Winter fishing is its own beast, and not for the faint of heart. You must wear so many layers that just the act of "wadering-up" becomes a HIT workout. It's not going to be easy to tie on that size 25 midge with your 8x tippet. Coffee will be your lifeblood, possibly loaded with a good, strong bourbon.
Read moreOur Year - 2017
From tiny brook trout in the Blue Ridge to giant lake trout to more cutthroat than we could stand; adventures around the corner to road trips across the country; the ability to create custom rods and a whole rod bag business.
Read moreHappy Christmas!
Wanderlust
When you hurry through you aren't enjoying it, not really. The adventure turns into a "to-do," the experience is lost. You're trying to accomplish something, mark it off a list, feel successful. Living life this way is not beneficial, and fishing should take place slowly and thoughtfully.
Life isn't always about grand adventures, sometimes it's about enjoying the little things, taking your time, and being happy with where you are.
Read moreOdd Ways
On Thanksgiving morning Jacob got a phone call from a fellow rod builder, just to say "hi," happy thanksgiving, and to see if he'd gotten some supplies that were recently dropped in the mail. The conversation turned, inevitably, to what our dinner plans were for the day.
"We're gonna go fishing."
"That's kind of an odd way to spend the day..."
That comment stuck with me all day. Mostly because I wondered if our "odd" ways were possibly a bit too odd.
We spent the entire day, knee deep in cold water, throwing wet flies and catching an array of football shaped brookies and rainbows. We were basically the only two on the water, and it was pretty great. We finished up the day eating frozen pizza, Jacob heading downstairs to plane out a rod and I found my way to the sewing room to pop out some "hurry up" orders.
It wasn't what you'd call a conventional Thanksgiving. We didn't have any turkey or watch any football. We didn't pull dressy clothes out of the back corner of the closet. We didn't spend the day with relatives we rarely talk to out of obligation. Instead, we spent the day doing what we're most thankful for with the one we're most thankful for.
I'd say that's a pretty good day.
Surviving on Hot Coffee and Tiny Trout
The morning light is filtered and grey and ominous. The kind that reaches out and covers everything, from the tops of the mountains to the bottom of the valleys.
The air is heavy and wet, not quite raining, but nowhere near dry either. It's not that cold out, but the dampness makes it almost unbearable. Layers upon layers are applied. You fill up your travel mug with the hottest coffee you can stand.
You question your sanity.
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