fishing related art project

coming soon

just an idea I'm bashing around

pics to certainly follow

opening gifts

wouldn't you like to open something like this

Christmas morning?

you know you wanna

it can happen

under the cloak of anonymnity

looking again at hoodies I suppose

you can go totally anonymous w/ a hoodie

watch cap large dark shades

you look like anyone

or no one

all of which makes me think some one is hiding when they have they hood up
it ain't even cold here...

it almost brings into mind the criminal element

how do you describe that guy above?

he's wearing a slobberbone hat

(I'd turn that around were I up to no good)

no eye color hair color beard?  can't tell

he had a mustache and shades

the only distinction I guess you could make

is that I'm obviously not an african american

beyond that it's a crap shoot

dude looked like a terrorist mang

nearly twenty years later

these remain the coolest shades ever

it was also around that time that I started playing golf

and teaching maybe my third year?

a long time a go

as you can see I still have them...

ballyhoo

so that hoodie shown below is the first one I had since I was a kid

my father gave it to me as a Christmas present one year

his client was involved somehow w/ eminem's management 

this sweatshirt is remarkably well executed and designed

the tag reads...

shady limited

future classic

8

anyways the cut is generous and comfortable

fabric is very warm and soft

love the kangaroo pocket (the primary reason I give the nod to pullovers)

this one's gotta stash pocket inside the joey pouch

here's another one...

but before we get to that here's a shot and a story

that right there is a 1975 edition of that classic album

I hung it on the wall in the tying den the other day

there's honest too goodness pot dust from back in the day

in the crease of the backside of that gatefold cover

nice detail in this macro shot

unfortunately revealing a bit of sloppiness in technique...oh well

still a pretty damn nice and damned effective fly

look at that flimsy rinky dink drawstring on the hood!

the only flaw in a fine garment

very warm durable piece of outerwear

this one's by carhartt
and is the only gift I requested....

tomorrow's new year's eve

and I'm gonna talk about the relative merits of hoodies

tomorrow on new year's eve

that's a preview
and a pretty fine hoodie
too bad it's so obnoxious
I don't care but the wife won't be seen with me in it...

continued II

things proceed very slowly

escpecially when you don't know what yer doing

it's always fun when yer splitting a new culm

learning to do it with two left hands w/ ten little toes is tricky

eventually after a half dozen (culms) or so 

yer steering yer splits and getting consistency

without even thinking about it

that was a short and easy afternoon's work

feeling each other out

mike didn't know it at the time and he would find out eventually

I was a serious and dedicated student

I was not going to squander this opportunity

showed up around seven thirty the next saturday morning

for a long hard daze work

we heated and crushed nodes

all fucking day - this is incredibly tedious work

(as readers of my blog have read more than once)

say you've got three nodes per section

six strips per section means eighteen nodes to crush

times two for a two piece times three for a three

each node gets heated and crushed twice

you could fall asleep

(note - both mike and I have streamlined this process a bit 

mike uses the sweet nodemaster 500 or 5000 I don't remember

while I employ a timer to keep heating [relatively] consistent)

mike quickly showed me the key to enduring such drudgery

and handed me an icy cold bottle of budweiser from the keginator

still wearisome but made a bit more pleasant 

as the heating and crushing continue

must be crushing nodes

I don't know how we could have gotten anything else that day

all I've got to show for it is a dozen burnt crooked sticks

chances are pretty good I drove home w/ a pretty good buzz

really not a good call ever

it won't be the last time...

"the skinny" - chapter three - flashforward

not much background left

I met matt at river hill campground on the rio g

we fished a bit and talked some shit

it was fun

I'd been trying for years to get a nice bent rod shot of myself

difficult to do when you usually fish alone

anita sucks at taking pictures

was out on the water w/ schliske for ten minutes

bingo it's done

and it's classic

this pic has been seen by who knows how many people

it remains a favorite 

and is the model/whatever for my logo...
as well as part of an abra ad

we had been sitting on the bank
enjoying a cool smoke

matt flipped his fly out into the water and bingo got hit immediately
this seemed like a pretty good indication
that we should be fishing
moments later I was bent to the cork
by a fourteen inch brookie

earlier in the day I'd been out w/ my wife
and I stuck her in the cheek w/ a stimi
fortunately it was barbless
and she took it like a trooper

honestly she should have known better than to be standing back there
it certainly wasn't her first rodeo

continued

memories grow hazy

I'd tired of the frustration I'd experienced w/ the long rod

futility

so I decided to spend a leisurely day

jrinking beer in the shade and fishing a spinning rod

corn and salmon eggs

there was a guy there w/ the same idea

I polished off my six pack

strolled back to campsite and loaded up a twelve pack

headed back to the shady spot

where the guy pulled out a bottle of crown royal and passed it my way

this continued throughout the course of the day

with nary a nibble to show for it

we didn't care we were lit

I was struck by extreme urgency

I had to shit like now

I started a ridiculous butt clenched quick walk to the outhouse 

a couple hundred yards

I thought I would make it

I did not

I cleaned myself up tossed my drawers and resumed fishing and jrinking

yuck

the sun went down

I was plastered

walked back to camp where phildo was preparing some baby back ribs on the grill

shit was spinning I was seeing double

figured I had better sit down

sat in a campchair beside the campfire

and pitched face first into the fire

I got the hell outta there right quick

crawled into my tent and sleeping bag

I awoke the next morning feeling and looking like death warmed over

I have a pic - you will not see it

we drove to wal mart in farmington

purchased necessary salves ointments and bandages

phildo ministered to my numerous wounds

I looked like shit but felt all right

I would be back

"the skinny" - chapter one - making a short story long

so we start at the beginning

a (former) friend and I took a road trip to farmington, new mexico, of all places

to play a five star golf course, of all things, in a highly unlikely place

we enjoyed camping and rather than stay in a motel

we pitched a tent in cottonwood campground

in navajo dam

on the bank of "holy shit, it's the mighty san juan!" phildo exclaimed...

"we need to do this again w/ fly rods"

I shrugged my shoulders and thinking about more golf, "sure"

next time around 

I was armed w/ some spinning rods packed in with my golf clubs

we'd fish in the morning and golf in the afternoon

and eat like kings at night

(think ribs shrimp carnitas etc)

phildo started to show me some fly casting ropes

it was a struggle

I donned his father's old (read shitty) waders

ridiculous outsized rubberized nylon size thirteen boot foot models

you could have fit four of me inside these things

I knew mase and he was kinda big but not this damn big

I didn't bother w/ any socks (big mistake) and wondered how to piss...

I wandered around most clumsily and aimlessly

futilely thrashing the air w/ an awkward long pole

occasionally dropping a ridiculous fly on the water to no avail

usually resulting in a hopeless bird's nest

that I'd have to sit down on the bank and untangle or cut off

I didn't know shit

neither did phildo

I fell of course filled my waders and kept it right the fuck up

now cold and damp my feet being abraded in those stoo-pit oversized boots

I loved it despite being infinitely frustrated and as uncomfortable as I've ever been in warm weather

phildo let me borrow the rod

and religiously I practiced every day in the alley behind my house

until I could move some line

I could cast but I still sucked

nevertheless I was determined to improve

I bought a few books and studied my ass off

I'm a very good student but this shit remained mostly frustrating

I kept at it in the alley

ventured out on my own 

eventually even sticking a few fish

by no means would I call myself proficient

but I could deliver a fly to the water

and somehow or another occasionally stick a trout

it was time to head back to the san juan...
round two it's gonna get ugly

this time I arrived w/ heightened anticipation
I had seen those huge fucking rainbows cruising about
and my mind raced w/ visions of sticking them
them mind you not simply one
I was gonna eat a fat trout filet cooked over my own campfire

I'd come armed w/ a 9ft 3in 5wt orvis pole
I bought spinning gear too just in case
I had knowledge
a little experience I could move line a bit
I understood the concept of dragfree drift

phildo didn't have a clue
he was armed w/ a custom built (by al ellis for his father, mase) bamboo rod
cast beautifully
false casting and dropping his fly everywhere but where it should be
he had a bookcase full of his late father's flyfishing library
and hadn't cracked one of them
he knew nothing but threw a tight loop

I got skunked
and it gets worse...

endless depth

tools of the trade pt II

nodemaster 5000 makes a breeze out of gruntwork

claro walnut reelseat

w/ blued rec n/s hardware

gorgeous eh?

slated to be fit to poore girls rod #2 this afternoon

*note the blood on the planing forms*

hats

got the sample hat in and I like it

though I may opt for khaki in the end

only so the stitchwork will be more visible...

furthermore, I needed to alter the design a bit

as the one pictured below had too much detail when shrunk to size...

so we'll go w/ something like this

unless I come up w/ a better idea...

I like this better

still not entirely happy with these...

I think I'll go w/ this one...

I've also made a small handful of stickers like this...
presumably to pass out at the desert dirtbag bamboo bash II this weekend

trying to do graphics work from the seat of yer pants is a pain in the ass

workin' hard playin' hard

ted nugent song right?

more like hardly workin' playin' harder

yeah I can get behind that

I have been known to work - at least a little bit

"I really hate to work but I'll deny it if you ask"

-russ tolman

test casting poore girl rod #1

always make play a part of yer day

for all practical purposes she's done

mandatory agate shot

for you bruddah!

poore girl agate

simplify?

considering this logo adaptation for hats, t-shirts etc...

red cedar

reel seat glued on poore girl rod #1

granger deluxe 7030

poore girls rod bags

these bags can only mean one thing...

dipping is imminent

blue bag is in case dad decides to use one of the rods

what do I win?

three weeks (at least) past the deadline I submitted this...

for a t-shirt contest

I drew that freehand with a pencil
I'm an idiot

what did I win?

perusing the archives

I've got lotsa possibilities for posting

old shots from the old daze

back when ye olde rod shoppe that wrock 

wasn't but a glint on daddy's dick

interesting stuff 

to me at least and one day soon you'll see some here

today I've settled on this...

a preliminary design sketch for the afa logo

back in the day yo

fortunately I secured a professional(?) to finish the job