Saturday, July 23, 2011

benchcleaning


well, we're getting there
it's a two day process at least

it is more organized and cleaner than it's been in two years...

Thursday, July 21, 2011

hotdamn bent rods


mighta been the first fish of the day


see it?


grip and grin idiot shot


she approves

photo credits due - eric austin aka mudbug
thanks mang

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

cool like bob dylan


bob dylan and his crackerjack band put one one helluva a show last night at the dodge theater

Monday, July 18, 2011

going to church - a fishing narrative

we arrived after dark saturday night
desperately seeking a campsite
an open site w/ reserved sign beckoned
I say stop and check out the sign
reserved 7-16 to 7-19 it reads

we'll take this one

it starts to rain
I checkout the campsite
raingear is buried in closed truck bed
I'll live - pull on hoodie
site is great - lotsa shade and right alongside the rio

I return to truck cab and say you gotta check this out it's perfect
interior cab light queers my night vision and I tumble ass over tea kettle on a boulder
doesn't hurt badly though I lose some bark

we scramble to set up tent and sleeping quarters in dark and rain
we manage w/out getting too wet and gear remains mostly dry

next morning neighboring angler comes over and says
"pretty tough setting up in the rain - we sat in the cab of my truck eating dinner and watched you guys"
it wasn't too bad

it's sunday morning - rig rods eat some captain crunch
caddis start to gather among the pines
this tells me it's time to go fishing


since it's sunday - where else to go but church
the church of the dry fly and finest spot on the river

there are bugs everywhere
caddis pmds sporadic yellow sallies and little brown/black stones green drakes
fish are rising here and there
those of you who've been fortunate enough to fish here know that the whole run can erupt

try caddis - nope
pmd - nope

this guy lands on my flybox...



so I tie on this...



finally it's bingo time and I stick a couple handfuls of 13 to 15 inch browns

all things considered a great morning/afternoon fishing
return to camp for late lunch and nap

mudbug dicks around nimping the camground water

eventually back to church for dusk caddis hatch and fishing is lights out
leave before full dark w/ another couple handfuls of nice trout


to be continued and supplemented w/ pics as I receive them...

awaiting

as I wait for delivery of some fishing shots
I share some scenic pics of the san juan mts backcountry


the rio was wrocking in the gorge pictured above


survival here is questionable at worst
downright uncomfortable at best
beautiful nevertheless


a lovely run approaching the headwaters

as usual pics do not do this justice...


fingers
or a castle



iconic shot of rio valley

Friday, July 15, 2011

beagles!

oh yes we love beagles
ran into these two cuties up in colorado



they're half siblings (shared father) born a day apart 

blues

while it is always nice to get back home
it kinda sucks to leave when the fishing is so got am great


I predict that simpler times will soon become the hipster beer of choice


drake cripples were the fly du jour day one


goddard caddis was just the ticket for the evening caddis hatch


pmd sparkle duns and parachutes result in all day music
bingo!

Friday, July 8, 2011

gone fishing


catch ya on the flip side

Monday, July 4, 2011

hey baby!

it's the fourth of july!
happy independence day


why not...




Saturday, July 2, 2011

"the skinny" - chapter fourteen - random bits and pieces of shit


just  a pretty agate stripper shot on my plane


must be late spring early summer as we've moved indoors
I try not to do this work when I can get "shoppe" stuff done
when it's too hot to work in the garage we move indoors


bench turned 90 degrees as was the overhead lighting
a move that began the current setup of the shoppe

we've added another bench and a sharpening station since
vise got moved to the other bench
but this remains pretty what it's like in there

toss in a couple chairs a couple swamp cooler type fans
and you may as well be there right here and now
except it's hotter than a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire out there
so we try not to go there


finally got an oven built I felt kinda comfortable with
although pumping 1000+ degrees in there always makes me nervous
rod shoppes have a history of burning

tormek sharpening system got moved to a small bench underneath the oven
freeing up benchtop space
foreground bench is usually used for gluing and binding
node pressing and if I've got to wrap a rod during the season it happens there


depth gauge
couldn't set the forms without it


lathe and rod support stand
that lathe gets turned 90 degrees when not in use
again freeing up benchtop space...

and there you have it
a photo essay on how the shoppe evolved from nothing to its current half assed state

maybe I'll clean things up in there (it's a mess as usual)
and get a current shot...

it's really about time we wrap up this narrative
w/ a few thoughts of what we see the future bringing (it ain't promising)
design philosophy and preferences
random bits and pieces of shit


stay tuned for the conclusion

Friday, July 1, 2011

"the skinny" - chapter thirteen - beginnings again

when I first started doing this at home 
I worked for a bit in the backyard
on the patio table
as pictured earlier

eventually I moved thing indoors
from the kitchen counter bar
to the dining room table
where to this day I still work wrapping and varnishing

 pic above is from august 31st 2007
I'm assuming that that's chueco I'm planing


my first lathe was an electric drill duct taped to the bed of my pickup truck
I stopped doing that after my shirtails got caught up and snapped a rod in two


tuning up the forms - this was back in november or december 2007


working at night splitting cane
loved doing it then love doing it now


a cabinet maker buddy of mine built my drying cabinet


workbench got moved over to this wall
prolly to improve the overhead lighting