Sufix Fishing Line Rebate

Got an email today calling out a solid fishing line rebate from Sufix. More or less the rebate is $6 off 2 spools of either Elite, Siege, Deep Crankin, 100% Fluorocarbon, Performance Fuse, or Performance Braid.

Offer expires September 15, 2010.

You can get the rebate form by visiting the Sufix website, or by clicking HERE.

Lilly's 4th Birthday Party

We had Lilly's 4th birthday party at the house over the weekend.  It was basically a princess party (there was one prince in attendance), so there was a lot of dressing up and pink stuff.  Here's a picture of Lilly's cake, prior to being eaten:

Outside of cake & presents, the main event of the party was that everyone got to build-a-animal of their choice.  K.C. found these kits on Amazon, the kids got to stuff the animal, decorate little t-shirts for them to wear, and name them with birth certificates.  The kids had a ton of fun - especially making a mess with the t-shirt paints.

Then it was time for presents...

and cake...


...and a drink for Dad (ok, it was only a Diet Coke)

In all, I'm pretty sure the birthday girl had a good time.  (Or maybe it was just all that sugar!)  Actually, it was probably both.

New Tenkara Rod: Amago

I love my Iwana tenkara rod from Tenkara USA.  I think I used it more than I did my spinning or conventional fly rod combined since I got it last fall.  There's just something to be said for the simplicity of tenkara fishing - just rod, line, & fly.

My Iwana - Rigged & Ready

Tenkara USA released its latest rod recently, the Amago.  Whereas my Iwana is 11' and probably the lightest tenkara rod, the Amago is the longest at 13.5'.  Similar to the Iwana, it's a 6:4 rod (lightweight), but obviously an extra 2 and a half feet longer.  If streamside canopy is not a concern, the extra length should come in especially handy to reach places you just couldn't effectively with the Iwana.

While I'm not exactly in the market for another tenkara rod yet, when I am, I think the Amago is going to be at the top of my list.

Product Description from Tenkara USA website:

Named after one of Japan's most beautiful mountain stream trout, the Amago is our longest rod at 13ft and 6inches long (410cm). Longer rods provide distinct advantages over shorter rods. We recommend using the longest rod you can for the stream you are fishing. The Amago is sure to become a quick favorite for its versatility and reach.

Based on the request of several tenkara anglers this rod has a matte black finish for reduced light reflection. The handle was meticulously designed to provide good counterbalance to the long rod and for extra comfort on a long day of casting your delicate line and fly . The wider end of the handle serves two purposes: it provides a slightly better counter balance to the rod, and serves as a good grip for using the full length of the rod.

The Amago is a lightweight 6:4 rod. The 6:4 action provides a accurate pin-point casting action. The light weight of the rod, similar to the popular Iwana rods, makes this rod a delight to handle and when catching fish of any size.

New Executive Director of the PFBC

The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission named John Arway its new Executive Director earlier this week. 

There's a lot going on in PA right now, especially concerning the various fisheries - a new trout plan, concerns over pollution resulting from Marcellus Shale drilling, several dam removals, and the general health of many rivers such as the Susquehanna - so John will have a very full plate.  His background is in environmental issues, so hopefully the PFBC has reeled in the right guy to tackle these issues. 

Here's the full press release from the PFBC website:

Harrisburg, PA – A 30-year veteran of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has been chosen as the agency’s next executive director. During a special public meeting today, the Board of Commissioners selected John Arway to lead the Commission, one of the oldest and most effective conservation agencies in the nation.

 “John brings a wealth of professional experience and institutional knowledge to the executive director post,” said Commission President Thomas Shetterly. “He is an avid angler, boater and hunter with a passion for the outdoors. He embraces the Resource First management philosophy and understands that only by protecting aquatic resources can we accomplish the other part of our mission, which is to also provide fishing and boating opportunities.”

The 57-year-old Mr. Arway had served as chief of the Environmental Services Division within the Bureau of Fisheries.

“I am grateful to the board for providing me the opportunity to lead the agency where I have devoted most of my professional life,” said Mr. Arway, who becomes the agency’s 10th executive director. “Our agency has a tremendous responsibility to the resource and to the anglers and boaters who enjoy and benefit from the resource. We have a very dedicated staff that I am looking forward to working with on the many challenges ahead of us – including the protection of water quality from future pollution events, the threat of aquatic invasive species, the increasing loss of habitat and the restoration of American shad to the Susquehanna River. I am also looking forward to working with our staff and the anglers and boaters on improving recreational fishing and boating opportunities throughout the Commonwealth.”

Mr. Arway has been the environmental advisor to the executive director and other agency staff for more than 20 years.  In addition to leading the Environmental Services Division, he represents the Commission on numerous committees and boards, including the Director’s alternate on the Environmental Quality Board; the Pennsylvania Biological Survey’s Steering Committee; PA Council of Trout Unlimited’s Environmental Committee and Rivers Conservation Camp and Fly Fishing School’s Board of Directors; Governor’s Pesticide Advisory Board; Governor’s Green Government Council; Coldwater Heritage Partnership Program; and the Susquehanna River Smallmouth Bass Water Quality Workgroup.

A native of North Huntingdon, Mr. Arway holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in biology from Tennessee Technological University. He holds memberships in numerous organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Fisheries Society (currently first Vice President of the Northeast Division); North American Benthological Society; Ducks Unlimited; PA Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs; National Trout Unlimited; and the SONS of Lake Erie.

Happy Birthday Lilly!

 

2006 - Newborn

  

2007 - First Birthday

 

2008 - Second Birthday

 2009 - 3rd Birthday

 2010 - Preschool Picture

 
4 years old today...my little girl is growing up!

"Next Blog"...I'm liking it!

Last November I wrote a post about how Blogger noted that they increased the "intelligence" behind their "Next Blog" functionality (a little link in the upper left hand side of the header of each Blogger blog) to direct you to other blogs that share a similar content theme.  It was kind of a facetious post, because after a few clicks, I was no longer looking at fishing websites, but had diverged into Scrapbooking & Norwegian photography sites.

Well, I will have to say that a few months later, I'm taking back any snarkiness (real or perceived) in that post.  After doing a study of the Google Analytics associated with my blog, I've noticed that a SIGNIFICANT portion of the traffic to my blog is coming as a "Next Blog" referral from someone else's site.  North of 40% worth.

Additionally, a nice side effect (I'm assuming), is that I've also almost tripled my "Followers" in about the same time.  Coincidence?  Perhaps...but then again maybe not.

Now, I don't make money off my blog so attracting a huge number of visitors is not really the goal.  (That being said, you can certainly buy some Troutrageous junk here should you be so inclined)  However, since I do use my blog to network & meet people with similar interests, I can't help but applaud Blogger and give credit where it is due; I think the improvement in the "Next Blog" functionality is great!

The Greater Philadelphia Outdoor Sportshow

I took some time and went down to the Greater Philadelphia Outdoor Sportshow this afternoon.  It was the first year of this show, although there have been somewhat similar shows in Valley Forge and Fort Washington in years past.

I will say something - the organizers did very good job filling the expo hall with vendors.  The place was packed with representatives of all kinds of stuff - equipment manufacturers & retailers, outfitters, lodges, charters, outdoors clubs...you name it.  There was probably a bit of debate on who the headliner was...Bassmaster champ Kevin VanDam signed autographs on Friday night, but I think the true star was Brody the Bear.

Despite all of the stuff there, there wasn't a whole lot that interested me too much.  A lot of it was hunting (which I don't do), and a lot of the fishing tackle on display or for sale was either bass or saltwater.  There was some lighter freshwater gear, but most of it was "garden variety," in otherwords nothing notable to a gear-head like me.

Two booths I did stop by were Wild Water Fly Fishing (based out of NY) and Kennebec Lure Company (based out of ME).

Wild Water Fly Fishing was offering some pretty inexpensive fly rods that without casting them, at least seemed to be pretty nice quality for the price.  One rod in particular called the Wild Country caught my eye.  It's a short (5'-6") 4-piece 3-weight that I thought might be nice for some of the brushy creeks I fish.  Didn't buy one, but am storing that in the back of my mind perhaps for a later date.

Kennebec Lure Company was really one of the only manufacturers of spoons & spinners that I noticed.  The spinners seemed solid, and looked like they'd catch fish.  Of course, I didn't get any wet, but thought they were nice regardless.  Was talking to a gentleman there (don't recall his name), and he mentioned they also offer free shipping on any web orders over $20, so he wasn't in full in-your-face salesman mode, which was also nice.

My trout club, the Stony Creek Anglers also had a booth there.  We were lucky to be near Brody the Bear, so foot traffic was really brisk for the few hours I hung out in the booth.  Most people that stopped by were already familiar with the club and our annual tournament, but I did help give out some maps and fliers to the folks that weren't.  Heck, I even sold a couple of SCA t-shirts & patches, which if you didn't make it to the show, you can find right HERE.  (Hint Hint)

WOOF!

PCU was on TV over the weekend.  It's a movie that came out just at the time I was about to enter college, perhaps it's because of that it's also one of those movies - much like Gladiator - that I'll stop in my tracks and watch at any time, should I notice it's on while flipping through the channels.  Doesn't matter if it's 10 minutes in, or an hour and 10 minutes in, the remote drops like it's hot.


On a subject that appears unrelated until you get to the photo comparison, I got my weekly MidCurrent email this yesterday, and one of the stories was about genetic hackle.  What is genetic hackle you ask?  Well, I won't bore you with the details - click HERE if you have an interest in learning about selective breeding's role in fly tying - but I couldn't help but thinking this chicken is a lost member of the P-Funk All Stars.

Just the dog in me baby...

Little Late in Posting...

Last week I wrote a post about cabin fever.  Well, on Sunday I did brave the remaining snow and got out on some water to try for some trout.  One of my friends, we'll call him "Spurky", from the PAanglers forum wanted to come down from the Harrisburg area to fish Valley Creek for some of its wild brownies, so I agreed to serve as guide for the day.

After sorting through a minor mix-up regarding the meet-up time, Spurky and I got on the water around 9:30 AM.  Flows were good, luckily not too high considering all of the melting snow, and I did my best to try and point him in the right directions.  Unfortunately, even after hitting about 7 or 8 spots that are usually productive, there was to be no interest in his spinners on this day.  A few follows, but no takers.

I tried a little fishing myself and used a spinning rod as well instead of my tenkara flyrod.  In retrospect I may have regretted this tact as we saw quite a few trout rising for a mini-hatch of some sort once it got a little warmer around noon.  Basically we both struck out on the day...I guess I won't give up my day job to become a guide.

In the end, I'm fairly sure we both had a good time.  There was a lot of good conversation - I learned a lot about Alaska from Spurky (he was stationed there for a while) and how good a fishergal his daughter is becoming.  She's definitely the apple of his eye.

I'll tell you what though, I've had just about enough hiking through the snow for the time being.  Three days later and I'm still all achy. I think the next time I talk myself into going fishing with about a foot or so of snow on the ground, I'm making like an Olympian and bringing the cross country skis instead of the waders!

FishFreak Online

Troutrageous! was recently approached by FishFreakOnline.com to do a link exchange.  I don't typically do this with retailers I've never shopped with before, so without knowing much about them, I agreed...but only if they answered a few questions for me (& of course my readers) first about who they are, what they do, and most importantly what they like to fish for! My questions were forwarded to Rhonda (one of the owners) and here are her responses:

What is FishFreakOnline and how did it start?
Fishfreakonline is an online fishing tackle store located in West Palm Beach Florida started in Dec of 2007. I've been in the photo business for over 20 years and was looking to get into something new. My husband is an avid fisherman and I could see the potential when he would come home from other tackle shops with 200-300 dollars worth of merchandise at a time.

There are a ton of online fishing retailers, why should I shop with FishFreakOnline?
We are dedicated not to just making sales but to building long term relationships with our customers with good old fashioned customer service.

What are your most popular brands or products?
Right now the hottest lures are the Bomber Badonk-A-Donk lures and Koppers Live Target lures. Most popular rods are the Skeet Reese signature rods.

Does FishFreakOnline specialize in a specific type of fishing?
No, although most of our sales are to bass fishermen

What are FishFreakOnline's thoughts on social media (Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc)?
It’s a great tool for new anglers to meet each other and find great tips. We love interacting with our customers on our Facebook and Twitter. It helps us find out what works and what doesn’t so we can offer the best products possible.

I'm assuming you're an angler, what's your favorite species to target?
I really don't have time to fish but my husband Don fishes all the time for largemouth bass and peacock bass here in Florida and usually takes a trip each year to PA for smallmouth bass.

If you could fish any body of water, what would it be and for what?
Don - Brazil for Peacock Bass

Following Rhonda's feedback, I checked out FishFreakOnline in greater detail and did take note of the nice selection of products in their store (especially for bass and saltwater), as well as a complimentary blog that speaks to all sorts of angling techniques in greater detail.

Considering my wife runs her own small business, I'm all for supporting the "small guy."  So if you're like me and not always sold on shopping a "big box" like Bass Pro, Cabela's, or even Wal-Mart, I'd suggest at least checking out FishFreakOnline before you make your next tackle purchase.  The prices appear to be more than competitive, they offer free shipping on most orders over $99 ($149 on rods), and most importantly seem like down to earth, honest folks.

This independent website review is not associated with retailer-supplied payment or free goods.
The only exchange of (intellectual) property was a link, which can be found HERE.