approaching yet another new year

I wonder how many I have left

I'd like to think that it is my mortality that has spawned my thinking of late

and there's no reason for thoughts of that nature

since I remain relatively young despite constantly declaring I'm old

that's just my muse typing

I apologize for the repeats for my long time reader(s)

hoping there actually are people that read this dribble

or better yet appreciate it or learn a thing or two about a thing or two

but I'm gonna photo dump here 

w/ a few of my favorites from over the years

chosen randomly

not this year but all those years that I've typed

at my invisible friends or into the ether as I prefer to think of it

not for you but me

I've never been disappointed gifting myself

though I've done it far too often

but that is a story in itself

                   brace yerselves...cuz this will be incredibly stoo-pit

and you'll love it

my very favorite fishing rod ever

an avatard I use and will have to forever
 because this awesome sign is gone

viking points for knowing where it was

not awarded if we've been there together

favorite bentrod shot of the year and a very good friend

I've always loved this pic

I was six shits to the wind and nimping

you won't see that often - fishing w/ nimps

and my favorite fishing partner snapped it

happy new year

fish more 

and...

stop fishing nimps

do it right

I had to say that since I'm a bamboo snob

and you of course should do what I tell you to

calm down I'm teasing silly

full circle - a work in parts if you will

daily I carry on my side my grandfather's pocketknife

and find comfort and solace in that

it's really not much of a knife

so far as knives go

but he carried it

prolly in his pocket everyday

I dunno

and used it to clean his nails

or pick his teeth

or the whittle away at a stick 

with no purpose or reason

just because it felt/feels good to do so

I get that

it's far too small to do the big work

a knife sometimes requires

a damn handy tool nonetheless

and I find that I use it daily

it is a cherished possession

so small it seems insignificant

and can be lost as it has been 

without realizing it is gone

I will not lose it again

I've taken precautions against that

as there is little that I own that means more to me

I hope to be buried with it

so that I can return it to him in heaven

back to work - new on the bench

craftsmanshit in leather

a few recent products from ye olde rod shoppe

angling tools by design 

perfect stocking stuffers for the angler in yer life...

this is a lanyard pouch that'll hold a small flybox and carry yer clamps



pliers holster



steripen sleeve



plane garage

beyond the ditch

my good fishing buddy jeepster suggested I join him

an invite I declined

I reckon that to be a mistake now

photo credit steve rath

thanks amigo

blood on the tracks

some daze it goes like this...

thanksgiving

my goodness

I tried to post a pic

my storage is full

I am thankful that tomorrow

I'll be gone fishin'

and while it may be shallow and superficial

I remain grateful

happy thanksgiving

holidaze looming

the time of year where I rarely accomplish anything

rooftop rod rack

from the inventive and creative mind of jason jones 

put together very professionally

for less than fifteen bucks and a trip to harbor freight

which ohsoconveniently is right down the street

that ladies and gentlemen is cold beer and ammo

and angling tools by design

very well done

now it's time to build mine

truth in advertising

looks like it could be another post w/out a pic

almost even a state of the craftsmanshit address '12 edition

people have told me that I don't advertise much or enough

I don't at all actually and there is a reason for that

nor I do much in promoting bamboo as a material 

there is a reason for that as well

why advertise when I simply cannot produce any more rods per year than I currently can?

I guess I could invest a couple g's in some sort of ac

and produce oh maybe a half dozen more rods

but why?  

I am quite happy building six or eight rods a year

I'm not sure how much more wear and tear my fingers and hands can take

I mentioned it in passing below but arthritis is working its black magic in my hands

which means I have to take a lot of breaks to let my fingers relax

especially when I'm planing

which has been a lot this past week

and my hands ache haunt me

I'm more likely to direct a guy toward a nice $200 graphite rod

or the best rod you can afford

than suggest that they get a bamboo rod

why?

that is a decision that is made by the angler himself

a moment when he knows it is right in his soul

to fish bamboo and find out what it is like to fish with a tool that lives

*a couple hours later I was talking on the phone
to just such a guy
nice coincidence?*

milestone post - the lessons of a life spent among dogs

it would be nice to have some pics in here...

anyways I've been holding off on this one

trying to wait until my birthday to make the one thousandth post here

and I wanted to be deep and profound

reflective of the wisdom gleaned

over fifty two years

well good luck with that

as if I had a chance

I had no idea what to blog about

I pondered my arthritic fingers and how 

they're causing me problems when I plane

or that one got am split 

that gives you fits from beginning to end

then I met a dog

a pit bull pup and a handsome sonuvagun

and I realized how much of my life I've spent

in the company of dogs

at times an awful lot of them

all the litters of puppies whoa...

I have one dog now and have had him the past nine years I guess

before that mr. t and I shared fifteen glorious years together

holy smokes in college there were bailey and bonnie and buddy 

mr t's running buddies and partners in crime up in flagstaff

prior to that were my restless years I suppose

I had dogs here and there

none really notable

we grew up raising irish setters - show dogs

I can't even begin to remember all those dogs

the family dogs though

catlin finn maura chara

usually a couple three pups as well

my first job as a teenager

back in wisconsin

was as kennel boy at a black lab kennel

fed the dogs cleaned the shit just like at home

weekends we went out and trained these magnificent dogs

for field trials

in wooded pastures and ponds marshes where ever

those weekends were fun plus we got tipped

not sure what the lesson is
perhaps it's in the blessings we've been to one another
our whole lives

blast from the past

a mere four or five generations ago

a good portion of the american populace 

lived like this...

the holtzmann spread

new freedom, wisconsin

my maternal grandmother grew up here

wheatley

I've got three wheatley flyboxes

a couple of which I have a love/hate relationsip with

those cool little glass lids stink out loud

they either open too easily or not all

this one happens to be filled w/ flies sent to me

by my good friend roy christie 

I do treasure those and it is why they are kept

in theis fancypants box

disclaimer: of the three I have I purchase one

the cheap one (and the one I use most often)

the other two were gifts

and very nice ones

thank you.

is that so?

I was surprised and semi-shocked this morning

to read that beagles are listed among the dumbest of breeds

while p-nutt is called ding dong or little dumbass

about as often as he is called his name

I'm a bit stunned to hear he's quite dumb

he does play dumb games I'll give him that
he barks like an idiot as well

but whenever he hears the word dumbass

he looks up at the speaker in expectation

I suppose I'd like to think that he is smart

because he is mine

I'm afraid that might not be the case

he does have his mamma wrapped around his finger(?)

game changer

water is always an issue

drinking water that is

I've got an old katadyn filter bottle that has served me well

ben over at az wanderings did a review of his

which sparked a very interesting discussion 

on a local fishing board

extolling the virtues of the steripen 

since then, I've been fortunate enough to receive a steripen 

at no cost - my favorite way to get things - and it is a deal changer for sure

I never even minded pumping 

but this thing is so easy to use

push a button swish swish swish 

90 seconds later you've got purified water

notice that the steripen slides neatly into the bottle when it is not in use

when I call it a game changer - here's why...
we spent four nights upriver at the ferry and did not bring any water
none

I must mention a caveat
the wand won't fit in some water bottles
make sure you have at least one that works
I was lucky that way

that's awesome
and thanks buddy for the great gift
I owe you at least one mang

desert jewels

fishing the cathedral again

this will be my fourth trip to the ferry this year

and to be entirely honest about things

I've fished like shit

my head and heart haven't been in it

too lazy or stubborn

jrunk and stoo-pit

to adjust my tackle accordingly

distractions

fatigue?

a lack of interest?

I dunno

what I do know is that I don't like it

  that all changes tomorrow

last time up I was on the colorado river

for nineteen daze 

and picked up a rod maybe twice

nearly traveled the river from dam to dam 

and didn't even bother trying to fish

that's pathetic at worst

lame at best

my head hasn't been in the fishing place

it's been elsewhere...

on what again I dunno

it just hasn't been on fishing

I look at this as an opportunity to regain my fishing mojo

it doesn't matter how well you tie flies

or build rods

if you don't put them to proper use

anyways...let's get it on

thanks chad and van ness flyrods for the invite

I appreciate it

ye olde rod shoppe that wrocks

october gets me to thinking of rodbuilding

the gruntwork eh?  the fun stuff if you will

 dropping temperatures have me checking the garage

periodically for temperature

still a mite warm

during lazyass hours

there's one lonely rod on the project list

and I'm itching to get down to it

may be a few daze though as the cathedral is beckoning

and the countdown is on

full circle

we're dusting this off and bringing it out of retirement

over better than ten years

if you've followed my struggle w/ carrying gear 

this may surprise you

I've taken care of some of my "vest" issues

note that nothing dangles from the vest

it and I will still carry too much
nor would it surprise you that I made a few small improvements (?)

it's gonna be heavy face it everything is

I can remove it and stow it on the bank as I often do anyways

plus everything I will need is in one place

and should stay there

more boxes

seems I've got at least a dozen working boxes

that's not really counting streamer boxes, bass boxes, salt boxes

I feel like rene harrop or something

this one was set up specifically for lee's ferry

ferry box incomplete w/out ridiculous thingamabobbers
(which I do not use - they just perfectly complete the picture)
spaghetti and meatballs and scuds
it's really rather gross

is there anything more lovely that is not a woman
than a box full of well tied soft hackles?

taking a close look we see that they're not so neat and orderly after all

midges and shit

boxes like this mean one thing to me

tailwaters

new school scuds?

well lookee there

it would appear as though I've lost a magnet

still works holding the spare clips

take a closer look

one of the plastic clips failed
I replaced w/ steel
which saved the magnet

opening gifts

wouldn't you like to open something like this

Christmas morning?

you know you wanna

it can happen

scud

to be continued fer sure...

attn: jerry siem re: circa flyrods

like it or not sage drives the flyrod business

and they do produce fine fishing poles

there marketing lost me years ago 

as did the trend for faster and faster rods

making casting a chore rather than a mindless simple pleasure

as goes sage others follow

one is very hard pressed these daze

to find a proper dry fly action in a modern graphite rod

the onliest one I know of is the scott g2 (want one too)

until now

I haven't been excited about a sage rod release in a century

actually it's been over a decade

they lost me when they replaced the sp

and a lotta others when they extirpated the ll line

at one point I had three sage flyrods and loved them all

so why is a bamboo rodmaker writing about effing sage?

because jerry siem has developed a retro dry fly action rod

the circa is what I'm talking about and I'm dying to fish one

I cannot afford at this point in the game to fork out sage $$$

nor can I justify buying yet another rod

so really what we have here is my desperate plea

a shoutout if you will to jerry siem and the sage team

how about cutting a brother in bamboo some slack

and let me fish that rod

I'll try a short 3wt and a long 4wt fwiw...

old school pt nimp - allwire edition

quite cool pic to boot

just because it's badass

pflueger goodyear refinish

this is a refinish project for a friend

alas I have no black silk!

which means the tip wraps are not in place

cooper's hopper

it's a beautiful day

is this the year we finally win it all?

southbend refinish

just a couple more pics

just lovely