new Kentucky water and get away from the same old stuff that I do over and over again.

I'm even more excited that this trip will enable me to get some fodder for an article I'll be writing for an online magazine coming up in a few months as well. (I'll send you more notes on that when it comes closer to fruition.)

In the meantime, here is more information on what I think will be a really cool trip:

“BYOK” Tygart Creek Kayak Float

You can't beat $25 for a shuttle and guide on the water. This is going to be really sweet!

If you are close enough to make this trip let me know, it would be nice to hang out with some of my blogging friends during a fun kayak float this spring.

JGR

2012 Fly Fishing Film Tour in Columbus, OH

2012-02-13T08:25:00.004-05:00

I hope to make it to see this, although it will be tough as this is one of my busy days of the month.

Anyway, if you are in the area here is the flier for the event. - JGR

Podcast: How To Take Great Fishing Photos

2012-02-09T14:28:00.002-05:00

My "goofing off from work today" posts continue. Sometimes I have days where I am just grinding out a process and I'll listen to music, sports or news.

Today I wanted to listen to a show about fly fishing. I'll admit, I'm way behind on the whole Podcast thing. I typically listen to I-Heart or Pandora, and I never got into the I-Pod phenomenon. I know, I am lame. Ultimately, I just hate I-Tunes but that is neither here nor there.

Anyway, this is a pretty interesting podcast that I listened straight out of my RSS reader. This particular segement is from Orvis' Tom Rosenbauer and he is interviewing Catch Magazine's Brian O'Keefe about how to take better fishing photographs. As a part time blogger I am very interested in getting my pictures to be better, and I envy some of the stuff that Yukon Goes Fishing does and those really great videos he puts together. I also think Catch is beautiful as most people agree, and would like to leave some type of higher quality visual legacy on my trips.

Regardless, I am trying to improve my photography skills and I'm getting more and more into nature and landscapes. Give this podcast a try and tell me what you think.

Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast

14 Years of US Weather

2012-02-09T13:29:00.001-05:00

As lovers of the outdoors we are constantly keeping our attention towards weather forecasts. We have learnt that most of the time the forecasters are somewhat close, but there are those exceptions where they just whiff completely. I can tell you that in my line of work though, their error rate would surely get you fired pretty quickly. In the end though, their job is mostly guess work anyway.

We all know that poor weather forecasting has dire consequences such as unexpected floods during a fishing trip, cold rain during a weekend backpacking trip or high winds during a squirrel hunting outing. It can make or break an excursion as we've experienced time and time before.

I stumbled upon this little gem while perusing the web. It has 14 years of US Weather radar swirling by at roughly 1 hour = 1 second. Of course, it's 33 minutes long but you can jump around to see interesting weather phenomenon. For example, you see the swirling hurricanes move up the East Coast or those heavy thunderstorms form over Texas and move northeast. You will also notice a consistent absence of weather for the most part at the four corners (Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.) Overall, I wonder if there is a predictability pattern that we could pull from it. Or, is it all just chaos?

Anyway, just something to kill time during today's break.

Review of Orvis Safe Passage Sling Pack

2012-02-07T11:30:00.002-05:00

What: Orvis Safe Passage Sling Pack

Method of Acquisition: Won during a raffle at an NKFF FlyFishing Banquet

Pros: Well designed and well thought out

Cons: Not a lot of room for a water bottle

Rating: 4 out of 5 thumbs up

The Orvis Pack Back Sling has now become one of my favorite on-the-watertackle storage bags. I have always been a major fan of the fishing vest, I likeits old school sensibility, but as we all know it can sometimes be overkillwhen you are fishing familiar water or warm weather. To address this, I haveused various fanny packs and courier bags, but have never discovered anythingthat satisfied me completely.

For example, fanny packs sit too low and get dunked whilewading. Courier bags tend to get wet when you bend over and they aren’t the bestfor organizing our smaller fly fishing gadgets. Therefore, I was on alookout for something that sat close to my body and stayed out of the water,could organize the stuff that I use most and keep those items close at reach.

That last point is why I like this bag so much. To behonest, I didn’t go out and research this item before I bought it. I actuallywon it during a raffle. I even passed it over for something else initially, butmy wife insisted that I choose it instead. In the end, I am glad I took heradvice, of which I typically do anyway (she is much smarter than I am.)

Upon inspection, I wassurprised to see all of the item’s nuances that set it apart from what I haveused before. The item fits nicely, despite the fact that I am a bigger guy.I also noticed that it stayed close to my torso when I bend down. All of thesefactors elevated it to being my summer bag, and I have repurposed my oldcourier and fanny pack for other activities.

In general, here iswhat I like about this bag:

There is a magnet to keep your nippers and zinger close to you and the bag.
The small pouch on the body strap holds my heavy multi-tool conveniently and securely
The interior pouches fit a small flashlight, a split shot dispenser, a first aid kit and my leaders perfectly. These are typically the basic items I carry with me while on the water.
The hemostat holders are at perfect reach and fit the larger pairs that I use. This is not common in many bags.
The zippers have plastic textured grips so they are easy to open when wet

Things I didn’t like:

The Velcro attached fly patch is too small for the type of fishing I use, and wastes space in the bag. I have removed it and replaced it with a much larger fly box.
The bag will only hold a small water bottle when fully packed, so I have some concerns when I’m fishing hot days for smallmouth and want to stay on the water for long periods of time. There are loops on the outside to attach items too, one of which can be a water bottle, but I don’t like things dangling from me and getting into the way.

Overall this is a good bag and a good buy. I haven’tcompared it to many other bags, but in general I would recommend this purchase.

Thanks for reading,

JGR

Fishing Mountain Streams From Ian Rutter

2012-02-06T12:05:00.002-05:00

Here's a great instructional video for those who might be looking to fish those tight mountain streams in TN or NC. This is how I learned how to trout fish: on skinny water with double nymph rigs and using a high stick nymphing technique. This technique has served me well just about everywhere else I have gone, and you will usually find me doing this or swinging streamers.

This video is put together by R&R Fly Fishing. If you are familiar with Ian and Charity Rutter, this is their shop. Visit http://www.randrflyfishing.com for more information about what they are doing over there in Townsend.

As a side note: this particular video talks about using easy to attach foam football floats, but I prefer Thingamabobbers.

I feel like the foam floats pop off way too easily, especially when you're roll casting.

Good luck and hope to see everyone on the water soon. JGR

Free Fly Tying Class

2012-02-06T11:38:00.001-05:00

The Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers is offering free fly tying classes starting February 12. The class will be held at the Boone County Library (main branch.)

This is how I learned to tie flies. It's a terrific class and covers many of the basics and quite a few advanced techniques. In fact, take a look at the schedule:

To take the class, message me at webmaster at thejgrdispatch.com. I can put you into contact with the instructor and get you signed up. I'll also be popping in and out of the classes to help out first timers so hopefully I'll get to meet you.

Thanks for reading!

JGR

Extreme Downhill Freeride

2012-02-02T10:42:00.001-05:00

These guys make me want to get out the bike. I have no idea where these courses are but they are SICK.

Devou Park in Covington now has off road trails and I am curious to what they are like. I am hoping that Cincinnati gets on the ball and converts some trails in the Mount Airy Forest over for this use as well. Right now, most of the official mountain biking trails are being put together in Northern Kentucky.

It's kind of funny, you go to England Idlewild Park in Kentucky to their mountain biking course and all the plates are from Ohio. Don't get me wrong, Hamilton County Parks are really, really nice. Cincinnati Parks are okay for the most part, and Northern Kentucky needs MORE.

Hopefully Vision 2015 gets their wish and opens up some of the land along the Licking River to a bike trail. That will give Northern Kentucky a major boost and hopefully be as fun to ride as the Little Miami River trail is. In the meantime though, here's a cool video of some guys tearing up a mountain somewhere.

Have fun and wear your helmet. JGR

What I'm Tying: All Black Seaducer

2012-02-01T13:00:00.000-05:00

I am researching fly patterns that I can use on local bass ponds for this summer. During this work (slacking from REAL work, actually) I find myself running across several mentions of Lefty Kreh's red and white hackle fly.

I tend to target moving water and lakes, with a preference for the previous. As such, it's safe to say that I have both the upper and lower water columns covered with my other patterns, but I don't really have much to use during that period when bass are cruising right underneath the surface during the heat of summer.

Typically I'll be invited over to fish a pond and I won't have much luck catching bass. It's pretty embarrassing when everyone thinks you're this great fisherman and then you can't catch crap. However, the real fishermen know that getting skunked is a way of life, but it need not be if you come prepared.

The red and white hackle fly, for whatever reason, has been renamed the Seaducer. There are plenty of great sites out there that can tell you how to tie this pattern in the traditional red and white, such as here. I am going to go in the opposite direction and tie it in all black.

Why? Because I'm a loner Dottie, a rebel.

Actually though its because I do catch a lot of fish on really dark silhouetted flies. This has been the only thing that saved me during the high water year of 2011 and might come back into play for 2012.

Here's the recipe:

Hook: size 2, 1x or any other solid hook

Thread: black 6/0

Flash: black crystal flash

Tail: 6 black hackle feathers

Body: 3 black hackle feathers

Head: black thread

Step 1: tie 3 feathers on each side of the hook flaring out. The thick, shorter ones work well for this pattern. This is a great way to use up those hackles that weren't suitable for the wooly buggers.

Step 2. Add some crystal flash on both the bottom and top of the fly. This will be useful for bass both looking up and down at the fly.

Step 3. Start palmering the hackle on the fly. You should be able to fit 3 hackles on the hook shank. Make sure you press the hackles back and out of the way for a nice full body effect.

Here's four ready to go.

And a closeup of one.

Thanks for reading and good luck! JGR

BUFF Fly Fishing Show - Tying Demo

2012-01-31T08:41:00.004-05:00

I'll be tying at the Buckeye United Fly Fishers show this Saturday, February 4th. It will be held at the Receptions Conference center in Fairfield off of Route 4. Admission is still only $5.

I'll be there with fellow members of the Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers, talking about our club, tying up some smallmouth bass patterns and shooting the $hit. Stop by and say hi if you're in the area!

Fishing Hole Guarding Controversy On The Pere Marquette River?

2012-01-30T13:39:00.002-05:00

I was recently perusing a message board about an interesting topic and looked down to read some of the comments. Below this story I found this note by one its readers:

He writes:
I might add the Pere Marquette near Baldwin during the height of Salmon Season- it gets outta control with guides paying other locals to 'sleep' or camp-out on some of the best water to hold their holes until they arrive with clients. The river is for everybody- even if it is 'only salmon'. Kind of ruined it for me when I brought a first timer down the river and non-fishing people told us to keep moving....

I am very curious to know if this has been the experience of anyone else who has fished this river, or any other one like it. I have been on the PM during salmon season and can agree that there is an air of "combat fishing" on this stretch. I was not aware of the practice of non fishermen guarding holes in general, nor did I witness it myself on this occasion. Most of what I witnessed were fisherman high holing each other, or even standing on viable redds to compensate for their lousy casting.

I was actually quite rudely rebuffed once while fishing the PM as I greeted a passing by wade fisherman while on this particular stretch. Of course, my hackles got ruffled, but the guide assured me he was a local landowner who felt it incumbent upon himself to keep the public from accessing what is a public waterway, and had recently had some legal tactics fail over this action. By the looks of his stout spinning rod and large treble hooks with thick lead weight attached, I would state that he's not one of the most sporting figures out there. Legally, we were in the right and I caught some monster fish that day.

Overall, I am aware of private landowners and their ongoing battle to curb trespassing and their push to limit access on the PM and some other popular fisheries. I have my own opinions on that, especially as it deals to the "trophy" properties creeping up along some of my favorite fisheries and the extent to which "hoarding" has crept upon some waters. However, I am deeply troubled by any practice that pushes to "lord over" public property and exclude it from others.

Regardless, I am curious to whether anyone else has run across this new and unsavory custom. Leave a comment if you have.

Thanks for reading!

JGR

Lefty Kreh Fly Fishing For Bass In A Pond

2012-01-29T17:56:00.001-05:00

Here's a good video of Lefty Kreh dissecting a bass pond. If you notice, he's using a white and red hackle fly. That's the same fly that I talked about in this post here.

I'm thinking it might be getting time to try a new pattern (hmmmmmmm........)

Hope you enjoy and this gives you some respite from your cabin fever. JGR

KDFWR Monthly Newsletter

2012-01-28T09:27:00.003-05:00

Here's a link to the January 2012 Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife Resources monthly newsletter.

Inside you'll find interesting articles on:

A recent public land acquisition of land on the Cumberland River popularly known at "Rainbow Run"
An additional 2,500 acre purchase of land in Union County to be converted to public use
Programs that are improving fish habitat on Kentucky Lake
Work on a new quail exhibit at the Salato Wildlife Research center
A glimpse of Troy Shelton's possible new mountain goat world record

To access this newsletter, click HERE

Interesting Metric

2012-01-27T08:17:00.001-05:00

As someone who works with numbers all day, I find it interesting when I come across one out of the ordinary. For example, I popped onto my blog to find my number counter registering this:

Of course, I found this remarkable and worth commenting on (okay, sounds lame, but let me digress.)

When I was younger I was always fascinated with how 111,111 divided into 7 evenly. I would play around with this number in my head during class. I also liked how 123,456,789 was divisible by 3. It's no wonder I went into a math based field.

Besides this little feat, I changed the outlook of the blog to be simpler and cleaner. I have dabbled in designing interesting web banners but I feel it's not my strong suit. One day I hope to have something that's more visibly appealing, but until then I'll settle with this design. A friend's wife is a graphic designer so I'm hoping to employ some of her talents to change things around. Until then, I'll just stick with the simple, clean look.

This weekend is the Hunting and Fishing Show at the Cincinnati Convention Center. It looks like the weather will hold up for us to have a good visit. Then it's off to the Cincinnati Symphony to listen to Lang Lang play (thank you Groupon.)

It should be a good winter weekend. I'm just glad to finally get out of the house. With all of the rain we had last night, fishing is completely out of the question.

Have a good weekend everyone.

JGR

SOPA And A Digression Towards Local Conservation

2012-01-26T09:10:00.000-05:00

Wow, so they DO listen. Honestly I am surprised that someone got back to me about this but I appreciate that my Congressman did. Geoff Davis, thank you very much.

I am not a huge fan of SOPA or anything that would work to broadly hamper the free expression afforded by the internet. There's nothing I can say here about this piece of legislation that hasn't been said somewhere else, and since it has failed I can leave it alone for now.

Nonetheless a small victory for me. Here is the letter:

Now, I want you to imagine a moment where everyone wrote to their Congressmen or Senator about something distasteful. Maybe we could make a difference?

Now, I digress.

As members of the outdoors community, is there an issue that we can get involved in nationally? How about at the local level? Which is more important?

Of course, I applaud those who fight for the woods and waters that are located hundreds or even thousands of miles from them. But I also ask, what can we do to promote local conservation issues?

As someone who lives in the borderland between the Southeast and Midwest, I have become very aware of the challenges facing these regions in their quest to provide sustainability for sportsmen and women. I have become aware of the Asian carp issues of the Great Lakes and Kentucky waters, the threat of mountain top removal in coal mining and its burying of watersheds in rubble and the pollution of our waterways from both biological and chemical contaminants.

When I first came onto the scene of our local fly fishing community, I was amazed at how much was going on the arena of conservation just in our backyard. There was a tremendous fight with the local airport to reduce its dumping of plane deicer into the local creek (ever see a creek not ice up in sub freezing temperatures? I have.) Luckily, they were victorious and CVG changed their method of discharging their used antifreeze.

At that point in time I was in my early twenties. I noticed the key players in the fray were much older than I was then. I was more of an onlooker than doer, but I was excited to see the work they were doing.

Overall, I think there is a tendency with younger people to just "let the adults handle it." At some point though, you have to accept that you are an adult and its time to get involved and make a stand for the next generation. I am at that point now and am looking to see what strengths I have that can be applied to help in the conservation arena and take lead in a project. At this point, I tend to work within groups as I learn the ropes of effective advocacy.

Unfortunately, I notice that the conservation community is getting grayer. I ask myself: where are their reinforcements? I don't know for sure. In our area at least, hunting and fishing as possibilities for youth are disappearing. Most parents neither have time nor access to take their kids out to try it, or maybe there is another reason for it. It is curious though that when I tell people that I am a fly fisher in my neck of the woods, their first response is to ask where I practice it. They tend to look at me cross eyed when I tell them that there is world class small-mouth fishing close by, or that our tailwater trout fisheries produce some great opportunities. They also tend to forget that the Ohio River is right in front of us and provides excellent bassing opportunities as well.

Then I ask myself, what about current practitioners of the sport who are my age? Where are we? Overall, are we taking or are we giving as it relates to the outdoors? I reviewed some of the fishing e-zines and unfortunately what I see is this ever encroaching "frat boy" mentality. I understand that their is a tendency to buck the "elitist" trend of fly fishing. I'm all for that and I am not trying to discourage anyone, but I have to wonder what's going on when these pictures are plastered everywhere and I can't find an article about conservation. I am by no means a stick in the mud, I like having fun and cutting loose, but what direction are we going?

Maybe I'm just being a pessimist, or ignoring something to make my point. Regardless, we as sportsmen must recognize that our outdoor resources are limited, prone to abuse and require our guardianship. This applies to everything from the creek running through our backyard to the massive pristine fisheries of the West or of Alaska.

If we don't take a stand, who will?

1956 World Champion Fly Fishing Demonstration

2012-01-23T10:00:00.000-05:00

I am a fan of those grainy how to videos from back in the 50's that depict life as it was then. Some of these old films have a "high school sex education" feel to them, while others you can just imagine watching while sitting in your lawn chair at the Drive Inn theater, waiting for intermission to be over.

I love the simplicity of the era, and this video depicts the time period well. It's just a man in a row boat, catching huge bass off of what seems to be a simple white hackle fly.

Enjoy!

P.S. Although I found this video on YouTube, it was officially uploaded by another blogger. I'd like to give that blogger a shout out here: Fishing History

What's In The Hopper - Vaccinating Myself Against Cabin Fever

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Well, nothing much is in the hopper to be truthful. I haven't done much fishing lately because the high levels of precipitation continue through 2012. In fact, I haven't really done much outdoors since hunting season ended in late November. For the time being, I've retreated into the man cave and am stewing upon what my alternatives are until Spring hits. I have decided to get more out of the upcoming season by being more prepared, so I've been planning and working, like Tony Stark (except not nearly in as awesome of a work-space.)

First and foremost, I am busily attacking the empty spaces in my fly boxes and tying like mad. I am out of just about everything so I am trying in production mode (which is much more efficient, although quite boring.) I have been tying half dozen sets of beaded woolybuggers in brown, olive, white, black and purple in a size 8 3x (my favorite size hook.) I am hoping this will save me from those late night frantic tying sessions that take place before trips. There have been quite a few times I would tie until 2 in the morning and be exhausted the next day while fishing. Not anymore dammit!

I also discovered a way to devise a system of fly storage to finally give myself a respite from my mild case of obsessive compulsive disorder as it relates to fly organization. Let me explain, fly fisherman carry their boxes in one of two ways: overstuffed with flies or very orderly. I like mine organized like little soldiers readying themselves for battle.

However, I am constantly pulling fly patterns in and out of the box as I change my mind about how I want them organized. As such, my foam fly boxes are in a total mess and need replacement. This is the problem with fly fishing. I target several species in warm and cold water, and some flies cross species while others would be worthless to carry on a certain expedition. For example, an olive woolybugger will take both a smallmouth and a trout, a white woolybugger will take a white bass and a trout and a black can take all three. But, a size 20 thread midge or a huge foam topwater chugger are pretty much specific to their target species. So, how in the hell do you navigate this?

I found the answer: Cabela's Nubby Tack Fly Box. Yes, they are much heavier than other fly boxes, but they are cost effective and hold the fly well when you drop the box. They are a godsend.

The plan now is to keep my flies organized like a fly shop, in bins. Then, when I need them, I can pull them out and insert them into the fly box as needed.

Beyond that, I've been working on my fitness.

The wife and I have been in the gym running and training for a 10k and I've been hitting the weights pretty hard. I quit smoking a few years ago and put on a bunch of weight, which I was afraid of but at least glad to finally kick that habit. As such, I am in the gym trying to lose it and get in shape. The goal is to be able to do some more hiking, spend more time on the water and just feel better in general. It's been a few months and I can see a huge difference, but there is still much to go.

Beyond these things I'm just watching movies on Netflix and cable. By the way, when are they going to start making good movies again?

Brophy's Last Hurrah

2012-01-16T10:00:00.001-05:00

It was to be a special event for a special person. For many years now, a friend's family has had an annual men's camping trip that I have attended. It is a weekend of building fire, eating chili and drinking beer. It's fun, full of camaraderie and always memorable.

I always enjoy attending this "men's family camping trip", although I'm not a member of this particular family. But I have been welcomed as the others who come down as well; the neighbors, the old family friends and other people who wander in from neighboring campsites. I've always looked forward to this trip because it is a chance to spend time with a bunch of guys telling jokes and arguing about sports and politics.

Of course, with these types of events comes your normal range of characters. You get your jokesters, pranksters, hard-asses, teasers and old geezers. This mix of guys is what keeps me coming back.

However, one of the old timers has fallen upon hard times health wise, and its said that he may not have much time left. As such, they decided to throw him one last party and have a second annual camping trip.

This man, known commonly as the Brophmeister...Brophy...Brophilicious...well, he has a thousand nicknames in reality. He's one of those great guys that people get a kick out of being around. Brophy has a certain way of telling people off after he's getting a good ribbing from one of the guys. I call them "Brophyisms," which are in reality very clever ways to tell someone to go screw themselves.

For example:

"You know I would have been your dad if the dog hadn't beat me across the street."

And many, many more phrases that are just too profane to mention. But regardless, he never dishes it out unless dished upon and there is never a hint of anger or malice in his voice. He realizes he is among friends.

I was fortunate enough to speak to him for awhile one on one on this evening. Brophy is a God fearing man, reads his bible regularly and is quite insightful. I think facing death brings you deeper into yourself, and Brophy has obviously delved deeper into the many layers of his own soul and psyche as he tries to make peace with the inevitable. The Marine in him keeps him from surrendering, and as he mounts his last stand, I am glad that he can do so knowing that so many people care enough for him to spend an entire weekend with him. Who knows what the outcome will be. It sounds like he has good doctors, and his weight is coming back up since the chemo. Of course, he already is an old man, but he is a fighter, and only time and the wisdom of God knows what is in store for us.

In the end, this was a fabulous weekend. Much beer was drank. Many laughs were had. It was good to be part of this. I hope to see old Broph-dog this next October. It will be a welcome reunion.

Greater Cincinnati Outdoor Events Announcements

2012-01-12T10:00:00.001-05:00

With the winter comes a brace of January events that aim to ease the strains of cabin fever and get you prepared for the adventures that await in the upcoming spring and thereafter. I am talking about those two events that grace the social calendar of all Greater Cincinnati, starting with the Hart Productions Travel and Boat Show. Sure, its become more boat than show, but there is still some cool stuff to see and do. I'll be on the lookout for a striper guide to hire for Lake Cumberland to take my wife out this summer hopefully (I think it would be awesome to get a picture of her with a gigantic fish.)

Next up is the annual gear swap over at the Cincy Paddlers Giant Outdoor Swap Meet. Here's a chance to unload some of your crap or pick up something new. Hey, I don't care if its used....it's new to me! Hell, I bought my kayak second hand 7 years ago and it still FLOATS!

Okie dokie, don't forget the BUFF Fly Fishing show that's coming up in February. I'll post up something else for that when I finally figure out how to get their PDF uploaded.

Thanks for reading!

Must Watch Guest Blog Video - "An Insight From A Newbie Hunter"

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a video that a friend of mine was kind of enough to post regarding his first foray into hunting.

My initial reaction upon learning that he had gone bow hunting for deer was surprise. I was not aware that he had any interest in the sport but I was very happy to learn that he had been successful on his first trip out this past season. I became very interested in his experience and wanted to know more.

In general, I wanted to understand his motivation for exploring deer hunting in the first place and his reaction to the entire process after his success. As someone who volunteers a lot of time to outdoor education and conservation causes, I am always interested in the perspectives of people and how they relate to the outdoors. I wanted to share his thoughts and see how they align with others who view my blog.

In fact, this approach was my initial reasoning for calling this blog "a dispatch" as I was interested in collecting hunting and fishing stories to share with others. Unfortunately, collecting stories, pictures and videos isn't that easy unless it is a blurry low resolution pic from a cell phone or something.

I am very appreciative that he took the time out to post this video for me, despite what I suspect might be disapproval from some of his friends and YouTube viewers who disagree with hunting in general.

Rubin, I offer you my support and good job buddy!

Brookville Tailwater Fishing Forecast

2012-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

I get a lot of hits on my site for information regarding fishing the Brookville Tailwater in Southeastern Indiana for trout. As such, I have decided to post an infrequent update on a favorite, local fishery.

Unfortunately, Brookville Tailwater has been unfishable for most of the fall and into this winter.

Persistent high water discharges has kept it dangerous to wade. The river gauge is bouncing around 5.0 feet and I have seen it much higher higher in the past few weeks. Sometimes it has hit the 7's, but for the most part it has spent the last few months in the mid 5's.

The underlying problem is that our region has had record precipitation this year. Cincinnati itself shattered its previous rainfall record by 16 inches to arrive at over 73 inches of rain in 2011. I've wondered aloud to several people if they remember a wetter year, and obviously it is impossible for them to do so!

I recently took a photo of Brookville Tailwater while passing through town a few weeks ago. Here is the water at 5.5 feet.

As you can see, its above the first level of trees. I do not suggest wading anything over 4.5, and as many know, the best levels are around 3.0-3.5.

Who knows what will happen to the fish with water levels being this high? My guess is that some have been blown into the Whitewater River itself, with some holdovers close to cover and behind trees.

Improvements should be soon though as Brookville nears winter pool levels. As of right now, the lake levels themselves are only off by about a foot. I would expect the tailwater itself to be below 5 feet this weekend, and barring any major precipitation, to get around fishing levels soon.

Good luck and keep me posted on your success if you have any. Email me at webmaster at thejgrdispatch.com.

Thanks for reading!

My Resolution for 2012

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

My resolution for 2012 is pretty easy: spend more time hunting, fishing and being in the outdoors with my best friend and partner...my beautiful wife.

Beyond that, I feel like 2012 is stacking up to be a pretty spectacular year. 2011 finished strong and may have been one of the better years of my life. I got married, I had a good year at work, I met a lot of new people and had some great experiences. I shored up a lot of the gray areas in my life and was able to put myself on a better path towards achieving my goals. It took some hard work tempered with good luck but I had a lot of help from the truly great people in my life, those both expected and unexpected. Of all of these players that have come and gone I must give credit where credit is due and thank the big man who lives upstairs, namely God, who saw me through a lot of difficult times.

It's hard to guess where I'd be if I didn't let God back into my life in 2010. I spent a lot of time with my back turned to Him, mostly because I was dealing with a lot of anger and disappointment. But I found out that a lot of my own problems were due to myself and I spent time improving who I was by writing and exploring my feelings and taking on bigger goals. I asked God for help, to guide me and give me the answers. I decided that the only way I was going to move forward was if I lived "balls to the wall" and took some risks. I did, and they are starting to pay off for me.

2011 therefore was supposed to be a year of rebuilding, but I found that it became instead a year of building as I began laying new foundations for my future. You just never know what's going to happen in your life. As the saying goes, "yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery." I like to keep that thought in mind sometimes when I am pondering the trajectory of my life.

With 2011 came the welcomed addition of a wife, who I am so freaking blessed to have met. She is an amazing woman and its hard to think where I'd be without her. She maybe the biggest gift that God has ever given me, and I'm not sure how I could possibly thank him for it. There is a reason that I married her a little over a year and a half after we first met. And honestly, if I could have afforded to do it earlier I would have.

This is why I am dedicating 2012 towards incorporating my wife more into my hobbies. It helps that she has an interest in the outdoors as well. I hope to help her harvest her first deer, enjoy some hiking and fly fishing and make some weekend excursions to the woods. 2012 is going to be awesome.

FIberglass Rod Guide Repair - Winter Projects Roundup

2011-12-29T10:00:00.003-05:00

I have recently become interested in rod building again. I took a fly rod building class a few years back but really haven't done a ton with it since then. In fact, I have a few fly rod kits collecting dust in the basement that I'm trying to finish before the end of this winter. But first on the agenda, I had to fix my "learning rod", which was the first rod that I have ever assembled.

This particular rod has a fiberglass blank, is about 6.5 feet long and takes a 4 weight line. I ended up getting a great deal on it from a friend and was excited about having a fiberglass rod in the arsenal. It's such a slow rod, much lighter than bamboo and makes an excellent small water/panfish rod. Adding a double taper line makes it deadly accurate too.

Ever since I've finished this rod however, I've been tormented with its imperfections. The first glaring mistake is that the stripping guide (the first guide up from the reel seat) is up too high and off to the side. The second was that I forgot to glue the winding check and the third was the cork handle had a crack in it from not being glued properly. Lastly and most annoyingly is that I don't think I used enough guides on the rod itself and I ended up having a lot of line slap during casting.

The rod works fine, but these imperfections don't allow it to be the rod that I want it to be. So, I decided to fix these problems during my slow winter times at home. Here's how I did it.

First, I needed to strip the old stripping guide off the blank. If you remember from an earlier post, this is when I nearly cut off my finger. OK, it wasn't really that bad but it sucked.

Next I made sure my guide was 100% exactly where I wanted it to be and I started my thread wraps.

This is a burnishing tool. It's great for getting the thread wraps to look more uniform on the blank.

Now I put in my white thread. This is used to finish off the knot by pulling the tag end through the wraps and back out behind the guide foot.

Here was the initial set. I used color preserver to help save this nice blue thread color. But, as you can tell one guide foot has more thread on it than the other one. I also have those nasty gouges underneath the guide itself that I have to deal with.

Next, I tore off this guide a second time and put a new wrap on, making sure I used a ruler to ensure that both thread ends were even in length. I figure if I am going to do it, I was going to do it right. Here you can see that I used a black sharpie marker to color in the space and hide the nasty gouge marks. I might use this technique in other rods that I am building because I really like the look of it. Next, I threw the rod on the drying rotator (which is nothing more than a simple motor from an old sewing machine) and let it spin while I put on the clear coat. After 24 hours of curing, I ended up with a nice rod. Here is the finished product:

Here is a guide that I decided to add all together. I ordered a larger stripping guide from Hook and Hackle and put this on the blank much closer to the reel seat. This way I don't have to reach out very far to grab the line when I want to strip or make a cast.

Finally, I glued the winding check down and added some epoxy to the cork handle to seal the crack. I don't know if this was the best fix for the cork handle, but we'll see.

Here it is, with the guides straight as an arrow. I can't wait to get this thing out on the water in 2012!

Christmas Bounty - Awesome Stuff I Got This Year

2011-12-26T14:39:00.000-05:00

I am thoroughly blessed to have received such a nice Christmas. My wife and family did a great job of providing me with some terrific gear to enjoy during 2012. Here's some of the haul:

Eureka Apex 2XT tent. My wife is getting into the outdoors, but she doesn't have a lot of gear. I have quite a bit, but I only own two tents. One is a solo backpacking tent and another a much larger 6 person car camping tent. I want to take my wife backpacking with me on some short weekend trips in 2012, so my mother was kind enough to purchase this tent for us. Can't wait to break it out!

I got a killer deal on these on cyber Monday, so I bought them and gave them to my wife to wrap up for me under the Christmas tree (I'm easy to shop for!). These are a pair of Bushnell 10X42 binoculars. I wanted them for deer hunting in 2012 and for bird watching too. My wife and I are going to visit Muskatatuck Wildlife Refuge in the spring of 2012 and I wanted us to have something to see our fine feathered friends more easily.

I finally got an upgrade to the fly fishing vest. My old one pulled very heavily down on my shoulders, so I wanted something with better support. Enter the Cabela's Pack Rat River Vest. This was something else I bought on cyber Monday and had my wife wrap for me (easy, I know!) It fits pretty nice. I can't wait to get out on the water.

My wife used the last of her industry discount to pick up some Smart Wool socks and products. I can't wait to get pull on the waders or hit the forest with these on. Honestly, I never cared much about socks, but my wife has changed my mind about that. There is simply nothing better than awesome socks. I guess if you're going to live in the 21st century, you might as well use up the best of what's out there.

I got a new Leatherman too after Eddie Bauer screwed up and put them on sale. I lost my other pair, so this was originally a replacement. However, I found the other pair so now I have two. I will keep this one in the truck as I am constantly getting asked for tools, but never having any handy. I freaking love Leatherman by the way. They are so useful.

A Humminbird PiranhaMAX 170 fish finder. I scoured the internet to find something good to use on the kayak. This had really great reviews so I put it on the Amazon wishlist. Lo and behold the wife gave the link to my in-laws and they picked this up for me. I will post on mounting this to the kayak in my quest to build the greatest fishing kayak known to man.

Merry Christmas all, I hope your Christmas was great too!

Mr P's Carp Fishing Lessons

2011-12-26T14:37:00.001-05:00

Mr P has put up the first in what will hopefully be many in a series of carp fly fishing videos. I have been following Mr P for some time now, tying his fly patterns and learning about this aspect of the sport from him.

This is what's so neat about blogging. Yes, I'm in a fly fishing club and have learnt so much from them. But, the blogging community has been where I've been able to kick up my enjoyment of the outdoors a few notches.

Check out his first video:

http://themrpblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/lessons-from-carp-lodge-episode-1-early.html

I Finally Finish My Fishing Net - Winter Project Roundups

2011-12-19T13:22:00.000-05:00

Yes, I am excited about my first real wood working project. I made a fishing net. I was able to build this over a few short trips to a friend's woodworking shop, and before I knew it, I had one of these in my possession.

The project was pretty simple now that I look back on it. Of course, I had plenty of help from the net building class at Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers, our regional fly fishing club. I am most thankful for their insights and advice because other than a birdhouse I built as a Boy Scout, this has been my first real wood working project.

Growing up in the country and without a lot of money, you learn how to take care of what you have. Yes, I can afford to hire a mechanic, but I do most of the work on my truck myself. I've changed everything from oil and brakes to radiators and I take pride that my old truck still looks and runs like new. But most of my skills ends on the mechanics side, and building projects have been outside of my scope up to this point.

Now, I am really excited to add this to my fishing equipment because it means so much to me. Yes, I have built my own fly rods, tied my own flies and even constructed my own fly boxes. But this is the most ornate thing I have ever made and required a lot of skills that I did not have previously. Here a few notes on the skills that I picked up.

Below you can see the handle. I used two different pieces of wood here, both taken from the scrap heap from a cabinet maker. I soaked them overnight in a PVC tube filled with warm water. I then coated them in epoxy and wrapped them to form using bike inner tube tires. After the pieces were sealed to each other, I ran them through a friend's planer to make the piece nice and even.

I bought the net separately and had to add that last. The top loop of the net itself is based off of a form cut from NKFF's net building class. Wrapping the slats of wood around this form gave it this nice, round shape.

Of course, I typically screw things up. Here I tried to add a loop so I could attach the net to my fishing vest. The first one broke, so I had to add another one next to it. I guess it adds character.

While using a router, I nearly cut off my finger. Luckily, my digits are still attached. The router caught onto a grain and split into the net. Luckily, I had some 5 minute epoxy so I mixed it up with some of the red sawdust and made a filler. Looks and acts good as new. Adds character right?

Drilling the holes for the net to pass through was easy enough, but after I added the polyurethane, I found that the holes became clogged. The simple remedy was having to re-drill the openings to free them up.

Here, I added the net bag by pulling the ends through the holes and affixing them to a piece of 80 pound strength squid braid. I might have started at the wrong end, but it was a pain in the ass so I'm letting it go. Like I said, it adds character.

There you have it. I have a few other winter projects that I'm undertaking while it's cold. Usually, I fish Brookville Tailwaters through the winter but everything is still so freaking blown out that I'm stuck at home. More to post soon.

Kevin Morlock and Indigo Guide Service on Fly Fishing The World

2011-12-16T13:48:00.001-05:00

I have met Kevin Morlock a few times at NKFF club functions and really wanted to go fish with him for smallmouth and carp up at Beaver Island. However, it seems like he "done blown up" and his fishing card might be full now that he's been on Fly Fishing the World. Regardless, look at booking a date with Indigo Guide Service if you are interested in Michigan fly fishing.

Seriously, Kevin is a pretty interesting guy and I respect his contribution to fly fishing in the Great Lakes and fly pattern development overall. He flat out knows how to fish, whether it be for steelhead, carp or smallmouth bass.

Here's a link to the teaser for the trailer. It's pretty neat.

Fly Fishing The World

Also, if you get a chance check out their website at Third Coast Fly.http://thirdcoastfly.com/

Utilizing NOAA's RSS Feeds To Enhance Your Productivity On The Water

2011-12-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

I often say that given the correct water levels and some free time, you will find me on the water and far from the couch. I really don’t care if its raining, sleeting, snowing or spewing hot ash, if I have these two factors in my favor, guess where I’ll be. Because of this, it’s important for me to keep up to date on the water levels in my area. If you are in a region like mine, you no doubt have waterways that come from different areas with various drainage characteristics. For example, here in Cincinnati the Licking River flows north through Kentucky, draining Cave Run Lake. Part of the Whitewater River to the west drains massive Brookville Lake and parts of Eastern Indiana. The Great Miami draws some of its water source from Dayton Ohio. And of course, the Ohio River moves west from the three rivers near Pittsburgh and pulls from many streams and rivers along the way.

In my area during 2011, it’s safe to say where one river is blown out the other one will be too. We experienced widespread rain cover throughout the region as this year shapes up to be one of the absolute wettest on record. This has not been the case in all previous years, and certainly rain patterns can be sporadic in the summer. Where one waterway could be blown out, another one 25 miles in a different direction could be plenty fishable in any other given year. That’s why this quick little tip I’m going to give you can save you a lot of time and help you better plan your fishing excursions. There’s nothing worse than showing up with your fly rod in hand to discover shoulder high water that possesses the same visibility as chocolate milk. Given high gas prices and are many other responsibilities, its time to put technology and careful planning to better use.

If you are reading my blog, you more than likely use an RSS reader to manage your favorite feeds to your most visited sources on the web. If you do not, and use Blogger dashboard instead, I would suggest upgrading to an RSS reader. I really like Google Reader because it imports the sites that you already follow in Google Friend Connect, but there are plenty of other viable alternatives.

Once you have your RSS reader chosen, follow the below steps to gather your appropriate feeds.

1. One of the best sources for water levels is the National Oceanic and Administration’s (NOAA) website. You can find this here: NOAA. Visit this site and find the appropriate water gauge for your home waters. Then go to that gauge's data page for the next step.

2. Below is a snapshot of the gauge depicting water level activity near downtown Cincinnati.

3. On the bottom left hand corner of the above graphic, you will see an orange box with the text "RSS". Click here.

4. Next, click on the orange box with the text "XML" underneath the Forecast column. This will take you to the RSS link page. Copy the link in the address bar and copy it over into your "add a subscription" tool in your selected application.

5. Go to your RSS Reader and choose to add a subscription. Paste this link here and you are finished.

6. As you can see below on the snapshot from my Google Reader page, I have several gauge stations already mapped out and in constant use.

7. Clicking on one of these feeds put the information right at my fingertips as you can see below in this snapshot.

OK, simple enough right? There are so many tools out on the web to help us be more productive on the water. Adapt this simple procedure to keep your local fishing conditions right at your fingertips. It may even encourage you to get out more on the local creek after work or save you from wasting resources and time travelling to a fishing site only to find it completely blown out. Good luck and tight lines!

Red River Gorge, Kentucky - A Primer

2011-12-12T13:12:00.001-05:00

The Red River Gorge is a national and geological treasure located near Southeastern Kentucky. This is the place that I first attained my exposure to the fun of the outdoors and ultimately led into this lifestyle that I have adopted.

Neat places.

It is a wild, beautiful and ancient place that is both awe inspiring and dangerous. The cliffs and overlooks, as well as the many arches, caves and terrific backcountry backpacking are really distinct. Because of these factors, this area gets a lot of pressure, especially in more recent years.

Cool places to explore.

Historically, the Red River Gorge, or RRG, was always a place that people had heard of but never visited. This was because no one really knew how to get there as there wasn't much information. It was frequented mostly by a strong and growing climbing community and another contingent that liked to go down and party like crazy. It is the latter that gave the RRG much of its reputation.

Over time, locals began embracing its tourism potential and began publicizing it alongside the very popular Natural Bridge State Park as a vacation destination. This is most fitting, since the RRG is nearly 29,000 acres and butts against the Clifty Wilderness, which is made up of another 12,600 acres of pure forest. It has over 100 natural sandstone arches, an amazing array of habitat diversity and extensive sandstone rock shelters and exposed cliff lines. The Red River pours through it offering terrific paddling and many of the streams and creeks are stocked with trout. It is a little slice of heaven.

Hemlock gardens galore.

However, things are changing rather drastically at the RRG. There has been a huge push by government officials policing the area and closing access. There have been cases of arson and defacement that has changed the face of the forest and is forcing the hand of the National Forest Service. Right now, you could make an argument that there is a law enforcement crackdown and people are getting surprised with some hefty fines for their indiscretions. I have noticed a lot of activity down there recently, and even more of my friends who frequent the RRG are telling me about recent tickets they have been receiving for all kinds of infractions. Likewise, I want to offer a quick list on how to stay safe at the RRG and keep yourself out of trouble.

Get a backcountry permit. Permits are pretty easy to purchase. You just need to stop at either the Shell or BP station located at the Slade exit. You will need to display this tag on your vehicle if you are wishing to stay the night. The passes are very, very inexpensive but the ticket you’ll get written for not having one properly displayed on vehicle is not. I have known multiple people who have received these fines and they are pain in the you know what to pay.
Observe the burn bans. From time to time, depending on conditions, the National Forest Service will issue a burn ban on public property. If a Ranger is driving down the road and notices a red glow in the distance during one of these bans, he’ll stop and investigate. The ticket he’ll write up won’t be pretty either. Keep an eye on this indicator. There are Smokey the Bear signs located at all the major access roads into the park.
Leave the alcohol and drugs at home. The enforcement really started when the partying down at the RRG got out of control. The story is that a local judge was camping with his family when a group of raucous neighbors kept them up at night. Well, the story goes on to state that the judge sent in the State Troopers to help clean the place up. The RRG is in a dry county folks, and they like to break people’s balls for having it. They will also search the site for drugs too and will bring a K9 unit to help. The RRG is patrolled mostly by the park service but country, state and local law enforcement can and will patrol the area too. Honestly, I agree with this approach. Things are getting way out of control. Half Moon is literally covered with broken glass. I have been way into the backcountry and found wrecks of campsites with leftover party supplies that people were just too hung-over to carry out. It's just got to stop. Admittedly, I use to party down there all the time and half the fun was just letting yourself get wild and be loud. But they aren't putting up with it anymore, so watch out.
Stay away from cliffs at night. So many people fall to their death every year because of careless activities. When we were younger, most of the fatalities and injuries were from climbers. However, more recently its been coming from people treating the overlooks like a jungle gym. Don’t screw around these unless you know what you are doing. If you fall, you will get hurt and you could die. For some reason Buckeyes seem to have the most trouble down there, maybe its all the flat land and the hills just put a zap on them. If you don't believe me, the more popular outlooks have shrines to those who have fallen off and died from years past.
Keep valuables out of sight in your car. This is a no brainer, but for awhile cars down at the RRG were getting broken into almost repeatedly. Who knows who was doing it, but I have heard of everything being stolen from car radios, CD’s and gasoline. I have even heard of someone who took the face off their car stereo, only to come back and find that they had taken a screwdriver and defaced the leftover box component in an effort to “get even” with the owner. So, clean your car out before you go and don’t leave anything to chance.
Camp at private site. Believe it or not, there was a time when I would have laughed in your face for suggesting that I would camp anywhere but on public property. However, a few primitive camp sites have opened that are privately operated. Swift is a good one, and a lot of my friends are using it. You can feel safe leaving your property there as you go out for day hikes, and its easy to purchase an armload of firewood to have yourself a nice little camp at night. You can be as loud as you want too in most cases. In all honesty, I routinely suggest going this route more and more. In general though, if you are going to camp in the back country, observe these rules:

Do not camp within 300 feet of any road
Do not camp within 100 feet of any cliff or under any rock-house
Practice Leave No Trace

Avoid Bears. Believe it or not, black bears are back at the Red River Gorge. For a long time they were absent, but they have returned. Hang your food down wind from your campsite and you'll be fine. They aren't a nuisance yet, but I am aware of at least one attack recently.

OK, there is a little advice for you. Have fun and be safe and enjoy your public resources!

My buddy Jon overlooking a large canyon.

10 Pounds Of Deer Summer Sausage

2011-12-04T16:05:00.002-05:00

I have finally made my own deer summer sausage. Ten pounds of deer summer sausage that is!

But why deer summer sausage? Simple: as a child, I remember loving deer summer sausage. It was a treat whenever we got it, and I remember my father liking it especially. I think whenever the adults in your life like something, you tend to like it as well. Now of course, that doesn't include everything. My father also liked pickles, but I have yet to find a taste for these foul morsels.

How did I go about doing making this sausage? First of all, I had a bunch of leftover venison on my hands. Last year, I opted to get back some of my deer in the form of breakfast sausage. I did not, however, like the sausage they sent back. It was mostly venison, with about 20% of pork turned into it, with the addition of a handful of sage. I found that I preferred standard pork sausage instead and didn't really care for the consistency of this product. I also had about 12 pounds of it and knew that it could take a lifetime for me to eat all of this, especially since my breakfasts typically consist of cereal or nothing at all.

So, I found myself with the need to answer this question: what to do with 12 pounds of deer breakfast sausage? I tried eating a pound, and gave away a pound, but still didn't have a resolution to my happy little conundrum. I know that some people may just say throw it away, but I hate waste so I had to find some kind of solution. I considered making venison meat balls for Italian night but that is a lot of dang meatballs! That's when I found the perfect solution: why not buy a summer sausage kit and see if I can preserve this meat?

As a prequalification, I have never taken on this process before. I am however, a pretty astute beef jerky maker so I figured that it wouldn't be that difficult. Here's how I went about doing it:

1. I purchased a quality seasoning kit. I chose a Backwoods Seasonings Summer Sausage Kit from LEM products. Here is their website: http://www.lemproducts.com/. As a side note about LEM, I am excited to see that this producer manufactures their products in my neck of the woods which makes me feel good about buying locally. LEM, you make a great product! (Side note: if you want to send some free shit my way just contact me.)

2. I defrosted the requisite ten pounds of deer sausage and used a potato masher to mix the meat with the seasonings. While I did this, I soaked the ten fibrous casings in a bowl of warm water for about 30 minutes.

3. After everything was mixed and the casings were easier to handle, the wife and I stuffed each with the raw mixture.

4. We threw the sausages into a 170 degree oven and then went out to Dave and Buster's for half off game night. The funny thing is, when we came back and I inserted a meat thermometer into the end of the sausage, they were still only about 140 degrees. We were looking for 165 degrees for it to be finished. I think next time we'll leave one of the ends untied. All in all, it took 16 hours for the sausage to finish!

5. After they finished, we gave it a taste test and it was delicious. I have since shared it with family, friends and people at work. Everyone has given it high marks. It is best paired with Ritz crackers, Butterkasse cheese or a mild Cheddar. Also, it washes down well with beer too. I would consider pairing it with something superb, like a Busch beer. Now that's America!

A New Edition To The JGR Dispatch

2011-11-29T09:07:00.000-05:00

BLAM!!!!

I bought this bad boy on Cyber Monday:

I have been hawking this thing ever since I decided to buy a dedicated video recorder. 6 months! No doubt, I have had it on my Amazon wishlist and have been checking out the price list for that long.

Then yesterday I log onto Amazon, and there it was....$100 price drop.

SNATCHED!!!!!

What does this mean for the media empire that the JGR Dispatch has become?

Fly tying videos! Honestly, I love to tie flies but doing step by steps for the camera is such a pain in the ass for me. It's not that its hard, it's that it takes a little while to put it together right and sometimes I blow through a pattern without every documenting it. So, I hope to have some of these up.

Videos of me killing stuff! Now we can be like those guys on television and film our hunting adventures. My task for 2012 is to get my wife her first deer and if I can get that on tape, the more better!

Images of Kentucky! Kentucky is beautiful, now I can bring some of the places that I visit to life and share some of these backwaters that not many other people get a chance to see.

Sweet, so there you have it. The JGR Dispatch just got a whole lot fancier.

Thanks for reading!

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Newsletter - November, 2011

2011-11-28T16:37:00.000-05:00

Read Kentucky's Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources monthly newsletter here:

http://fw.ky.gov/pdf/newsletter1111.pdf

From Woods to Plate - How To Get Perfect Tasting Venison

2011-11-26T13:17:00.000-05:00

As a hunter, I am constantly challenged by the non-hunter that venison is too gamy to be any good. Of course, I disagree with them as my venison is delicious. It has even gotten to the point that I prefer venison over beef.

To me, beef is boring. Venison should be the new thing. Now, when I say that to some people, they look at me like I'm crazy. But, truth be told, if you were going to go into a fancy restaurant, you would find venison on the menu and it would be outrageously expensive.

If you've been reading my blog long enough, you will know that I am a first rate foodie. I love food, and I am always trying to improve upon my current dishes and explore new tastes. That's why I like hunting. I'm not a point counter, I'm a meat hunter. I've taken as many does as bucks now, and my main goal is to get meat in the freezer. I am also, unfortunately, NOT independently wealthy so I have to work for a living. As such, I don't have a lot of time to hang my deer or process it myself. So, I have to have my process completely down to get the best meat on the plate. Here's my list of how to get it done right.

1. Make a good shot. The best tasting deer are the ones who are dropped almost immediately. If you've made a good shot and the deer is dying, it is now time to drive to the store and get a 20 pound bag of ice. In this time, you will have given the deer its peace and not frighten it if it has not passed away quickly. There's nothing worse than a panicked deer, and the stress hormones it secretes into its body can put an off taste to it.

2. Field dress immediately. Don't wait to get this process started. The sooner you can get the animal field dressed, the quicker that heat can get out and the better the meat will taste. The 30 minutes or so that it took you to get your bag of ice is all the waiting time you need. Get that deer field dressed and get that bag of ice in there. Then worry about getting it out of the woods.

3. Pick the right processor. You should call a list of processors in your area (beforehand hopefully) and ask them about their processing methods. Do you get your own deer back? Do they take the meat off the bone or do they hack through it with a Sawzall? How do they package it? Believe it or not, not all deer processors give you your deer back. There is one here in town that if you bring in so many pounds of venison you get so many back, and it doesn't matter who's deer it is.

I have talked to deer processors and they say that many people bring their deer in without field dressing it. Can you imagine that? That deer has been sitting there hot for half a day, and now you have to deal with it because they are too lazy or scared to get it done themselves? Gross. Also, make sure they take the meat off the bone. Some processors hack through them with a Sawzall or some other motorized cutting tool. This is not ideal. This spills bone marrow on the meat and this can leave an off taste.

Ask about their packaging methods. Do they give you ground deer in one pound packages or more? You don't want to have to defrost an entire 10 pound package of frozen ground deer to make chili for Saturday night. Make sure they get it done right and in the portions that you want.

4. Get it done at home. Keep your deer frozen and when you are ready to eat it, throw it in the refrigerator to defrost. Keep it out of the microwave, the defrost setting has never been friendly to me and I just assume skip it.

Addendum: If you choose to process your deer yourself, there's nothing I can say that isn't covered in this video. Buy this if you want to do this process yourself, it is awesome. Kentucky Afield Deer Processing Video

Deer Season - Day 4 - Finally!

2011-11-22T09:06:00.000-05:00

So, not a huge buck but I was so glad to finally get one.

For me, it's always the second weekend during hunting season that I take a deer. I feel like this is the true "rut" weekend as I always see the most activity.

I brought him in about 10 a.m. using a doe bleat and buck grunt. Earl told me to use a certain cadence with the calls, so I tried out his suggestion. I used 4 bleats and then followed it up with a grunt and waited. I usually just bleat or just grunt, and don't typically mash them up. This was a new tactic for me and guess what, it worked!

This is how it went down: It had probably been ten minutes since I had made my last grunt. I was sitting in the blind when all of a sudden I saw this buck come barreling out towards me. He didn't even notice me. He started looking into the blind, when I stood up and put him in the cross hairs. I pulled the trigger and nothing happened. My body was full of adrenaline at this point. I looked down at the rifle and the safety was on. "No!" I thought to myself. I took off the safety and put him into the cross hairs. It was at this moment that he finally saw me. I aimed correctly and pulled the trigger. He turned around and hauled ass down the hill.

I started panicking. "Did I get him? Did I screw this one up again?" I'm not a great hunter, I've gotten better, but I'm still kind of new to this so I still second guess myself.

I got out of the blind and looked on the ground, no blood. I followed his trail that he had made after tearing out of there and still didn't see any blood. I saw a tree, aimed at it and pulled the trigger. The bullet went exactly where I had pointed it, so I knew my scope was good. In fact, he was only about 20 feet from me when I pulled the trigger.

I followed his trail some more and found where he had ran through some briers. There was hair all over the ground, but still no blood. I followed the trail more, finding upturned heaps of leaves from his running and little pools of his spittle.

Finally, I followed the trail and started feeling like I had missed him. I walked a little further and scanned the thick woods. It was then that I found him, lying over a log just a little ways down from me.

I thanked the Lord for my harvest and said a prayer for him and myself. I liked to be very reverent after the kill, like the Native Americans were and I like to let God know that I'm not in this for blood lust. I like for him to know that I am thankful for his gifts and I try to make the entire process as humane as possible.

Afterwards, I went up and called Mr K to get the tractor and went home to tell my wife, grab a 20 pound bag of ice for the field dress and call in the deer to the state.

I will write a piece about how to get the best tasting deer off the hoof. I am very, very anal about this process and have perfected it. I will let you know more in the future.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Deer Season - Days 2 and 3

2011-11-22T08:47:00.000-05:00

As usual, I got into the woods at day break. I didn't see or hear a lot of activity, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't get a deer this year.

I was scouting for a good place to sit down when I saw someone down at the bottom of the hill walking about. I knew that there was another person on the property, so we waved at each other, and I walked back up the hill to hunt near the field. I didn't want to mess up his hunt that day since I was late coming in.

I ponied up next to a clear cut that I knew deer traveled through and waited. It wasn't long before I got to meet Earl Gossett.

Earl was coming up from the bottom of the hill to get one of his decoys. Earl is an avid hunter, prefers a traditional bow and also has his own show called "Traditional Bowhunter's Journal." Yeah, I knew I was lucky to have run into him.

I learned more about deer hunting in those 25 minutes talking to him than I have from reading Field and Stream, surfing the internet or reading books. This guy knows his stuff. I picked his brain too any time I saw him as well. I soaked all of it in.

Here he is telling me about scrapes and how deer communicate to each other.

Here is the link to Earl's website too: http://www.traditionalbowhuntersjournal.com/

Earl showed me a good place to sit and he went back down to his tree stand. I typically hunt behind blinds and stuff. I'm a big dude, and don't feel entirely comfortable climbing up into tree stands. Ok, I'm kind of a wuss on that stuff because they just seem really unsafe to me. But to all who use them, I can see where they definitely have an advantage.

So, I crept back into the blind and sat down for the rest of the day. Earl had me pretty fired up about seeing some deer, but even he agreed its been much less than in previous years. Nonetheless, I remained positive and did what I do best, goofed off to pass time.

Here I am playing with my cameras color filters. Pretty cool I think:

And.........

I also figured out how to accomplish this with the focus features (which isn't terribly easy at first try):

So, no deer today either.

Day 3 was more of the same. I took Wednesday off to run some errands and after I finished those I hit the woods again to catch them bedding. No luck, saw one doe but she never came in for a shot.

Deer Season Day 1

2011-11-14T12:37:00.000-05:00

And now for an update on my first day of the modern gun deer hunting season in my home state of Kentucky.

My wife was supposed to join me, but she wasn't feeling well and had a ton of stuff to do for work (she's a teacher and is writing her lesson plans.) Heaven has a special place for teachers! She does look pretty mean with that rifle right?

I didn't get out of bed quite as early as I hoped to, mostly because I was just tired from the past week. I showed up at Mr K's property, the nice guy who lets me hunt his land, and started to gear up for a day in the woods.

A few things to keep in mind when you are in the deer woods in November, is that you will hunt longer if you are comfortable. That's why keeping warm, having a snack and bringing along things to keep your mind busy is so important.

Here's my field bag. I have some trail mix, my journal, a camera, two books ( I can never just concentrate on one), an electronic handheld poker game, my smart phone and a tumbler of coffee. Never, ever forget your coffee!

Another item I like to carry are hand-warmers. I like the Zippo hand-warmers the best, as it is reusable and only requires lighter fluid. These things are nice and fairly inexpensive, I would suggest giving them a try.

So, off into the deer woods!

I didn't see a lot of deer this morning, except for a few does when I was coming in. So, I kept my mind busy doing other things.

Of these, I tried screwing around with the camera and taking some photographs of my surroundings.

And I even tried my hand at some watercolor pencils. For whatever reason, I bought some watercolor pencils and a note back several years ago. I found them again and threw them into my field bag for a "just in case" kind of thing. I think it turned out fairly well!

So, I left around noon and went home for lunch. The woods were pretty loud that day with gun shots, and it seemed like people were just shooting to shoot. On my way out, I found two bucks high tailing away from the area I hunt, totally terrified. I think most of the deer were probably spooked from all the hunting pressure. The place I hunt has started to get a reputation for having deer along it, and I think people are starting to pressure it more and more. I hope it doesn't become a major issue!

Deer Season - Day -1

2011-11-11T23:04:00.002-05:00

I'll admit, I'm not at all prepared for deer season this year. I've honestly been busy getting married, working and other stuff. But, I'm grossly unprepared, which is highly unusual for me.

I have spent the last couple of days gathering my items together. I have a few issues though:

1. I have three rifle rounds, that's it

2. My gloves are mildewed and therefore useless

3. I have no clean clothes on hand

4. I haven't sighted my rifle in this year

So, I'm doing some laundry and getting ready to take my shower when a fresh load comes out. As far as bullets go, I guess I'll have to be extra lucky with my shot. I'll bring my slug gun for just in case and maybe just opt to shoot off the irons, although I have more confidence in the rifle. But I'm not sure, I'll have to sleep on it.

As far as my hands, well, too bad.

The bright side is that I did buy some insulated bibs from Tractor Supply. Opted for the tougher ones, by the maker of C.E. Schmidt. Pretty decent so far just wearing them around the house. We'll see how they hold up tomorrow busting through all of those thorns and briers.

Best of all, I don't have to up too terribly early to get out there so I can stay up later and get some more stuff rounded up. But at this point, I just feel like going to bed.

The wife won't be joining me tomorrow as she's not feeling well and would rather stay home. I'm fine with that, but she has promised to come out next weekend the deer hunting is sure to be at it's best.

That's all for today, if you are deer hunting tomorrow, good luck!

Grand Canyon From A Cell Phone

2011-11-10T10:57:00.000-05:00

Hey, I just wanted to share this beautiful picture that my good friend JM sent me of the Grand Canyon. He's taking a dream vacation out there right now with his family and is getting some great pictures.

I can't wait to see some of his stuff when he gets back and get the details on the adventure. JM has the best trips and adventures and I've been harassing him to start a blog, maybe he'll get to it and start one up!

Congratulations Hal Burch - NKFF's Fly Fisher of the Year Award

2011-11-09T09:29:00.002-05:00

I like Hal a lot, he's one of the personalities of the club that I look forward to interacting with each month. He's also my supply of secret crazy test flies as well.

Of these secret test flies, I have been given a striper fly that seemed to weigh a half pound, a fly made out of a fake fingernail, another one made out of an foam ear plug and a handful of plastic flies made out of stuff he found at the dollar store. He also gave me a little bottle of fish attractant to use with the word "stink" written on the side. And let me tell you something, these things actually catch fish!

Let me tell you about how I got the striper fly. I was interested in fishing for stripers and I heard that he fished the Ohio River a lot. So, I got hold of him at a meeting and started picking his brain. He wasn't sure at the time about what fly would work well, but he at least told me where to go. He later called me and asked for my address, and in a few days I had this behemoth of a fly in the mail with some instructions on how to fish it. I have to post a picture of this thing. It's like 6 inches long, is stuffed with white marabou and has lead soldered to the hook shank. Unfortunately, I received it after the season of the tributary migration, but I'll make sure to be out there in the spring when they come back.

Let me tell you more about Hal:

He gets hold of $36 fly rod build kits for us and $8 fly lines. He tests our knots with a homemade machine he has and ridicules those who think fluourocarbon is better than monofilament (he swears there's no difference.)

Hal has also turned me onto numerous fishing spots and he's always happy to hear how I've done.

Congratulations to Hal Burch, NKFF's Fly Fisher of the Year!

A View From Raven's Rock

2011-11-06T16:11:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine sent me this Saturday from the Red River Gorge. It is the view from Raven's Rock. If you are not familiar with this landmark, it is the exposed rock face as you drive into the park on your left hand side.

This was one of the hikes on our 'must do' list for the RRG. My friend finally found a way up to it, so I am now very excited to finally see it and can't wait to hike it.

Fishing Impossible

2011-11-05T17:27:00.001-04:00

The task was simple: squeeze in 30 minutes of fishing on a busy weekend. The circumstances were not so great to achieve this, but it had to be done. The future of mankind depended on it.

I dropped my wife at a spa downtown so she could exercise her Groupon for some relaxation therapy. I hate being rubbed (it feels like pinching to me) so I opted to stay in the car and wait for her. However, I knew this would be impossible to undertake as the desire to fish was pressing upon me. Furthermore, reading a book for 40 minutes in her small car sounded unbearable as well.

After saying goodbye, I quickly navigated down to the Riverfront, directly in front of downtown Cincinnati and made my way to the levee. The attendant, who normally charges $10 to park was absent, so I snuck past the booth and drove down to the river.

Luckily, I had grabbed a small selection of flies and my fly rod so I rigged up. The Ohio River was high and muddy, as it seems to be every weekend anymore, and since I rarely fish it anymore since Meldahl closed I wasn't sure what to expect. However, I did know that muddy and high equates to sink tips and black flies, so I tied on a big honking black woolly bugger and cast into the river.

I had fished this spot before. I used to work downtown and would sneak off during lunch to cast a fly rod while standing on one of the two concrete boat launch piers. I stepped out onto one, cast my fly out and let the woolly bugger swim through the current, down one of the launch piers and back up. I felt a slight pause and pulled up on the rod, catching a feisty Ohio River specimen and bringing him to hand.

I quickly released him and went and picked up my wife.

All I know is, damn it feels good to be a gangster.

Lake Superior vs Lake Michigan

2011-11-04T08:49:00.000-04:00

Here is a really interesting article from the Minnesota Sea Grant on the differences in fisheries between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Ever wonder why you don't hear about Lake Superior fishing? This article will explain some of those differences. Thanks to Third Coast Fly for posting this first.

Lake Superior and Michigan Fisheries: A Closer Look

P.S. Happy Friday!

Bread Machine

2011-11-02T07:00:00.004-04:00

We have been playing with some of our wedding gifts this week. One of these has been a Breadman Bread Machine.

I've always liked the idea of baking fresh bread. It seems such an ancient practice that has been lost in our modern, mass produced times. However, it can be a time consuming process and most believe that bread is best left to the big bakeries downtown pumping out thousands of perfectly browned and sliced loaves. To be honest, I am one of those people, or at least I was until the Bread Machine came along.

Yes, you just dump the ingredients into the machine and walk away. It's literally that simple. It kneads the dough for you, mixes it and then kneads again. It then bakes it, giving you a choice in the color of the loaf in 3 hues of brown. It even has a freaking timer on it so you can set it like a coffee maker (we tried this, but were awoken at 5:00 am to the thumping of the device kneading the dough, but still, it was nice.)

I love this thing.

So far we have made raisin nut bread with fresh glaze (sorry for the fuzzy pic):

And a good loaf of honey wheat:

Yum

Chill Music - Monsters Of Folk

2011-11-02T07:00:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite "super groups", Monsters of Folk.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:14:00.000-04:00

Try not to eat the candy before the kids get there.

And look both ways before crossing traffic.

And by all means, make sure you have enough candy for everyone.

How To (And Not To) Strip A Guide Off Of A Fly Rod

2011-10-31T12:18:00.000-04:00

Step 1: Locate the offending guide to remove.

Step 2: Use a double sided razor blade to scrape off the old rod finish and thread.

Step 3: Slice into finger.

Step 4: Admit that you're a klutz and post your mishap onto your blog.

Rinse and Repeat.

What I'm Tying - Mallard Minnow

2011-10-29T12:51:00.000-04:00

The Mallard Minnow is a really neat fly and one of the first streamer flies I've ever fished. It makes a great attractor pattern when you're not sure what type of minnow forage base is in the water, or you are fishing skinny water such as a creek or shallow river. It has a really nice profile on it and just enough color and flash to grab the attention of both bass and trout. It's a fairly easy to tie and has just enough weight to make it effective at slightly deeper water.

Hook: size 8, 3X
Lead: wraps of .020 lead
Thread: bright orange 6/0
Floss: bright orange
Body: mallard flanks
Flash: white midge flash

Step 1: Wrap a nice, even layer of lead down the hook and start your thread.

Step 2: Start your 4 strand floss and wrap up over the lead wraps, covering them completely.

Step 3: Add your first mallard flank feather on top of the hook. Make sure it is nice and even on both sides. Choose a feather with plenty of barred markings on it as well.

Step 4: Tie in two additional mallard flank feathers on each side of the hook. Make sure the feathers are positioned so they fold into the body and make a nice, tight profile. You really have to make sure you have properly match feathers here, which isn't hard to do as you typically purchase mallard flank feather in such large quantities anymore. Nevertheless, improperly matched feathers will make this streamer swim very unnaturally, which is not good for catching fish. Finally, add some midge flash on each side of the fly, trim it so its no longer than the tail, then whip finish and apply head cement.

Voila! Here is a pair of Mallard Minnows ready to catch some fish. Good luck and enjoy!

Fascinating Presentation from TED on Caves and Space

2011-10-25T12:55:00.001-04:00

I have completely abandoned spelunking at this point. I am done with the tight spaces, the wet rocks, people panicking, me panicking and everything else that goes with it.

Honestly, I was really never that into it anyway and probably just tagged along with my friends who enjoyed it much more than I did. Now, quite frankly, I've moved onto other things.

I have friends who enjoy caving and continue to try to get me to come along but I pass on that typically. However, I am still plugged into what's going on in the local caving scene. Mostly, I hear complaints about how caving is disappearing as an interest because so many systems are being closed as a precaution against white nose syndrome. White nose syndrome is a disease that affects bats and has been working to decimate many populations here in the Eastern United States. I fully support the closures because personally I think bats are neat, and I don't really care if people can or cannot climb around in caves. It seems too dangerous to me anyway.

As a Kentuckian, you become very familiar with caves. We have one of the largest cave systems on the planet here at Mammoth. Anyway, I still think caves are really interesting and I like all of the science and engineering that goes into it. Likewise, when this video popped up, I was eager to view it.

I was even more interested in seeing how some of the technologies used in caving is reaching into other aspects of science, notably space exploration.

I don't know what it is, if it's just because we enjoy watching the Big Bang Theory so much or what, but I've also become very interested in space exploration and the physics of the universe. Although they are entirely beyond my abilities of comprehension and scope of learning, I am becoming more and more curious about it.

Enough of my bantering, click here:

Bill Stone Explores The World's Deepest Caves

Also, for more information on White Nose Syndrome, click here:

White Nose Syndrome

And for the funniest show in television, click here:

Big Bang Theory

Chill Music - Ben Harper

2011-10-21T10:56:00.000-04:00

I Finally Tied The "Knot"

2011-10-20T11:28:00.000-04:00

I tied the “knot”

Nope, not the Palomar knot.

Nope, not the improved clinch or even the double surgeon’s knot.

I tied THE knot.

I finally got married!

So, if you see that the posts on the blog haven’t been coming very frequently recently, this is what is going on.

Honestly, I still can’t believe how good it feels. This has made me feel better than any other accomplishment I’ve experienced so far in my life.

Our pictures should be coming in sooner or later from the photographer. I’ll post some of the cooler pictures that he took, because I think we have some really great ones on the horizon.

We got married on a budget, but I think it turned out terrific. I'll post some of our findings that saved us a bunch of money and turned our event into such a special celebration.

Outdoor Gear Review: Vienna Sausages

2011-10-10T18:15:00.000-04:00

I don't do many gear reviews, but I would like to say that I will never go out in the field without a can of Vienna Sausages.

Although I have large hands and end up smooshing the first Vienna Sausage I take out of the can, I would like to say that they performed very well for me on my recent exotic outdoors excursion that lasted two weeks.

I recently took some Vienna Sausages with me to Alaska. It didn't rain, or really sleet that much, actually the weather was pretty nice. But it was Alaska and that has a reputation as being beyond wild and so it was an important time to open a can of Vienna Sausages. By the way, I took a picture of a bear's footprint and then a picture of a bear. Also, me holding a fish. Also, someone took a picture of me smoking a cigar because that's what you do. Actually, I've never been to Alaska so strike that.

Another time I took some Vienna Sausages with me when I went fly fishing on the flats for tarpon, bonefish and permit. I actually got a grand slam, but it would have been impossible if it weren't for my can of Vienna Sausages. Those Vienna Sausages held up that entire trip, until I went home and pooped them out. But, needless to say, they were absolutely important and crucial to having fun, staying safe and being manly. Actually, never done that either so strike that as well.

Then one day I was eating a can of Vienna Sausages and reading through a gear review. I then realized how silly it was for someone to give a product a thumbs up just because it performed admirably for a week or two under "harsh conditions." Which, really aren't that harsh at all. I mean its' not the Sahara desert during a sand storm or on top of Mount Everest for crying out loud!

Whatever the point of this ramble is, and I think it has a point, is that I think gear reviews are getting too weak anymore. I think if something is going to be worthy of having a gear review, it needs to be really tested. Instead of some guy who goes out on a lodge trip to some bed and breakfast out West, how about giving it to a construction worker? Let's see how long that rain jacket will really last with Frank over there wearing it outside for 12 hours a day why he stands over a jackhammer.

Or instead of giving a flashlight "two thumbs up" because it lasted over a weekend backpacking trip somewhere, why not give it to the HVAC technician to see how long the batteries really last, whether or not it really is waterproof or won't break after you drop it while standing on a ladder.

Why don't we expect more out of stuff? Is it because we buy so much cheaply made crap from China? Are we just used to throwing shit out when we're done with it? It's like fixing a lamp. Sure, you could just install a new cord to it, but it's easier to just throw it out and buy a whole new lamp isn't it?

Enough of this ramble, it bores me. I am hungry for some Vienna Sausages. I think there are actually some in the cabinet for me to eat. I just wonder if I can get the first one out without smooshing it.

Enough Curve Balls Already!

2011-10-05T16:40:00.002-04:00

News with a happy ending:

Not everything goes as planned.

As such, our wedding photographer cancelled 11 days before our event.

Now we know, always have a contract. Things are starting to make sense now, that's why we could never get him to take our check and sign our contract. He played so coy and hard to corner.

He knew he was double booked, but wanted work for "just in case." We were the "just in case." We were the backup plan, and we got dropped.

He did find us a lot of well qualified photographers to interview. One was really good, we signed a contract and I wrote him a check for the full amount. No more mess ups.

He also stated he'd give us free after wedding photo session, but I won't hold my breath.

More news:

Work + budget + quarter end + taking days off to get married = haven't been home in awhile.

I am tired, running on fumes, caffeine and sheer grit.

Like this guy:

But I can't compare myself to the Duke, he is all mighty. The Duke eats rocks and shits lightning bolts. I do neither. I eat brownies and shit, well.....shit.

Fun news:

Bachelor party is coming up Saturday. We're golfing and drinking all day. Can't wait.

Ahhh....I want to fish. I'm thinking about getting a spey rod and trying it on the big Ohio River tribs for stripers. Plus, it just looks really cool.

So many plans.

But, enough curve balls already Lord, I don't know how many I can bounce back from. But thanks for getting me through the ones that have been thrown already.

Boone County Fly Fishing Class

2011-09-28T13:07:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, I taught another beginning fly fishing class at the public library.

I have to admit, the classes are getting better. Either this was just a good group of guys or something improved.

Overall, I think it was important to make sure that everyone was introduced to each other. This makes it easy for people to speak freely and ask the questions they want to ask.

Another thing I try to do now is gauge other people's interests and experience so I can tailor the class to them. In my area, fly fishing is a newer sport. Usually what he have are old bass fishermen who are looking for a new challenge. Sometimes we have people who have never fished at all and sometimes we get old hands who have been in the sport for years and they want to improve their casting.

I can say this was a good one and I look forward to the Kenton County class this next Saturday.

Steelhead Alley Report for 2011

2011-09-27T13:39:00.001-04:00

Follow the link below to read what the Steelhead master himself, John Nagy, has to say about the 2011 steelhead season along Steelhead Alley.

Great read, John did his homework on this but what else can you expect from the man who literally wrote the book on this pursuit?

click below:

Steelhead Fishing Report

What I'm Tying - Squirrel Zonker

2011-09-23T22:39:00.001-04:00

The conehead squirrel zonker is a fly pattern that I’ve been fishing for only the last year or so, but it has proven its worth in that short period of time. It’s a smaller and simpler version of the zuddler minnow, which is another favorite of mine, and it works well when the zuddler minnow’s size is unwarranted. I have caught big brown trout as well as some chunky smallmouth on these flies and I think they deserve a place in your fly box as well.

It’s a simple fly to tie and here are some instructions and tips that have served me well:

Materials

Hook: 6 1X

Thread:

Weight: brass or silver conehead

Tail/Wing: zonkered squirrel strip in olive, brown or rust

Body: copper, gold or brown magic braid

Flash: olive midge flash

Throat: dubbing to match squirrel zonker color

To tie:

Feed bead onto hook and place hook firmly in vice
Start your thread and wind down to the hook point. Tie in a small loop of hard mono to act as your material guard. This will keep the tail from wrapping around the hook bend. Trust me, adding this little step will keep this pattern much, much more productive!
Measure off a length of tail equal to the length of the hook and tie in. Do not trim the squirrel length ahead of the tail section, as we will use this both as a wing and as a collar.
Tie in sparkle braid and wrap forward, wrap back and then wrap forward again. Tie off. (You will essentially have three layers of sparkle braid, which will produce a nice, plump body.)
Pull the squirrel tail forward and tie off as in a wing. Now, wrap the squirrel zonker around the hook and behind the conehead in order to form a collar. Use as much of the squirrel zonker as possible so that you have a nice, thick collar.
Make a dubbing rope of your choice and wrap around the collar. This will ensure that the profile of your fly stays correct. Whip finish.

Chill Music - Iron and Wine

2011-09-22T22:04:00.000-04:00

What I'm Tying - Black Nose Dace

2011-09-22T21:57:00.001-04:00

For some reason, I am into tying the classics right now. I am also drawn to tying streamers that more closely match the forage base than patterns that are strictly attractor types. I also want to take advantage of the properties of my new sink tip line and free myself from having to tie weighted flies.

Below is the most recent fly pattern that I am working on.

Black Nose Dace

Thread: Black 6/0

Hook: size 8, 3X

Body: Silver braid

Wing: Gray deer hair under Brown deer hair under Black deer hair

No real tricks in tying this pattern, you simply just need to make sure that you finish with a neat thread head. Most patterns call for red yarn as a tail, but I skip it, I don't see the point. Also, instead of using flash as the body I use silver braid because it's easier and faster to put on.

Chill Music - Fleet Foxes

2011-09-19T11:57:00.000-04:00

Cumberland River Fishing Report 9/10-9/11

2011-09-19T11:47:00.000-04:00

I went down for a weekend warrior trip to fish the Cumberland River below the dam.

The Cumberland River holds nice trout, striper, white bass, catfish...you name it. We were hoping to hook up with some trout and maybe some striper if we were lucky.

Synopsis of the trip: 3.5 hours for a bucket full of stocker trout is a big commitment.

Unfortunate for us, we arrived to find that the Army Corp of Engineers had opened the sluice gates. This was a major disappointment given that the generating schedule called for no generation. We expected calm waters but arrived to find fast flowing currents and an above normal water level.

We decided to just float our kayaks and belly boats down the first mile, from the dam to Indian Creek, given that the flows were so fast.

I floated once and didn't catch anything, losing many flies as they were hung up on the bottom and ripped off as my boat went flying by.

The second float I decided to find a place to fish and just get out of the boat. I found a good spot, got out of the boat and fished probably the best stretch of water I could find. It was a nice eddy formed when the river came crashing into the corner of the bend and churned up a nice foam line. I caught several fish off of a size14 prince nymph. This was fortunate for me that they liked this fly, because I had forgot the box that I had tied up specifically for this type of water. But oh well, that's how I roll.

Soon, some other folks from my group came down and saw that I was catching fish, and guess what they did, yep they pay-laked me.

What's pay-lakeing you asking? Pay lakeing is when you are catching fish and others around you, who are seeing you catch fish, come to your spot and try to horn in on you. This is very common on pay lakes or shore fishing with idiots.

I pulled up and floated back to Indian Creek and landed my kayak. There was no point in fishing with three guys who were ten feet away from you and floating into the run over and over. I really like fishing with the guys in my club, they are great guys and I've learned so, so, so much from them. But, sometimes I just want to be alone ( I constantly have to keep myself from becoming too much of a loner in general) and this was one of those time.

Back at base camp though everyone made up for their transgressions. We made a campfire feast and I think I ate at least 7 different types of protein, including two dutch oven cobblers that were border line mind blowing.

I have now, by the way, asked for a dutch oven for my birthday as I was so impressed with it.

On Sunday, I put together one more run and caught a few more fish, mostly in the 6 to 9 inch rain. Nothing to brag about.

Striper fishing was put on hold because a local told me that they are gone from that area by the second week of July. This was a kick in the pants because I had spent so many late nights tying up big striper flies for this trip. Dang it!

All in all, it was a pretty good time given the driving I had to do. The more I fish down here though, the more I get enamored by it and the opportunities it offers. It's still a mega trout location and is probably still one of the best in the southeast as a tailwater fishery. Of course, the dam repairs have depleted the water levels and raised water temps some. This weekend should have been a banner trip given the high oxygenation levels generated from the open sluice gates and the 59 degree temp of the water, but the high flows just made it difficult to fish.

I'll go back again, probably more often now as I start understanding more and more of this tailwater. I don't have a lot of experience down here, and there is a ton of water that I haven't seen yet, but I know the big fish are down here and I want a piece of them.

World's Biggest Loser

2011-09-16T12:56:00.001-04:00

Taken from the Salisbury Post

FRANKFORT, KY - A North Carolina man agreed to pay the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources more than $5,300 in restitution and fees after pleading guilty to federal charges of illegally killing and transporting wildlife from Kentucky.

U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel also banned 44-year-old Rodney L. Poteat of Salisbury, N.C., from hunting anywhere in the world for two years as a condition of unsupervised probation, according to David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Poteat is a former resident of Hart County, Kentucky.

Poteat was charged in a two-count information on July 27. Goebel sentenced Poteat Sept. 7 in U.S. District Court at Bowling Green. The restitution is to compensate Kentucky Fish and Wildlife for the fees Poteat would have paid for hunting in Kentucky for several years.

According to court records, Poteat transported a 14-point white-tailed deer from Hart County to his North Carolina home on November 27, 2010. Poteat was required to purchase a non-resident hunting license and deer permit prior to hunting in Kentucky. He also was required to report the harvest of any deer taken in Kentucky, and to make a report before transporting the deer outside of Kentucky.

The case caught the attention of Kentucky Fish and Wildlife special investigations officers when hunters from the Hart County area reported that Poteat claimed one of his mounted deer was taken in North Carolina. However, the other hunters had trail camera photos taken in Hart County of a live deer with a distinctive antler configuration identical to Poteat’s deer mount.

Kentucky officers notified U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agents of the investigation. Federal agents teamed with North Carolina officers for a visit to Poteat’s home.

Confronted with the photo evidence, Poteat admitted to hunting in Kentucky since 1999 without purchasing the required licenses. He surrendered four deer head mounts, two turkey mounts and a bobcat mount to investigators.

Poteat also plead guilty to knowingly transporting a bobcat from Kentucky to his North Carolina home without purchasing a non-resident hunting license prior to hunting in Kentucky. He also failed to report the harvest of a bobcat taken within Kentucky.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Ream prosecuted the case. Investigators with Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service participated in the case.

Field & Stream or Gray's Sporting Journal....Where Do I Fit In?

2011-09-16T10:23:00.000-04:00

I stopped by the grocery during lunch the other day to pick up a few items while I had time. I walked by the magazine aisle and looked for something to purchase that I could read during the rest of my break. I looked through the outdoor section and only found one option at my disposal: Gray's Sporting Journal.

Upon purchasing my first copy of a Gray's Sporting Journal, I opened it up to find a much different magazine than what I had expected.

This magazine seemed to be geared more towards the well healed, the well educated....the well travelled who partake in outdoor sports. The issue didn't seem to be too elitist, with a mention of turkey hunting in it, but it did have the typical Eastern fly fishing/upland bird hunting mentality peppered throughout it.

It was full of glossy photos, some stunning, and the back page had poetry in it. In fact, the magazine even quoted Shakespeare in one of its stories. Tales were spun with a high level of skill, reminding me of some of the authors who I would consider "literary" masters.

And I wondered to myself, am I the kind of guy that would be drawn to this magazine? Do I want to be? Yes. Am I? Maybe not.....so who am I?

There's a magazine on my nightstand that I've been reading since college. I subscribed to it for whatever reason back then and its remained part of my reading digest month in and month out. It's Field and Stream. But even its starting to bore me now.

How different it is from Gray's Sporting Journal. It's almost on an entirely different spectrum. Field and Stream is more than likely going to tell you to use live bait when hunting big fish as opposed to providing a story about dry fly action on some remote trout stream. It's for those whose shotguns don't have names that sound like Italian sports cars, or can't afford vacations in lodges that offer "stunning and luxurious rooms" and "personal chef prepared culinary masterpieces."

Who is the typical Field and Stream reader? The Field and Stream reader probably enjoys the outdoors with little more help than from what he can give himself. He probably is more than likely to fish or hunt with a buddy or family member as opposed to a junket with a bunch of well healed financiers.

This reader digs up worms, grills out deer steaks on a Sunday afternoon, obsesses over placement of his trail cam, repairs his boat motor with his own two hands and wipes his hands on his pants. He's from the suburbs or the country, and the thought of being imprisoned in a large, dirty city is anathema to him.

Am I this guy? Probably. I have a cousin named Bubba. I have a deer rifle and bow and I've taken plenty of deer myself. I love to fly fish and I work on my own truck. I don't go to nice lodges, I sleep in a tent and boil coffee on a small propane stove.

The outdoors attracts many different types of people, from Wall Street to Main Street...and all enjoy it in different ways. And some, especially the big dollar types, like to do it to the exclusion of others. But that's another question for another post.

If I had my way, my perfect magazine would be a blend of the two. I want more fly fishing stories in Field and Stream and I would like the high quality of writing from Gray's Sporting Journal applied to something that isn't very far away from me or so romanticized that it seems fake. It's this latter part that frustrates me about much outdoor writing of the past.

I need it to appeal to me and my sensibilities. I'm at the point where I've learned enough to do most things on my own, to know what I need and what I don't need.

Maybe that's why I started my blog. To rebel, to revolt and to tell the mainstream guys that they need to change what they're preaching. It's become too biased, too drawn towards advertisers or just too aloof.

Is there a revolution under way in the form of the outdoor blog? I'm not sure, but I'm glad that I'm part of it.

Early Season Massive Buck

2011-09-16T08:13:00.000-04:00

My friend DH got this fabulous Kentucky buck, still in his velvet.

By the way, I have been hunting for several years and although I have bagged a few bucks, I have never got close to anything as fine as this. DH's advice rings true, "look for soy beans."

Awesome start to the season! I'm pumped now!

Me Brian Be Working

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

I am tired of waiting for other people to show up to gather together a shuttle to use the kayaks anymore. It’s a pain in the ass so I am going to start using my bike and so I can go solo in the whole process.

I’ve had the idea of using my bike to get back to my kayak to start my floats for some time. I've never gone through with it though.

The plan will go something like this:

Drop off kayak at start point. Secure it to tree. Put in paddles and life jacket into kayak.
Drop off truck at end point.
Pack backpack with fishing gear (use backpacking bag), rods, lunch and other things of value. Bike back to kayak. I’m thinking 5 to 8 miles would be tops.
Chain up bike to tree and push off in kayak. Float to truck. Lock up kayak and go back to get my bike.

Sounds easy right? I hope so! I will keep everyone posted when I finally get a trip like this together here soon. I’m hoping to get it done before the end of the fall. I might even try it down at the Cumberland River to fish during a day trip, but I'm not sure when I can take an entire day off with the wedding drawing near. This will be perfect though for the Licking River or even yet, the Little Miami River.

Dang Aliens!

2011-09-14T14:06:00.000-04:00

I told you that I weren't putting up with no silly invasion! Get off my property!

The Baddest Kayak in the Entire World!

2011-09-11T20:59:00.000-04:00

When we were finishing up an evening of fishing this past Saturday, we were astonished to see these two small boats approach us and land at the boat ramp. They were the weirdest things I had ever seen in my entire life. They were called Mokai jet boats.

The owner showed me the boat and the motor and I have to say I was thoroughly impressed. If you fish rivers a lot, especially ones with current, I can't go on any more about how awesome it would be to have one of these craft.

I did some cyber-sleuthing and found them on the web. Here's the link to their main product page. Check them out!

http://www.mokai.com/

A Note on Wolf Creek Generation Schedule

2011-09-11T20:51:00.001-04:00

Here is a link to the Wolf Creek Generation Schedule. These will dictate whether or not the Cumberland River is safe to float. I have also included it in the helpful links section of The JGR Dispatch. You want to be on the water when the power plant is not generating at all.

http://www.tva.gov/lakes/wch_r.htm

Note: This schedule does not offer whether or not the sluice gate is open. Because of the water draw down due to dam repairs, the sluice gates are sure to be opened during times of heavy rain. This is important to know because there isn't much difference between a sluice gate being open or a generator being up. It definitely raises the water levels and can make a quicker float than normal.

Unfortunately for us, we arrived with trout gear in hand and found the water levels a little too high, but we fished anyway. So, it wasn't terrible, but it was noticeably several feet deeper than normal. I was glad to have my kayak on me and not a float tube as some of the other guys were complaining if hitting submerged rocks that they were unable to spot.

I would, however, argue that a float tube is better to use on the Cumberland River than a kayak. A float tube helps you slow down and fish a solid run several times, something that is difficult in a kayak.

Fly Line FAIL

2011-09-11T20:37:00.000-04:00

Why can't they design a fly line that won't get tangled when you take it off the reel?

This is what happens when you try changing fly reels over at 2:45 am in a tent. This is a Rio Clouser Line in a 7 wt. I pulled it off the reel to put on a new sink tip line that I purchased.

By the way, I also spent an hour untangling the new fly line and it was fresh out of the box. Most people agree, fly lines are way too easy to tangle. Is there a way we can fix this?

There's my post Cumberland River trip gripe.

The Best Cake Topper in the History of Cake Toppers

2011-09-06T12:41:00.002-04:00

The Modern Idiots Guide To Completely Ruining A Perfectly Great Fly Reel

2011-09-06T12:15:00.000-04:00

Yep, I ruined a perfectly good fly reel. Here's the equation:

Clumsiness + Impatience X Ineptitude = Broke $hit.

I am writing this only because I want to inform my blogging friends and help them learn from my mistakes (which are many and often.)

Here's the finished screw up:

You may be asking yourself: "what am I looking at and how did this come about?" The above picture was my potential fix to a bent lip on one of my Orvis reels. I had purchased this reel with the intent on taking it on steelhead trips because of its professed high quality drag and mid arbor size. I was very excited about this reel and loaded it up with some fly line and took it down for smallmouth fishing to get it tested first.

I had a pretty good day catching smallies when I was gearing down at the truck to go home. I unscrewed the reel from its rod seat and then, woops, you guessed it, I dropped it right onto the gravel parking lot.

I reached down and picked up the reel and then was horrified upon inspection to see that the lip on the seat was bent. I tried bending it back on the tailgate of the truck but that made it worse. So, I got out the multi-tool and tried that too. This made it a little better but it still wouldn't fit onto my reel seat correctly.

So, I decided to take it home and put a file to it. I did. It got worse. Now its a piece of crap. A huge, expensive piece of crap.

I called Orvis and the guy on the other end of the phone did everything but just come out and call me an idiot. Evidently they have machines that can fix this problem for you at a fairly reasonable cost. However, if you're an idiot like me and want to try it yourself, well, be prepared to purchase a new reel body, which is what I am doing now.

Moral of the story: call the manufacturer first before you try to fix something.

The End.

JGR

This Is Turning Out To Be An Awesome Week

2011-08-30T21:09:00.000-04:00

Wow, this is turning out to be one of the most exciting weeks I've had in a long, long time.

First and foremost, on Sunday, I won the top pick in my fantasy football team draft. I know, sounds lame, but this is how you build a championship team.

Who did I pick? Adrian "All Day" Peterson. I just hope he has another monster season in him left. If not, I still have a sick WR and RB corps to fall back on, with Philip Rivers as my QB.

So, that's cool...but what else happened?

Yesterday I won my golf match. I played a terrific game and went crazy on the last 4 holes, breaking my record for the course. Boo Yah!

At work today my boss took us to Abuelos where I stuffed my face with some cheesy burrito delilcousness. It was awesome!

And then, today, I get home and find some cool shit that came in the mail.

First and foremost: Home Brew Kit! Hellz yeah, I got a Groupon on a home brew kit and had to pick one up. I am going to be up to my ears in beer. Which is no big deal, because I've been saving bottles now and I've got a ton of those in the basement. Time to get cracking! Hopefully my first batch will be good, I'm hoping to have it ready for my bachelor party.

Next big surprise I received: my fly tying materials in!

Every year I order a bunch of fly tying crap to replenish my stock. I waited a little longer until I could go through some of my older materials, but then I ran out of hooks and what not.

So, what's on the agenda? Fish Skulls streamers, carp San Juan Worms, Cracklebacks for the Cumberland River, Foxxee Clousers for smallmouth and experimentation with Angel Hair.

I'm excited! I'll post some stuff of my fly tying coming up after I get some of these old posts out of the way. I'm trying to talk the Lady into investing into a digital camcorder for us so hopefully I'll start filming some of my adventures and fly tying recipes.

Until then, hope your week is turning out to be an awesome one as well.

JGR

Dang Fashionistas! The Hackle Hair Extension War and How To Win It

2011-08-26T08:00:00.001-04:00

Uhhh...dang fashionistas. You have finally affected me.

At first I didn't really care about the whole saddle hackle in the hair thing. I know that teenagers are cursed with wickedly short attention spans, which keeps them from taking over the world by the way, and that this mockery will just be a passing fad fading into oblivion.

But, now I'm getting concerned. I have to tie some cracklebacks for an upcoming fly tying demonstration, and I can't find the right kind of hackle anywhere on the internet. Well, or at least in my price range.

Yes, I was one of the lucky few to have purchased a grizzly hackle cape before all of this foolishness started. And honestly, I've guarded it jealously from the young, prying eyes of the younger visiting females that are my relatives. But, now it's no holds barred and the sickness is spreading across all classes of feathers it seems.

Honestly, I thought this would have blown over by now. You have to think that at some point, these hair extensions, which are clipped to the hair, would eventually grow out and become blase. But now, I'm getting worried.

Dude, you look like a lady. And by the way, I hate you now.

I was at Goettafest, which is one of our many food festivals here in the bosom of all things obese. Goetta, by the way, is delicious. For more information, click here: http://www.goetta.com/en/goettafest/

Anyway, there was a booth with face painters and a sign reading "Hair Extensions...get 'em now!"

I was curious and wanted to know more so I approached the young lady and struck up a conversation with her.

"So what do you have here?"
"Oh hair extensions, we have all of the colors that you could ask for. We've got yellow, natural, pink, purp"
I interrupted her midway through her sentence.
"Can I see them?"

I rifled through her bag and saw that for the most part, they had purchased the crappy feathers from Hobby Lobby that are used in Mardi Gras mask making. They were large and webby and aren't the good hackles that are turning up missing all over the internet.

"Ok, well thanks for your time."

"Oh wait, let me tell you about how we put them into your hair. We use rubber gaskets, not..."

She started her spiel again, looking at my fiancee who was standing next to me. Fearing that the love of my life could be enchanted by this charade (she's too smart for that by the way), we dipped out and fled to a nearby ice cream booth. At which point I bought some ice cream.

"I can't believe its' made it to Cincinnati" I said to the Lady in between pulls on my delicious raspberry chocolate chip ice cream cone. "If it's here, it can be anywhere."

And it is on its approach to going everywhere as we speak. I've heard reports that it's made its way over into Europe and is becoming a craze there as well. I can't confirm this, but that's scary.

I think it's time to wage a full scale war against this menace. Now, it's time to strategize!

All fads are fed through hysteria, and it is through hysteria that you can effectively end a fad. Everyone needs to make it a point to spread the following disinformation to their teenage daughters, or the girl who babysits their kids, or any other teenager they encounter (who will listen, and as we know, few will. I surely didn't)

Talking points:
1. Hackle extensions come from a chicken's butt. In actuality, you are putting something in your hair with chicken poop in it. Oh, that is so like...gross and junk.
2. Hackle extensions have bugs in it as well, radiating from the chicken's butt. You could have bugs in your hair. That is so...like....ewwww.
3. Hackle extensions are treated with a chemical that keeps them shiny. If this gets into your hair, your hair will fall out. And you will be like...bald or something....forever...or at least until after the prom.

Ok, I don't know if these are true or not, but they sound true right? And there has been so much crap spread around in the rumor mill that has not been true. For example, a contingent of my friends swore up and down that the flying skateboards in Back to the Future 2 were real and that they kept them under wraps because they weren't safe. Seriously, they thought this was the case and argued with me about it. Great Scott! (If they were real, I would definitely have one though.)

So, let's team up and fight this scourge head on people! We can win this if we stick together!

JGR

Venison Chops - Simple Yet Tasty

2011-08-24T21:49:00.000-04:00

Here's a little something for the Southern Rennaisance Man: Venison Chops with Sauteed Red Onion, Sweet Chinese Red Rice and Brocoli Spears. Paired with a nice Cabernet Sauvignon.

This is, as the French would say, c'est délicieux. Or, roughly translated into Kentuckian, "This sh*t is gooder than fu#k!"

Prep notes: Venison is a lean, dense protein that I just can't get enough of for dinner. I take great pride in the quality of my venison and I have learned how to perfect it over time. Field preparation is first and foremost in making sure you get perfect venison, but there is also important techniques to ensure that it retains its quality from the skillet to the plate.

First and foremost, venison is served best medium rare. To get this proper temperature, you must pierce the venison with a fork so the heat can permeate through the protein. If you do not, because venison is so dense, you will end up with a raw, cool middle. I truly do feel that you can't unlock the flavor of this meat if you fail to follow through with this procedure.

Secondly, you can feel the tenderness by pressing into them with your finger. They should give amply, if it feels rubbery, well, it's going to taste rubbery. Last but not least, you know they are done when they start "bleeding." This is when little droplets of blood start appearing on the steaks surface. This is telling you that the internal temperature is getting just right, and its time to pull them off the fire.

My venison chops are fairly simple, I cook them in a cast iron skillet and rub them with garlic powder, celery salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Team it up with a nice, nutty grain such as brown rice, fresh steamed veggies and a dark red wine and you can have yourself a Wednesday night feast.

Bon apetit my friends!

JGR

Its official, I am debearded.

2011-08-24T13:21:00.002-04:00

So long, beard.

How I loved you. Your warmth, your portrayal of me as a real outdoorsman (ha, charade!) and your uptmost beloved utility during blustery mornings.

However, I kept you much longer than usual. You were only supposed to be around for hunting season but you persisted and clung to my pasty white face. How resilient you have been.

But I'm sick of you. You smothered me out on the golf course when it was in the nineties or out on the water when the humidity fogged my sunglasses. You kept creeping into the corners of my mouth and tickling my nose. You could become unruly and a real pain in the ass when you wanted to be one.

I'm sure you'll be back. In your absence I've become aware of just how small my mouth is and that I have gained another chin to boot, qualities you kept hidden previously.

Oh well, Ill see you soon my old friend I'm sure. Until then, its Mach 5 all the way baby.

Kayak Fishing Tournament - Elkhorn Creek Kentucky

2011-08-22T12:42:00.001-04:00

Much Needed R&R Coming Up...Thank Goodness

2011-08-21T19:40:00.000-04:00

With all of the wedding plans, The Lady's new teaching job, my job, club business, family stuff, Church and blahty blahty blah blah all I can say is that we are beat.

Done.

Toast.

So, we're going to get away for a weekend here.

I'll post some more stuff on our car camping trip as that comes up. But for now, the overall plan is simple: 1) find place to camp and put up tent 2) turn off cell phones and laptops 3) read a good book 4) sleep 5) eat 6) do nothing 7) eat some more.

That's just about it. Something simple sounds so freaking great to me right now.

We need an escape!

Something else coming up is my annual fall pilgrimage to the Cumberland River for some trout fishing.

I usually fish for the big browns down there but this year I will throw some big ass flies for striped bass too.

Hopefully I'll have something fun to post for that weekend trip which is coming up.

It is really almost September?

Congratulations - Piner Elementary Archery!

2011-08-21T18:49:00.000-04:00

Piner Elementary had a strong showing at the 2011 National Archery in the School Championship in Kentucky.

I was reading Kentucky Afield and my eyes perused the winners of the tournament, hoping and praying to see someone from Northern Kentucky on the list.

Low and behold, there was a young Alec Kaiser, of Piner Elementary who won his 4th grade division.

Now I understand, they are going to nationals in Orlando, Florida.

Congratulations to Alec and his teammates!

Gosh, honestly I wish they had this when I was in school. I think Piner is the only school in Northern Kentucky to have this program. I would love to see it in all of our schools. What a terrific way for youths to get involved in the hunting tradition!

August 20th was Opening Day for Squirrel Season

2011-08-21T15:54:00.000-04:00

Squirrel season has officially opened up here in Kentucky.

As the first harbinger of the fall season, I look forward to this hunting all year long.

Although I don't spend a lot of time in the woods hunting squirrels, I do they think they are the wiliest of game. As you can see below, they aren't taking this next season lightly and have dispatched their Jedi protectors to even the score.

Squirrel hunting to me is the craft of the master woodsmen. It isn't much like deer and turkey hunting. In these instances, plotting your ambush points is the key to the game. In squirrel hunting, you actually have to get up and move around.

You have to be able to identify which trees are most likely to hold squirrels. You also have to be able to target these little targets.

This is no small feat mind you. I have chased squirrels around in circles, trying to get a good shot on them with a 22 and missing most every time.

In fact, I suggest using a 20 gauge now. Although you will be spitting out buckshot when you finally get them to the plate, you will at least increase your success rate.

So why squirrels anyway? You may read this and wonder what's the point?

Well, they are fun to hunt first of all. Secondly, they taste pretty good (wrapped in bacon of course). And last, you can use them to make flies.

So many great flies use squirrel tail in their make up its not funny. In fact, most crawfish patterns these days use squirrel tail as the material for the claws.

If you've never tried squirrel hunting, give it a shot...no pun attended.

Some basics:

6 allowed per day, 12 total in possession
Ends on November 11 and then starts back up on November 14
Look for them in trees or scurrying along the ground. Morning is best.
Silence and stalking is key as they have a tendency to warn other creatures in the woods when they spot danger
Tap together acorns to drawn them in or use a squirrel in distress call

A squirrel has a natural tendency towards curiosity. They will come to see who else is eating in their woods .
Squirrels are protective parents and will come to the aid of other squirrels in distress. In the least just as witnesses, which is odd, I know.

Thanks for reading. JGR

An Open Letter To The Outdoorsmen of the Bluegrass Region 3 of 3

2011-08-19T12:50:00.004-04:00

Get involved

It’s time for Sportsmen of the Bluegrass to get involved in conservation projects, clubs or other related organizations.

I became heavily involved with education and conservation volunteering at a pretty early age. At first, it was just local but then over time grew to include exposure to Commonwealth wide issues here in Kentucky. By the time I was in my mid 20’s, I had become well versed in the issues surrounding the outdoorsmen community here in Kentucky.

However, one of the major discrepancies I saw in the groups I met with in the Sportsmen community was the extreme differences in age.

And by age difference, I am talking in terms of decades, not years.

I tried to reconcile my involvement as myself being just an anomaly, as I have been for most of my life in general. I was single during that period in my life and had time to volunteer. But as the years started passing by, I didn’t see a change in the age demographic. It still remains the retired set to this day. But I want to make something clear, it’s not like these guys picked it up the torch only after they finished their careers. Many of them have been active and involved in this fight for a very long time, but there have not been any fresh recruits to replenish their ranks.

What’s happening? I can't really be that sure. I think it would take a sociologist with some good statistical data to understand the root causes. My educated guess is that people my age tend to steer away from traditional meeting places towards online interactions. I also think time and money is at a premium for most people, but then again, even before the “Great Recession” I too saw a general case of apathy.

For the biggest part, I think quality access is playing a major role. Because, as good fishing and hunting opportunities disappear, so do the kids who are exposed to it. Are we depleting an entire generation of future outdoorsmen (and women)? Are we a dying breed?

I want to encourage my fellow Kentuckians to get more involved. There are options, such as existing clubs that you can join, or you can create an online presence and organize that way. Some creativity and drive will be needed, but that is something that I feel myself and my fellow Generation Y members carry in spades.

So, take some time and learn the issues surrounding your area. Get together with your friends and start talking about what you can do to help out. Don’t get discouraged, just keep pushing for what you believe in and eventually you’ll see results.

To be honest, you will come across some hindrances in your quest. Existing organizations now need new life and new blood to get them back to their glory days. Take, for example, the League of Kentucky Sportsmen.

The League, also known as LKS, was at once a very powerful organization made up of member clubs with many members and voting delegates. LKS helped to set wildlife policies in conjunction with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and held a lot of political sway.

However, the cold hard fact is that the League of Kentucky Sportsmen is a mere shadow of its once former self. Deeply bitter disputes, mostly personal in nature, have splintered LKS and encouraged, indirectly, multiple clubs to abandon them in protest. Many of the underlying issues will seem grossly petty to the outsider, but they have come to show what LKS has become, and what it can't be at this point.

I’m not sure what the future of this group will be as some of these warring parties are so deeply entrenched in the organization that change will be difficult, if not impossible. LKS still holds sway over the policies of the KDFWR, but at what point will they be viewed as the paper tiger they are and left to their own devices?

I can tell you first hand that the LKS suffers from deep organizational weaknesses and is plagued with inefficiencies, distractions, improper grandstanding and general malaise to what is really going on out in the field. I have been to LKS meetings and have talked with disgruntled members, and to be honest, I turned down the opportunity to get involved because I think my time would be wasted in this organization. I continue, however, to push forward in other regards in other organizations and eagerly spread my opinions using the medium of this crappy little blog.

So, my fellow readers, what can you do to get involved and what difference are you willing to make? Volunteering is what made this country great. What will you do to make it better?

An Open Letter To The Outdoorsmen of the Bluegrass Region 2 of 3

2011-08-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

Part of living in Northern Kentucky is accepting that you just don't quite fit in with the rest of the state. We don't really have horse farms, mountains or any famous distilleries. We are, in essence, a suburb of Cincinnati. This has had positive effects, granting us one of the highest per capita income counties in the nation. In that case, we really don't fit in with the rest of Kentucky. (Sorry my fellow Colonels, but let's face it, Northern Kentucky, Lexington and Louisville pay this state's bills.)

In fact, you really don't know what's going on in the rest of the state here as the majority of media outlets are based out of Cincinnati, further isolating us. Couple this with the fact that Northern Kentucky's population boom has been due mainly to the exodus of Ohioans who want to take advantage of the lower cost of living and affordable housing and you further exasperate your identity problem.

Now, what pray tell do I feel the most disappointed in being so detached from the rest of the state?

The absence of having a major reservoir and its fishing opportunities nearby.

Yep, look around the state and you're not more than a few hours, at the most, from a major fishing reservoir. Unfortunate for us, we don't have one near us.

But what do we have? Well, its called the Ohio River and its 981 miles long.

We all know the Ohio River can be a fish factory. If you've ever fished below Meldahl Dam for stripers or hybrids then you certainly know what I'm talking about. And of course, ask any resident here about what to fish for in the Ohio River and they'll mention catfish (although they'll follow up with that you shouldn't eat it).

But then what are the main issues in my eyes?

Access is the biggest one. The state is trying hard to secure additional boat ramps but at this point they are far and few in between. Most of the ramps are accessible on the Ohio side, with a few exceptions in Northern Kentucky. The state is working hard to secure additional ones, but there is just a handful of publicly accessible spots for bank fishing, and this number needs to go up if we're really going to get full use of this river.

The second is quality fishing structure on the river. As many should know, the Ohio River was dredged and dammed to create navigable waters for barge traffic to travel up and down its entirety. This of course has created a less favorable habitat for some of our sport fishing species along its length. Coupled with the rumor that an additional dredging project is slated to get started soon, and it could further enlarge the problem. Again, there are same great places on the Ohio now, but I want great fishing along its entire length.

Well, what's something we can do?

I got an idea: how about we throw all of those damned highway construction barriers into the River and make a better use of them?

Northern Kentucky is going through a highway reconstruction project as I-275 is repaired after 25 years of neglect. Of course, traffic can be a pain in the ass but it sure is convenient when the expressways are open and humming along nicely. I wouldn’t be able to commute across the river to Cincinnati for work without it.

But, we all know construction projects are going to end. So let’s put those concrete dividers to better use when all of the lanes reopen! We can strategically place them off the main river channel and give bass a nice little habitat to settle up. Who knows what might happen?

Ok, I know this is nothing more than a pipe dream. This type of project costs bucks and we all know there isn't much money available right now from the government. But I can dream right? And complain about it, often and openly. As I am doing now.

Now don't get me wrong, the Ohio River has been producing some terrific fish recently. Big stripers, hybrids , catfish, white bass and just about anything else that swims in the warm water has really thrived in the mighty O within the past decade or so. I've had multiple fish days and I've seen some dandies caught out. Thanks go out to a few folks. Most importantly, ORSANCO should get some credit.

ORSANCO has done a terrific job cleaning the river up chemically, and as it stands, has changed the Ohio River into one of the cleanest rivers of its size in the country in this regards (biologically this is a different story of course.) I do dream of a day when it is biologically safer. But I have no idea when this could be, but it would be terrific if all of the municipalities could modernize their sanitation systems and remove this problem from the forefront.

Now, could you imagine if we truly harnessed the potential of this massive waterway and turned it into a stellar fishery? It would be tremendous!

I love Lake Cumberland just like anyone else, but screw driving over 3 hours to get down there to catch their stripers. We could catch them right here at home instead!

Anyway, I will continue dreaming and hyping up the river as a source of recreation. Luckily, I'm not alone in this quest as the folks over at Paddlefest, the Licking River Vision 2015 and other groups are starting to take notice towards improving our outdoor opportunities.

I will just do what I can do, write about it.

Coming up: the final portion of my letter.

An Open Letter To The Outdoorsmen of the Bluegrass Region 1 of 3

2011-08-14T10:13:00.000-04:00

I am breaking this letter into three parts in case anyone wants to discuss these points with me. In general, they are related to conservation, preservation and access. Here is part one of my letter:

To Whom It May Concern;

This is a note that I want to write to all my fellow anglers of the Bluegrass Region. Call this letter what you will; message of hope, a gripe list or a manifesto. Regardless, these are words that I hope you read.

1. A McDonald’s fish filet sandwich costs a $1.45

A few Fridays ago I was fishing Grassy Creek off of 17. The water levels were nice and the fish were unusually cooperative. I noticed two of our angling brethren enter the creek from the opposite side and cast straight to the best hole on that stretch.

To these two in particular: I cheered for you when that pig smallmouth hit your Rebel Craw but spit it out at the end. I’ve had days like that, we’ve all had days like that and despite me wielding a fly rod I am not a snob by any means. I want you to have fun too and enjoy our resource.

But when I asked you how the fishing had been down the creek, and you pulled out that stringer with those fine smallmouth bass attached, well, my heart sank.

It sank like a rock and made me cross. I bit my lip as I had no right to say anything. You weren't breaking the law. I had no recourse, other than to say…hey guys, a fish filet sandwich costs a $1.45.

The thing that isn’t understood by many anglers in my region is that a large smallmouth bass is a real prize. That large fish could be 7 or 8 years old. It has faced so many predators, survived low water and ice outs, found food when it was scarce and out-competed the others when it mattered most.

Only to end up humiliated and on your plate slathered in tartar sauce. Dammit.

If you want to go meat fishing, go out and catch some catfish. The state stocks our lakes such as Bullock Pen with plenty of catfish for you to eat, and the Ohio River has huge fish in it.

They stuff the FINS lakes with them too. All you need is some chicken liver, some treble hooks and a way to clean them. My brother and I went out last Friday night and spanked them. Good eating too!

So, obviously I’m not a 100% catch and release angler, you could say I’m 99% so I’m not being overly preachy. That 1% point does mean a lot though to a person like me who spends a lot of time fishing.

But I have only kept one bass in my entire life, and that was because I had gut hooked him too deeply. Other than that I let them go, because I want the fishing in our region to be better. There is a time when taking bass can improve a fishery, but it doesn’t help places like Grassy Creek.

Grassy Creek gets fish when it gets backed up in the spring from the Licking River. Those fine fish you took were more than likely the best ones left in that creek until next year. I know this because I fish this water regularly.

Catch and release has really improved our fisheries, but it has only been one tool. Too often though I feel like sportsmen get the blame for diminished populations of game. Although I do agree in some certain severe situations, for the most part its due to habitat destruction, not greed.

But we can do our parts to be avid ethical anglers and help improve our fisheries as much as possible. I'm sorry, I don't think its necessary to take a smallmouth bass out of moving water just to eat it. If you want to brag about it, buy a camera. If you want to brag a ton about it, write a blog. That's why I do it, hahaha.

I will never advocate taking smallmouth bass. Panfish, yes. Catfish, most definitely. Walleye, hell yeah. But bass, nope. I even encourage people to take trout in our put and take waters during the summer as allowed by law, although I don't. The sad fact is they are going to cook out anyway. And in the case of Big Bone Creek, they are going to get washed down into the Ohio River for lurking stripers.

In brief, let's change our attitudes about keeping bass. I want our region to become a mecca for smallmouth bass fishing, but its never going to happen as long as we're keeping fish. Yes, there are times when a waterway can be overcrowded with these fish and thinning them out is beneficial. But even now, the state is finding it more economical to shock them up and transport them to waters that are depleted with this resource.

Besides, my main focus is fishing moving water. It's prettier and much more fun.

So, let's cooperate and look forward to a future where we spend our days catching huge smallmouth bass while we fill our bellies elsewhere. It doesn't necessarily have to be McDonalds, Frisch's makes a mean sandwich too.

Next Dispatch: Preserving my beloved Ohio River.

Three Recent Movies Related to Outdoor Adventure That Will Make You Want To Stay Inside

2011-08-11T12:52:00.000-04:00

We are busy trying to catch up on our movies over here at the palatial estate that is the JGR household. While watching our latest Redbox, the Lady and I remarked that most of the outdoor themed movies we’ve seen recently seem to end in some kind of disaster.

Going back to older cinema, we will all remember that unpleasant and disturbing scene as portrayed in the movie “Deliverance.” To this day, the plucking sounds of “dueling banjos” still send shivers up people’s spines. This movie continues to resonate within pop culture, and its inevitable that someone will use it as joke fodder when the topic of spending any length of time in Appalachia arises.

Let's jam!

As an outdoorsman in the southeast, I can assure you that there are no roaming bands of depraved marauders creeping along the bush looking to violate would be canoeists. We all have full time jobs now :).

On a more serious note, I can promise you that our back country is quite lovely and the people who live here are very friendly. You are more than welcome to visit. You AND your pretty mouth.

Despite seeing Ned Beatty in his tighty whities, "Deliverance" is still a pretty decent movie. But, what about a few more recent films that deal with adventure?

I have come up with a short list of outdoor related movies that will make you feel inclined to stay home, or pick up golf. Either way, you would be relegated to a life of being lame (just kidding, I love golf.)

The following movies deal though with something different than monsters, ghosts, huge catastrophes or the horrors of in breeding. For the most part they are lessons for those who suffer from wanderlust, ie the crave for travel. These movies are more personal in nature, as is our relationship with the outdoors, where you could consider the antagonist being within, as opposed to something else lurking in the dark.

Roll the film Ebert.

Into the Wild (2007)

This is one of my favorite movies. I enjoyed the book, I love the soundtrack and I think Sean Penn did a great job with the subject matter. Emile Hirsch nails Christopher McCandless and this movie becomes what it was meant to be in my opinion.

The movie is based off a book, obviously as I alluded to earlier, by Jon Krakauer. It was a follow up to an article he wrote in Backpacker about a youth found dead in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan bush country named Chris McCandless that Krakauer wrote. The article was read by many who had come into contact with Chris and then who likewise contacted the author wanting to know more.

Krakauer expanded these follow ups into a good piece of journalism. It’s refreshing to see how one person can affect so many in such a short amount of time. It’s also interesting to view the life of someone who is looking for an answer to a problem that they don’t quite understand.

Sanctum (2011)

This movie is just about as suspenseful as any movie can get. It’s about a group of spelunkers who venture deep into a cave system and are suddenly trapped inside by a flood. They must find an escape route through this deep labyrinth and survive without panicking or imploding as a group.

You really do feel claustrophobic during this movie. You also find yourself rooting for the group and then are surprised at which characters develop themselves as villains. I don’t want to give this movie’s ending away so I am going to stop here. It’s definitely a lesson in keeping cool during survival situations and never giving up.

127 Hours (2010)

It’s probably hard to find anyone who doesn’t know Aaron Ralston’s story at this point. For a brief refresher (spoiler alert), he falls into a canyon and saws off his arm with a dull knife. Puke.

This is pretty decent movie, but I will offer you a warning: you will be looking at James Franco’s face the entire time as the camera work is mostly up close and personal. You will also spend your entire time waiting for the hacking to begin.

After watching this movie, I had to wonder if I would have the will to do what Aaron did to himself. Honestly, I don’t know if it would be possible for me. Luckily, I have never been in this situation and hope to never be (knock on wood.)

The main lesson here is: tell people where you are going and when you plan on being back. Also, carry a really sharp knife.

There you have it. I hope you check out one of these movies, maybe when the weather is bad and you are stuck inside on the couch. Of course, summer is winding down (sniff, sniff) so maybe you’ll choose to play outside in the rain instead.

Stay safe! JGR

Changes To My Blog And A Sincere Thanks To My Fellow Dispatchers

2011-08-07T20:15:00.000-04:00

I've seen some of my fellow dispatchers, many who are light years more talented and interesting than me, go ahead and purchase their domain name. I have now jumped on the boat.

I have several reasons for this. First and foremost, I can never remember my own site name because its too long. My original web address just did not roll off the tongue that easily.

I really thought this name was a great idea when I first registered it and began blogging but I've changed my mind.

The name originally sounded to me to be old timey, traditional and fun. It reminded me of Teddy Roosevelt sitting in a canvas tent in the middle of some unnamed mountain range, smoking a pipe and picking the remains of a roasted elk steak out of his big white choppers. "Dispatches From The Field".... sounded pretty kick ass right?

Everything was going great, until a friend asked me about my blog and wanted to know what the site name was so he could visit it. Well, low and behold I didn't know. I could never remember if there was an s after the jgr, if it was .blogspot or a full word, and regardless it was too long for people to remember anyway even if I could get it right. Thus says the polling data.

So, I had to make a move to solve this problem.

The second reason that I upgraded the site is that I have yet to fulfill my second priority in starting this blog in the first place (that's a lot of numbers right? sorry.)

I initially had two reasons, 1) record my outdoor adventures for posterity and 2) use it as an opportunity to become more tech savvy.

I feel like I have accomplished my first goal. Even though I have a veritable laundry list of ideas and unfinished blog postings, I feel like I've attained some fulfillment in getting my quasi mini adventures out of my physical, closed and personal journal and out there onto the web where they might be of use to someone else. I know by how many hits that I get on my posts on the local waterways that I fish that I have attained some success.

But unexpected and most special of all, in this whole blogging process I have met some really talented people who are into blogging and the outdoors. There are a few people now who have been incredibly supportive of me and are actually becoming friends of mine in a sense, although we are separated by many miles.

It can sometimes be difficult to open yourself up to others, and as I can be somewhat guarded until I get to know someone, the kind words left in the comments section do mean a great deal to me.

In the end however, I have not attained my second goal. Although I have screwed around with some of the web design using Blogger's tools, I still have yet to build an attractive or dynamic website of any sense. I sometimes forget to change the banner, the background has been the same for forever now and visually its become a little stale. As a financial analyst, I typically deal all day with numbers and spread sheets. I am planning on using this as a template to explore another side of me.

So, there you have it. I have bought the domain name and shortened it up. Google will redirect everyone's visits to the new site, so there is no need to do anything (hopefully.) In a few days you can find me at:

www.thejgrdispatch.com

Thanks everyone and I really appreciate you reading!!!!

Miller Fly Shop from Tyler Texas - Good Job!

2011-08-07T19:32:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give a quick shout on my blog for a job well done.

The other day I was perusing the internet for some big topwater bass flies as well as some sub surface smallmouth flies.

I stumbled upon Miller's Fly Shop as I was searching for materials for a Dahlberg Diver. I quickly noticed that their price for this fly was pretty competitive, and since I was heading on a fly fishing trip that next weekend, I decided to order some of these and a few other patterns.

I'm glad to say that I've had a good experience with them over this purchase. The shipping was free, the flies were the right size and the right pattern and they were on my doorstep very quickly. They almost seemed to operate at the same price level and efficiency as the big boys have done.

Congratulations, Miller Fly Shop, you have my official seal of approval.

Here's a link:

http://www.millersflyshop.com

Uncle Josh's Famous In The Garden Deer Chili

2011-08-05T19:39:00.000-04:00

Recently I went to look in the freezer for some desert when I noticed that I still had a lot of deer left from last November. Since deer season is right around the corner, I decided to start cooking as much of it as possible. As such, I also decided that it was worthwhile to share my Famous In The Garden Deer Chili.

Well to start off, we try to eat healthy and so that means eating a lot of vegetables. I think when you see this recipe, you'll see that we cram as many veggies in this chili as possible through use of the food processor. In fact, by volume, there is as many vegetables in this chili as there is deer meat. It's a perfect way to add fiber and have an all around healthy meal with a protein that is by its nature very lean.
Here it is:

Ingredients

1 green bell pepper
1 sweet, white onion
2 stalks of celery
1 large carrot
1 pound or so of ground deer
1 can of crushed tomatoes
(rinsed kidney beans are optional, the Lady isn't a bean lover so I omit them usually)

chili powder
fresh ground cumin
salt and pepper
ground habanero

Step 1: Run all of your veggies, except the can of tomatoes, through a food processor. Add to your soup pot and let it cook a little bit until the moisture of the vegetables starts to escape. Cover with a heavy lid and let it steam for about 10 minutes or so. Add some salt and pepper. (For some reason, I prefer to S&P my veggies in this stage as opposed to adding a lot at the end. I think the little tidbits of veggies in this chili that are seasoned well make the dish.)

Step 2: Add your ground venison and let it stir. Cover with the lid for a few minutes, then take it off and stir again. We want to brown the deer and mix it up with the vegetables pretty well.

Step 3: Add your canned tomatoes and one empty can full of water. Add about 2 tablespoons of chili powder. Let it cook a little bit and taste it. If you want more chili powder, add it. If not, remember you can't subtract it once you put it in. Also, add some habanero powder if you really like the heat (as do I.)

Step 3A: I like to use a coffee grinder to grind my cumin. You should think about buying your spices whole and running them through a coffee grinder. You will be amazed at how much more flavor you get out of spices as opposed to buying them pre-ground from the grocery. The Lady turned me onto this approach and I've adopted it into my cooking.

Ok, after it has cooked and the vegetables are nice and soft, serve it up and enjoy! (Try not to eat too much because it really is that good)

Bon apetit!

Koi in Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery?

2011-08-03T13:41:00.000-04:00

A few weekends ago I ventured down to fish Elkhorn Creek. I have a few access points on this creek and I am exploring them more in depth as my penchant for smallmouth fishing on the fly exacerbates itself (good use of the SAT words, right?)

One of these access points is located behind the Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery. It’s a nice place to wade and is one of the prettier spots on the creek. In fact, I had one of the most surreal moments on this water when I got caught fishing after dark on this trip.

A gigantic white mayfly hatch came up on the water and swarms of them danced upon the surface. They moved in unison, going one direction, then suddenly stopping and drifting in the other. Despite me being covered in white mayfly shucks, I have to admit that this was one of the more beautiful things I’ve seen in nature.

Now, one of the neat things to do while visiting any fish hatchery is to go look into the brood fish pool. The Pfeiffer Hatchery, as is the same for Wolf Creek and Minor E Clark, possesses a diverse set of fish that I like to call “Hollywood fish.”

In the past, I’ve seen everything from gigantic bass, paddlefish, catfish and huge blue gills in these large tubs. I was surprised this time around to see something much, much different.

Various fish in hues of orange, black and white of various sizes swam in a circle above the large warmwater fish that were resting on the bottom. I stood there puzzled for awhile, and then MJA (one of the other guys I was fishing with) offered that the state raises koi as a useful tool in controlling algae and other plants in aquaculture ponds.

I have not verified this as the case, but in the end, it sounds like a great idea. Anything to help the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources I am fine with, however, I saw something very disturbing.

I left the pool, walked down the path and entered Elkhorn Creek. I waded into the water, around the island and began casting my fly at various ideal locations that seemed to be holding bass. It was in this moment that I looked down and saw an orange glow in the water below me.

Yep, it was a large koi. I have to admit I was a little frustrated with that. I am just about as anti-invasive species as they get out there. And I was wondering, is our state adding to the problem?

I dislike Asian carp and everything they stand for, but what about koi? Now, let’s be fair. There’s no proof that koi came from the hatchery. It could have been dumped by someone else who drove out into the middle of nowhere and dumped the contents of their garden pond into the water. In any case, it escaped from somewhere.

So, the question is….does this make a difference? Should I complain and make a stink about this? I guess I want some more answers at this point. The last thing I want to see is one of my beloved fishing spots full of orange fish. I want my fish to be BRONZE. I want to see big, muscular fish with deep stripes under their eyes, big bellies and a screw you attitude.

Honestly, I’m conflicted. I don’t even know if it’s an issue worth getting worked up about. If anyone is reading this, please respond on your thoughts concerning the matter. I feel like I need to take a stand against it and start calling and emailing people, but I don’t want to sound like a amped up blowhard (The hunting and fishing advocacy community has enough of this already.) I guess I’m not sure what my next steps should be.

New Folding Canoe - This Is A Cool Idea

2011-07-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

First and foremost, I'm not big on reposting stuff I find on the web. I try to only fill my site with original content, even if I'm a sub par writer and I don't live an entirely exciting, or even halfway interesting, life.

But this product below caught my eye and I just wanted to mention it because I think its kind of cool.

Take a look at this: A canoe that fits into a backpack and only weighs 9 pounds. It is called the Adhoc Folding Canoe.

This could be a helpful tool for accessing high mountain lakes, back water mangrove swamps or crossing the Rio Grande after a long hike in the desert. You make up your mind.

For more information, you can read it from the site that I ripped it off from originally:

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/15876/ori-levin-adhoc-folding-canoe.html

Moldy Chum, breakfast is served.

Her First Fish!

2011-07-24T21:58:00.000-04:00

Me and the Lady went out and hit a small pond around the bend for some fly fishing.

As you've read earlier, I lost one of my honey holes to a developer and a new gas station.

I have been on the lookout for a new fishing spot and I might have one.

But beyond getting into that, I have great news to give!

My beautiful and wonderful fiancee, as I have dubbed Lady L, caught not only her first fish on a fly rod, but her first fish ever!

Congrats to her, my newest fishing buddy. Love you babe!

On a side note, we stopped by a local park on our way back for some kind of festival they were having. It wasn't that interesting to note, except to add that I saw and fed my first alpaca. This animal also gets my award for goofiest creature. He looks straight out of a Disney movie.

The Death Of A Friend...The Paving Over Of A Beloved Bass Pond

2011-07-19T12:57:00.000-04:00

RIP: Here lies what remains of a terrific bass pond:

The picture you see here is what remains of one of the most productive bass ponds I have ever fished. It is now relegated to nothing more than a bowl of dust...all in the name of progress.

When I was in my teens, a friend of mine lived in the apartments that were situated on this lake. Whenever we would fish other bodies of water, we would bring back our catch in a ten gallon bucket and throw them into this pond. Well, let me tell you, it caused the pond to become a bass haven.

It was deep with vegetation and overhanging trees that provided shade and kept the pond cool and moss free. It was full of bass of all sizes and was clear and respected by the locals who came to fish it.

We caught all kinds of bass on soft plastics, crankbaits and similar lures. This is where I cut my teeth on bass fishing.

Well, what happened? Progress is what happened...

It was drained and bulldozed to make way for a rerouted intersection and a commercial property.

People are free to do with their property what they want, but you would hope that someone somewhere would have felt compassionate enough to save this sweet little piece of water.

There's just so few of these anymore as development increases and "No Fishing" signs pop up like buckshot on a road sign. I had a lot of fond memories on this water, but unfortunately they'll stop there....a figment of the past.

I know it was just a small pond, but it really felt like a friend to me.

Elkhorn Creek Camping Area

2011-07-18T11:08:00.002-04:00

First ever JGR Seal of Approval awarded to Stillwater Camping Ground:

If you are ever travelling down into Frankfort, Kentucky and want to camp, I suggest using the Stillwater Campground off of State Route 127.

It is a small, family owned operation that is really friendly.

Each site has electricity and water and its tent friendly. The campsites themselves sit in a nice, level flat field and the property is surrounded by both the Kentucky River and Elkhorn Creek. Most importantly, most sites have shade trees.

A new feature is a paddling service. You can arrange for a canoe trip while there and come back down and camp all in the same day and place. How convenient is that!

I stopped in this past weekend and took a look around while a friend was camping there. He's an avid camper and has high recommendations for it as well. It's a great value as well and I didn't feel like I was being gouged (as is the place with some campgrounds.)

Here's a link to their website:

http://www.stillwaterscampground.com/

I think its a good family campsite. I give it my seal of approval!

Long Time, No Hear

2011-07-13T21:56:00.000-04:00

It's been over a week since my last post and I thought I'd drop a note, merely towards the intention of regularly updating this encyclopedia of awesomeness.

There's not much to report of recently regarding my outdoor exploits, except frankly, disappointment.

I've been working like a mule and have my hands full with wedding plans and other projects. The few times I've been out haven't been much related to any exciting news. I've been so busy that my lawn is turning into a jungle, which is embarrassing. I have so much on my to do list that its getting ridiculous. So, I went fishing.

I tried to hit up a local creek last night for some carp fishing, only to arrive and find that I had left all of my leaders and tippet at home. So, seeing how this was the first night I had been out of work past 5 p.m. in awhile I decided to drive back home, grab some gear and come back to at least make an attempt.

I should mention that I picked up a furled leader at a fly fishing show a few months ago. This is the first time I've tied one on and cast a line with one attached on one of my rods. Let me tell you, it is beautiful. Everyone should give these a try sometimes. They are pretty efficient casters and very durable. All you have to do is tie a perfection loop into a piece of mono and attach it to the furled leader via a handcuff loop and you're good to go. You can try making one yourself, but that looks like a major P.I.T.A.

Needless to say, upon my return trip after gathering my terminal tackle, it started raining. So, I left and drove over to a friend's house to drop off some flies for him to use down at the Elkhorn for smallmouth today. Then, back home for dinner.

This weekend is offering me some respite finally as I venture down to the Elkhorn myself for some smallmouth bass fishing. I can't freaking wait. My plan is to drive down and try to do everything out of my truck, which means no trips to convenient stores, no restaurants...ok maybe a bathroom if needed (but that's just for the benefit of other people, I can pretty much poop outside on command.) I'm going to bring my grill and a hammock and chill out for awhile, catching some smallmouth hopefully and meeting up with a few guys from NKFF. I'm not camping this Saturday as I have to rush home for a friend's birthday party. This, of course, dashes my plans for an all night no schedule kind of day. But, oh well.

Let's see, anything else going on related to the outdoors? Hmm...I had to cancel two tee times in the past week. One because my friends were to drunk to get out of bed this past Saturday morning and another because I couldn't get out of work. Not much fun. Honestly, that's how things have been recently.

Enough of being Debbie Downer for right now, hope everything is going well for people during this sweltering heat.

Hope to see everyone on the water soon. JGR

Goodbye, Adventure Pants....

2011-07-05T13:47:00.000-04:00

It’s been several years since I’ve really had to purchase any new gear. What wonders I can perform with the use of a tube of goop, a sewing needle and thread, a roll of duct tape or an applicator of crazy glue. I have breathed new life into many of my old items by just applying some tender loving care and a good dose of maintenance, or in some extreme cases, the ardors of a major overhaul.

Everything I own I’ve fixed to get some additional life out of it. Part of this comes from my upbringing. I spent a lot of time as a kid with my grandfather, who was the son of a Depression Era farmer and was a man who could pinch a penny. In fact, it is said that he invented copper wire by wrestling a penny away from my grandmother, an equally thrifty person.

Beyond this deep seated conviction that possessions should not be immediately disposable, I have also come to the realization that my finances are going to be tied up ever more as my wedding date comes nearer and I embark on an exciting journey to start a family. I realize my free time and free money will dry up and be put to other uses, and despite the great “tie-down” that is the fodder for married life jokes, I am still really excited about this prospect and our new future together. It has, however, refocused me on getting more out of what I have, as it might have to last me another decade.

I like to live with the mindset of buying a few really great items as opposed to purchasing a garage full of items as they come on sale. I despise clutter and redundancy and if something doesn’t have a use, I prefer to S-D-T (sell, donate or trash…in that order.) I like to have a lot of trust in a device, and I want my gear to look used as well. I think all of us have quietly chuckled to ourselves when seeing the guy out on the trout stream decorated in the latest gear, looking like he just walked out of a tackle shop. I don’t want to be confused for that guy, ever. And I won’t, as my vest if well faded from the sun and my waders coated in multiple applications of Aquaseal.

But it is with great trepidation that I must announce that a beloved member of my gear family is about to bid adieu to my collection.

Adventure pants, you will be missed.

Yes, I own a pair of pants that I call my “adventure pants.” They are rugged, have multiple pockets and a tough seat. They are cool in the summer, warm in the winter and are stained with blood, guts and dirt. They have been there for me protecting my legs from briars, from errant sparks from the campfire or abrasive rocks while bouldering.

However, they have died. They have breathed their last breath. These pants are mostly thread now and still require additional sewing to reattach some back pockets. They have been washed so many times that they have faded several hues away from their original dyeing. They have been dried so many times that they now come up several inches above my ankles, graduating from being “high waters” to practically shorts.

I have to let them go. They are on their way to the Goodwill in the sky. I could cut them into rags, but I can’t bare to do this to such an old friend. My only hope is that they get repaired and someone else can use them as they make their way through the second hand market.

Now, I’m on the lookout for a new addition to my outdoor wardrobe. I plan on holding auditions soon and hope to find some that can live up to the great reputation of its predecessor. Many pants though will fall short of expectation, the buttons will pop off too early, the crotches will rip out as I cross over fallen tree trunks or the pockets will get too many holes in them. I am on the lookout though, let the search begin.

You Grab A Line, I'll Grab A Pole

2011-07-02T10:54:00.000-04:00

A couple of Saturdays ago, me and the Lady were sitting at home with not much to do. This was a first in a long series of continuously over-scheduled weekends. I don't mind being really busy, but too many weekends like this just make you feel like your weeks are starting to run together, that you're just handling business of a different nature when what's best for your soul and disposition is to relax and decompress.

This happened to be one of those great Saturdays when you want to do not really much of anything at all. It was lounge on the porch or couch and read day, or putter around the house screwing around with side projects day. I suggested that we could go fishing, and as Lady L enjoys fishing, she agreed to come along. However, neither of us wanted to get into a fancy showing or anything even moderately requiring planning, so we decided to just grab my "worm drowning" kit and head out to the local park. The park has a fishing pond installed and we further elected to bring a picnic lunch with us and spend a few hours catching some sun.

This wasn't a bad choice to spend an afternoon. Rumor had it that Kentucky had just stocked our local pond with a thousand channel catfish as part of the FINs program.

This is where I'm going to digress a little. Let me sing the high praises of the FINs program! FIN's, or Fishing In Neighborhoods, is a program where the state stocks the hell out of small ponds and lakes that are around urban areas. It's been terrific for teaching kids how to fish, or stepping out to catch some fish without being relegated to travelling any long distances to the more remote fishing spots outside of Greater Cincinnati. I can't stress how good of an idea FINs has been.

It's true, Kentucky has some of the best reservoir fishing in the country. Cave Run, Cumberland, Kentucky, Barkley and a dozen or so more others offer terrific action. Part of this success has been thoughtful management of our resources by the KDFWR, however, in my opinion these waters received too much of the department's focus over the past couple of decades. What about guys like me who cant' get away for an entire weekend and haul a boat out to no man's land for some fishing? That's where FINs comes in and tries to bridge the gap.

Now, back to the story at hand.

I love to fly fish. I tie my own flies, build my own rods and I spend a lot of time reading and writing about it. I even teach the sport at local libraries and have become quite the casting instructor. I promote fly fishing to others and I'm always trying to push the boundaries of what the fly rod can accomplish as it relates to fishing in my geographical area, where the fly rod is a rare sight.

But, there are some days when I want to go back to my roots, back to my summers as a child fishing for bluegills off the dock with hot dogs pieces. Memories of spending warm summer nights as a teenager casting out chicken livers for catfish still illicit a cozy feeling. I can recollect having arguments with my teenage buddies whether or not nitro worms were real, and when they seemed to work well, searching bait shops for real ones and just not regular earth worms with green food coloring in it. I remember when buckets of minnows were how we geared up for fishing adventures, not time at the vise.

So with this in mind, I grabbed some bobbers, hooks and a small spinning outfit that I had. We stopped down at the gas station and I bought a tub of feisty earthworms and headed out to the park.

Upon arriving, we picked out a nice spot, set up our camp chairs and I rigged up the rod as Lady L cracked open a book and started reading.

Shortly after casting into the pond, I had my first fish. An average size stocker channel caught off my 6 foot ultralight with 4 pound monofilament on it. What fun!

Did you know, we sat there for another two hours and I caught fish like this probably every ten minutes? It was just too much fun and the whole experience brought me back to being a kid.

Of course, it wasn't much fun handling a sandwich with worm guts and fish slime on it, but that's how a man eats his sandwich anyway. Dirt is the best condiment is how I look at things.....NOT.

So, if you're just too harried from your work week, too stressed out to consider doing anything really complex, take my advice and just grab a bucket of worms and some bobbers. You'll be surprised how much fun going back to your roots can be.

NRA Kidsfest A "Blast"

2011-06-29T12:14:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, June 19th I attended the annual NRA/5th District Kidsfest at Lloyd Wildlife Management Area.

The NRA/5th District Kidsfest is a really great event where kids get some quality lessons in how to enjoy the outdoors and practice gun safety.

Their events range from clay shooting with 20 gauges, black powder rifle shooting, 22 rifles, archery, game calling and fishing. I was lucky enough to man the kids fishing booth, as I do every year.

The rain put some damper on the day but the kids worked through it and toughed it out. It’s so much fun to see one of these little guys catch fish, and we did catch quite a few on worms and grubs throughout the day.

Next year we need to get some garbage bags or something to act as ponchos for the kids. They were soaked from head to toe. Luckily it was warm out and we didn’t have any issues with kids getting really cold, but after awhile during the heavier rain in the morning they went and hid under the tent until it was time for them to go to their next event. Many though stayed out and fished despite the rain and showed some real grit and dedication which is always admirable at any age.

I'm looking forward to next year!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As a final note: If you haven't yet, take someone else fishing. Be it your kid, a neighbor's kid or a bunch of other kids. Passing on the tradition is what really enriches our sport and ensures that it will be here for the rest of time.

America has a rich tradition of enjoying the outdoors. It's been passed down from generation to generation, and now its more important than ever to make sure its protected as suburbs swell, funding for outdoor activities from both public and private sources dwindle and public access falls off the map.

Volunteering time is important too, especially if you really love the outdoors. I do a lot of volunteer work, it was just bred into me growing up as being important, and through chance it led me down a path that included kids fishing derbies and fly fishing education. I'm glad I'm doing it, its very rewarding and I hope I continue to have time for it still as I start my family in the upcoming months.

Anyway, there it is...go out and do it!

Paddlefest Another Huge Success!

2011-06-28T07:00:00.002-04:00

Paddlefest was another huge success this past Saturday and I was lucky enough to attend it.

1,700 canoes and kayaks with 2,200 paddlers filled the might Ohio River for a really nice day of paddling. The water, though a little high, produced a good flow and headwinds in the morning died down as the day progressed.

The evening before Paddlefest, at which they have a large get together, was a ton of fun with great food, vendors and fun events and promotional items from various paddling manufacturers and related businesses. There were over 2,000 folks at the music festival and it is fast becoming one of the best outdoor music venues of the summer.

Thursday’s Kidsfest was a resounding success thanks in large part to the work of the Hamilton County Parks District, Riverworks Discovery and the Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers. There were over 4,000 children and adults that attended this year! This has to be one of the country's largest outdoor education events!

NKFF also hosted the kayak fishing contest with the winner displaying some really terrific catches of striped bass. I came down Friday evening and did a few casting demonstrations to passerby’s. It was a ton of fun.

I was able to grab a few pictures of the event, so enjoy!

A far out view of the Serprentine Wall. This is the terminus of the trip and is also the finish line for the kayak race. Vendors and food booths were set up at the end at the park. A local high school football team was there to help you out of the river and to carry your boats. Buses were lined up to take you back to Coney Island so you could come back down and get your boat. A very efficient operation.

A boat made entirely out of cardboard...and yes, it floats!

All of the boats lined up in the morning in every color, make and model.

The morning gathering. I arrived at 7:00 a.m. with the other early birds and was one of the first on the river.

A massive undertaking as volunteers help launch 1,700 boats.

The first bridge to paddle under, which happens to link Ohio to Kentucky via I-275

A boat dedicated to breast cancer awareness and survivors, this is typically the lead boat that people will follow down the river. Although they are typically passed because of the drum they use to keep beat.

Chillaxin'

The Big Mac Bridge, which houses I-471. It's the first of the many bridges that connect Cincinnati to Northern Kentucky and the end of the 8.2 mile trip.

The upper east half of downtown looking over the river, as viewed from the river itself.

My Pursuit of the Grandest Fish Porn Of All - Midwestern Steelhead (Post 2 of 2)

2011-06-25T23:45:00.000-04:00

We checked a stream thermometer and it registered just above freezing. Slush was filling the creek and water was freezing to our boots and clogging up our rod guides. We stood there and shivered and waited for the chance to fish, but it would not come.

It was time to evacuate. The water just wasn’t going to cooperate. Everyone’s feet hurt from the cold and those who tried to cast out a line found their rods caked in ice. I believe two rods were broken from the weight of the frozen water hanging from the lines.

We slogged back to the vehicles. Tired, hungry and fish-less. You can guess what kind of mood I was in as we finally arrived at the hotel.

Back at the hotel, the guides served up the lunch that we should have been eating on the stream in between our massive catches of steelhead, but were instead nursing near frostbitten fingers and toes.

Sensing utter disappointment, one guide, Don, offered to take some of the newbies out to Elk Creek to give it one last try. He had been phoning other guides in the area and news was that the Elk was running green and had fish in it. This is the "steelhead grapevine" that only locals are connected into, and access to it is crucial in nailing down the location of active fish.

Luckily for me I got to go along for this trip given my rookie status. We all piled into the truck, “that guy” hopped in the back seat (I had dibs on riding shotgun after THAT morning) and we took off in a hurry.

We snaked along some back roads and stopped at a bait shop to buy a Pennsylvania license and trout stamp. After this, I dropped all pending litigation and further charges against "that guy" because we were now in the same boat. None of us had any idea what was going on, what would happen or even where in the hell we were.

Finally, we arrived on the water to a place that only a local would know. We climbed down into the creek and waded up about a half mile into the still frigid, yet free flowing water. Arriving in our spot, the guide had us string our rods together and start fishing. It wasn't long before "that guy” caught the first fish. Kudos to him...whatever.

Soon, my other companion caught a fish and then “that guy” caught another one. I complained to the guide that my rig wasn’t going deep enough. He agreed and we moved the bobbicator around and added some split shot. I was getting frustrated and running out of time. I just wanted ONE fish! I knew the pigs lived on the bottom of the stream and if I wasn't getting down there, then what was the point?

Upon casting into the green pool and drifting through it's current, my bobbicator flashed under and I set the hook in a hard, sweeping motion. I fought the fish all the way down the creek and outside of the hole and it finally spit out the hook.

"Ok, at least we're getting into them." I thought. "Now I just need to land one." I soon tied into 3 more fish, but low and behold they spit the hook back at me. I could almost hear the last fish give an audible "pfffftttt" as the fly when sailing back towards my face.

That’s when I asked for help. I told the guide that I clearly had no idea how to land one of these beasts. And, honestly, I didn't at all. That's when he did what all good guides do, he gave me some great tips.

He instructed me to keep the rod tip high and keep its head in the current, quarter away from the fish and keep it upstream from you. Let the current be your friend and use it to wear him out.

My other two companions were now regularly landing fish, and as we cycles in and out, I finally got a strong bite.

This time, I took his advice and landed it after a few minute fight. I gave my guide the camera and asked him to take a picture. “One more” I begged, to make sure this moment would be recorded for posterity.

With my first fish under my belt and the monkey off my back, I casted my rig back into the hole and caught and landed yet another fish, a fresh chromer right out of the lake.

Light began fading fast. We were told to take our last cast and we were going to call it quits. That's when I tied into my true big fish porn picture, the old hen that graced the first post about this adventure.

"Mission accomplished" I said to myself, sad that the best fishing hadn't presented itself until the last hour of the day.

I took out my flashlight and we began our wade back to the trucks. As expected, “that guy” didn't have a flashlight so I encouraged him to walk in front of me and let me shine the light on our paths. I had forgiven him for his transgressions, mostly because I was still pretty tweaked about catching some fish. It's funny how actually catching fish on a trip can quickly change the mood of an adventure.

I bid everyone farewell and headed back home for the long drive home. I don't think I took the foot of the accelerator once as I fought off sleepy eyes. I finally arrived home. Honestly, I remember walking into my living room, sitting down on the couch and instantly falling asleep while I was fully dressed, including the jacket I had on and my winter boots.

I was completely exhausted and slept like a rock. And in the end of it all, exhausted, hungry and still shivering, I finally felt satisfied.

My Pursuit of the Grandest Fish Porn Of All - Midwestern Steelhead (Post 1 of 2)

2011-06-25T23:29:00.000-04:00

Here's one of my big fish pictures. This picture is the tool that I can use to brag without words. It impresses the less engaged who aren't familiar with steelhead fishing and assume that it's just a gigantic version of a plain old trout. It's a proverbial notch in the belt for a fly fisher who knows what this fish is and can appreciate it and the pain in the butt it can be fishing Midwestern Steelhead tributaries.

Ultimately, it's a hard earned plaque that I cherish due to the lengths I had to pursue in order to earn it.

But what's the story of the fish in this picture? How did it come to be? Well, it's important to note that this was no ordinary fishing trip. It was an arduous journey filled with fraught. It was a test of endurance and patience. It means something to me.

It all began while I was perusing a TU newsletter and noticed a short paragraph that made me sit up straight. In the trips section there existed an advertising for a steelhead fishing excursion and a side note announcing that space was still available.

"This would be my chance" I said to myself. I would be able to flash that sexy big fish picture that so many other fly fisherman show off. The same fly fishermen that I can outcast, out-tie and out fish on a regular basis. Somehow the lack of proof that I could bring home the big game meant that as a fly-fisherman, I had yet to really break into the sport. I needed to invoke a day of reckoning. I needed to end this quest.

I made all of the arrangements with the club and booked a hotel room at a Days Inn in Conneaut, Ohio for the early December trip. Everything was in order, except for an inability to get off work so I could have time to travel.

"No problem" I told myself. "I'll just drive up after work. Cincinnati to Cleveland is only a 5 hour drive. I'll be up there by 10:30 at the latest."

Mother Nature would wipe that self assured smirk right off my face.

I hit the road after work with a fully loaded truck and heavy winter gear, several packs of cigarettes (I smoked then) and some Mountain Dew (I drank non-diet sodas as well…gallons of it.)

I was travelling north on I-71 when I noticed the ground having more snow on it than what we had back home. Then, I hit Columbus and the flurries started. Soon they were coming down in a blanket and the highway was becoming slick. Traffic was slowing. Then, in a few more miles cars were spinning out and filling the median. I slowed down my truck and downshifted into 3rd gear. I would not get out of this gear for the rest of the trip.

I picked my way along the highway, white knuckled and very nervous. The snow was coming down heavier and the lanes were getting harder to make out. Hour after hour passed and then I made it to Cleveland and turned towards Conneaut. Finally, I was travelling the home stretch.

I arrived at the Days Inn and parked. It had been 9.5 hours since I had left work. I had doubled the time of travel in half the distance to my destination. I was irritable.

Upon finding my room, I phoned our trip leader and told him I had arrived. He invited me over to his room where the rest of the group was hanging out.

I walked down the hall and there inside lay about a half dozen drunk people. They had arrived earlier and fished that morning and were celebrating the start of the trip. I grabbed a beer and sat down. Since it was 2:30 in the morning, everyone began passing out. Fishing was to start at 5:30 in 3 hours, so I had to go to bed.

I woke up to a knock on the door. It was Todd, our trip captain dressed and ready to go. He told me to meet me in the lobby as soon as possible. I panicked and ran around the room gathering my gear and stuffing myself into my waders. I didn’t want to be “that guy.”

“That guy” is the person on the fishing trip who holds everything up. He’s the last out of bed, runs out of flies early and is just completely unprepared for the event. Luckily, I arrived into the lobby to find half the group waiting. I wasn’t going to be “that guy” as there were about a half dozen still lumbering out of their rooms. “That guy” would surface on this trip and it was a matter of time before he was paired up with somebody.

“That guy” sure enough was paired up with me and take a guess what “that guy” forgot? Yep, he forgot to buy a fishing license. And he was really late. And he was slow. And he was a pain in the ass. But no bother, we were to go out fishing soon so I could keep that in mind.

After driving 25 miles out of our way to commandeer “that guy” a fishing license, we finally arrived at the park. It was mind numbingly cold. The guides were a little nervous that we had arrived too late and would not be able to find one of the prime fishing spots. No worries, not even the hardy Midwesterners were out of bed on this frigid day.

We hiked down to the Conneaut, crossed it and found our fishing spot. They called it the “altar” as it had 3 rocks positioned towards you that looked like a table. In front was a seemingly deep hole, a great proposition for steelheading.

But, we were freezing and fading fast. To be continued........

My Long Road to Redemption and Purchasing Nice Polarized Sunglasses

2011-06-21T11:40:00.001-04:00

I finally got myself a nice pair of polarized sunglasses. It took me redeeming two BPS gift cards and all of my BPS reward points but I finally nabbed a high quality set.

These sunglasses are great. Polarization really does help seeing stream bottoms and structure, and it seems the more cloudier the day the better they work. I opted for Smith Action Optics because I owned a pair of those previously and I was really happy with them. But what, you may ask, happened to that first pair?

Well, I first bought a pair of really expensive polarized sunglasses about 7 years ago. I loved them in every way. I always had them on, driving, hanging out, whatever. Then one day, I dropped them on the ground and the frame broke. Upon inspecting them while driving, I fell into one a fit of rage and tossed them out of the window. What a mistake.

I was complaining about this to a friend of mine, my fishing mentor MJA, and he told me that I could have ordered a new frame for them because those were the cheap part of the operation. Again, I was disgusted with myself.

I put myself into polarized sunglass limbo. Never more would I spend that much for something that I couldn't take care of. I continued buying cheaper polarized sunglasses, dropping them into the drink off my kayak or losing them until one day I bought a pair and I held onto them. For years I wore them, until the plastic wore off and the nose holders couldn't be glued on anymore. I decided that I had paid my penance, and I would now purchase a new set for myself, so I finally did.

Here they are. They are green mirrored and I like them a lot. The frame is tortoise shell. I know what you're thinking, tortoise shell is for ladies. But, I found this to be the only pair that fit my massive head and trust me, I tried on every pair in the glass case. In the end, I opted for function over fashion.

I made dang sure they came with a carrying case. When these sunglasses are not in use, they are in this case. When I am doing something active with the glasses on, I wear sunglass straps. I hope to have this pair for a long time.

Ah, a microfiber cloth. I was told not to use anything that had a wood content in it such as cotton or paper towels to wipe off my glasses as they would scratch. I opted for the 3M microfiber cloth to keep them clean and it works terrific. It's always in the case.

Well, here's to many happy years for the newest member of my coveted fly fishing gear/outdoor stuff/crap I spend money on that makes me happy bucket.

After Work Fishing - Little Miami River

2011-06-18T07:00:00.003-04:00

It's another day of after work fishing for me. It's Friday and I left work early to wet a line down on the Little Miami River.

I didn't really have a place to fish, so I drove down into Loveland and poked around until I could find a park or something. I finally found a baseball field so I drove around to the back where I saw some woods. I used my "fishy" sense and located a small trail down to the water. Yes, I was impressed with myself for sniffing it out.

I forgot my shorts so I had to roll up my blue jeans, I love casual Fridays, and grabbed my wading boots and Lady L's fly rod. I had her fly rod because I wanted to get the stink off of it and catch some fish with it. It was a custom build that I gave to her for her last birthday. It's a sweet rod in that it has a few extra guides on it. If you ever build a rod, put extra guides on it. It will help in casting. More on this later.

I arrived down to the water and it was nice and calm and low. For whatever reason, the LMR always has this sweet smell to it that is very pleasurable. I don't know why, and I kind of don't want to know now that I think about it.

I tied on a Clouser minnow in a yellow/brown pattern and started working some seams for some fish on the downstream slant. It wasn't long before I nabbed this fiesty smallmouth.

He gave me an awesome fight and I'm so glad I landed him. I just kept the rod tip high, but he was a little stronger than I expected so I had to play him off the reel. Coupled with the face that he was downstream from me, there was a lot of leverage this little bronze bruiser was able to deal out.

Side note: smallmouth are so much fun to catch, but they are always smaller than what you thought they'd be. They are just plain bruisers.

Well, I could have left after that. I like to live my life in the law of averages. I have some good fish days, I have some bad fish days. I rarely have crazy in your face balls to the walls fish days. However, I decided to fish a little more and try out some poppers that I have tied.

I crept along a bank and saw this guy sunning himself on a rock.

Earlier he had swam between my legs and gave me a fright, but I guess he decided to stick around as it was a good place to chill. It's been a good couple of weeks as far as wildlife viewing goes. I've seen a black bear, a baby raccoon and a brown snake all within a couple weeks of each other. Pretty cool.

I left the river at about 6 o'clock because I was hungry and wanted to get home. On my way out, a baseball game had started and I watched a little of it while my feet dried out. The poor kid on the mound was getting absolutely murdered. He was getting shelled, his outfield wasn't giving him any help and the base runners were stealing like crazy. Not to mention there was a beautiful throw to home plate and the catcher bobbled it. I felt horrible for the kid.

Anyway, enjoy your weekend. Tomorrow I'm doing a fishing derby for a bunch of kids at the NRA camp.I'll have the fiancee with me and I'm excited that she's interested in getting involved in my volunteer work. Hopefully it will be a nice day!

Paddlefest is Right Around the Corner!

2011-06-17T13:07:00.000-04:00

Paddlefest will be starting up next week on Thursday with a ton of events scheduled.

This is my favorite outdoor mega event of the year. The Coast Guard shuts down the Ohio River and you and about 2,000 or more of your paddling friends get the Ohio River all to yourself to float 8.2 miles from Coney Island to downtown Cincinnati.

There just isn't simply anything like this of this magnitude anywhere. This is fast making our region a major hub for paddling enthusiasts. If you look at the stats, you can see why:

Multiple rivers to access including the GMR, LMR, Licking, Whitewater and Ohio and many other worthwhile creeks. The South Fork of the Licking and the Whitewater being my favorite.
Home of Cincypaddlers, a club with 1,850 members
5 (count 'em 5!) paddling retailers
10 (count 'em 10!) canoe liveries

Can the Cincinnati region make a case for being the paddling capital of America? With these stats yes, we're a river city and we like to keep the traditions alive.

I think this will be my 6th year attending. Because the Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers are part of the volunteer group, I'll be hanging out at the Fishing Contest and Kid's Derby as well as doing the float on Saturday.

For more information visit the website here: http://www.ohioriverway.org/paddlefest/

Hope to see you there!