Red Gold

The genious of felt soul media. Everyone needs to watch this.

Deschutes, Thankyou for kicking my ass.

I feel like a lucky bastard.

My old man was in town this past weekend and he wanted to do a steelhead trip on the Deschutes. Ok, so maybe I had a little influence on the matter but he put up no argument. My poor ass can;t afford it. This just happened to be perfect timing. My quest with the Spey rod has been a Beatdown. Having a guide who knew what he was doing was going to clear up alot of things for me and give me my best chance for a fish. Lucky for me I got a guide, Matt McCrary, who is fishy as hell and can cast incredibly with little effort. But more importantly this guy loved what he does and it just showed. Guy picked us up in Maupin @ 4:45 am and we got out of the river at 7:30pm. He had a smile on his face the entire time. This is no Wyoming with easy little cutthroat to make your client feel like they really know what they are doing. This is Steelheading and there sure as hell are NO guarantees. This has to be a tough gig......

My report is one that lacks a fish..... but the amount of knowledge I gained was more important. By the end of the day my fiance was handling the spey rod like she was born with it in her hands. For his first day, the old man was getting the fly out where it needed to be and he was swinging it nice and slow. As for me...... Matt had me more excited about each individual stretch of water than the thought of catching a fish. Sometimes you stick one and sometimes you don't. I have alot of new tricks in the bag now. My knowledge of reading water has improved, I can cast close to a tight bank.... and the wind was an afterthought. I was having a blast the entire day.

Oh Shit. I'm Hooked.

Now, the most important thing I have learned:
This shit is unpredictable. You gotta think out of the box and just get your ass out there and try new things. In the first pool of the moring I was just getting my line out and so I flipped out the leader real close. Steelie took..... I missed. I won't make that mistake again. At the end of the day it was the last run and we had about 15 minutes of light left, and then I hear my dad scream...... "I got one!" 2 seconds later the fish had got off. Oh well..... I better start getting used to this.

Some photos from the day.

Thank God I am a positive person.

'Cause I would have given up already. I have been trying everything I can. Even decided to roll the dice and head over to Washington cause Jackson and I thought those fish might have wanted our offering. Skunked. But My casting is getting better..... and I think I can swing it a tad slower...... now I am just waiting for it to all come together. Been getting skunked alot lately.

Wolf Parade

Saw a great show from The Thermals last night during the MusicFest NW @ crystal ballroom. One show I regret I wont see is Wolf Parade. They are playing tonight, I just can;t afford to miss the season opener for the Cowboys.

Labor Day

After a long weekend of many drinks and non-stop fun I had to drop the sis off at the airport and send her on her hungover way back to the heat of Dallas. Since she had a 6 am flight and I had to drop her off by 5 am....... Jackson's mama and I decided to hit the local stream on the way home to swing for some summer steelies........ great morning for it..... with a nice hangover I was working a greasy looking piece of water when I wasn't even ready for it. The tug came so quick and fast I did what any trout fisherman trying to learn how to swing with the long rod would do...... I lifted the rod straight up the minute I felt it. Lost fish. Shit was fun though. All in all it was nice to be the only ones on the water:

Here is the better half double hauling before the sun had hit the water:


Spent the rest of the day being lazy.

The Thermals

A great portland band. They are playing the crystal ballroom on Saturday as part of the Musicfest NW tour. Go check them out!

Portland. Beer Town USA?........ Revisited.

Jackson has called me out on this one. When we wrote this the first time soon after moving to Portland we thought we knew what good beer was after trying the obvious beers that were found in stores. I didn't know shit. Jackson's super k-9 senses have sniffed out some incredible breweries and delicious brews since then.....
P.S. Just go to these breweries.

Some of our recommendations:
1)Amnesia Brewery: Copacetic IPA
2)Laurelwood: Amber
3)Alameda Brewhouse: Klickitat Pale Ale
4)Lucky Lab Brewery: Black Lab Stout (Jackson's Favorite)
5)*Hopworks: IPA
(I am not sure what it is called.... the brewery opens this fall in SE Portland.... I have only had their IPA at the organic brewfest, and portland brew festival. Insane.)

Cheers!

How I feel today.

After Portland's first good day of rain since June, these are my emotions. Now if only we could get a few more days to be exactly like today........ Maybe more fish will be pushed into the system and the bite will turn on. I think I am ready for the fall.

Holy Shit! Its Friday! The Pixies!

Jackson has begged me to put this one up. Here you go......

"Bringing it all back home..."

After a weekend on a "legendary" trout stream I have come away with this:
-We fought crowds
-Gave those in RVs the finger
-Drank some Mexican beer
-Saw some big fish
-Fished a dry (when we knew it wouldn't produce shit)
-Broke out the heavy artillery streamers
-didn't land a fish till the second day

What bothered me most was seeing the "tourist" dressed up and clinging to the only thing that made them feel remotely comfortable:
The General Store

Frustration put a chip on my shoulder for most of the weekend. I was ready to declare the river OVERRATED. But oh how my better half can shine light on my negativity:
She reminds me constantly what it is all about.... why we love it.... why we lay awake at night thinking about it.
She helped me remember what its all about.

It's Just Fishing.....

Rasta dog gets some lovin:


Ready for a siesta:


Wild and Native.


I respect you.

Gone Fishing

Hitting up a central Oregon river this weekend with my human and his woman.

Any time now........

Should be starting sometime soon.

The most comfortable shoe ever made.

Jackson and I will endorse this shoe forever. The Vans classic slip on. It is the most comfortable shoe ever..... and we know you have always wanted a pair. I mean who needs laces anyways? Plus, I think they would do well on slippery rocks while wading through a heavy current. Think functionability. (Is that even a word?)

I know this trout was looking at my shoes while I was releasing his ass.

Jump on the Bandwagon! Read a Great Blog!

The genious of felt sould media not only makes gnarly fly fishing films out of 15 minutes....... they also put together a kick ass blog. Check them out: (Click on the wire)

THE WIRE

Pocket water.

I found myself day dreaming about cold + clear + pocket water today....right in between my work day going to hell. Sometimes I just want to say "F%#* it", grab Jackson, the woman, give my customers the finger, sell everything I own and move to Bariloche, Argentina. But I'm not that dramatic (errrrr I mean I don't have the balls). It is painfully obvious that I HATE the rat race. To bad I don't have much of a choice. I'll just look forard to the weekend........ maybe I'll hit that one pool I love.


A pocket water fish..... from the pool I love.

3 Minutes and 58 Seconds that make you want to say Yeah Yeah Yeah!

I need to get out!

Jackson and his humans have recently relocated to a better place in the Portland area.......Jackson has his local hang out a block away (Lucky Lab), he can now chase a whole new set of bitches at the nearby park, and he has more space to himself. As for his humans...... they have been super busy, NO time to fish because of all the shit that has been going on in their lives!!!! They need to get out and fish! They are too young to be "busy" and missing out on the great fishing.




They do have a free day today.They are walking out the door on their way to the Oregon Brew Fest. Figures.

Silversun Pickups

Reminds me a little of Smashing Pumpkins. Check em out.

This is Fly 2!

Holy shi-ite! This is fly issue 2 just came to me via email and it is off the hook. And to make things skankier..... it is the "reggae issue". Couldn't have come at a better time for me..... I have been in a reggae mood for weeks (my ipod has been playing nothing but reggae when on the way to the river). So when you go..... go to page 21 launch the audio player, get out the bud, start reading.

Jackson gives it 2 paws up.

This is fly

Play I Some Music!

The question has come up while drinking beers with friends many times......."If you could see ONE artist/band in concert either in their prime... or before death/split of band, who would it be?"

One simple answer:
BOB MARLEY (Jackson's Favorite)

Some top runners:
-Sublime (Bradley Nowell R.I.P.)
-The Clash
-Ramones
-Bob Dylan (Before he went electric)

Who would you pick?