I Miss The Trout Underground

Back when I started fly fishing, there were a handful of blogs I really admired for different reasons. Some are still around, most are not. The Trout Underground might have been the best at the time, and served as a bit of inspiration back in the day.

Not only was it funny and well written, it was also relatable (the author Tom Chandler explored fatherhood firsts around the time I was doing the same), and had a conscience. Not afraid to poke the big business bear if it was doing something wrong, sometimes at his own risk. Oh, and the chronicles involving Wally the Wonderdog were very, very amusing.

When Tom got out of the fishing blogging game more than a few years back, this is what the URL became. The articles are still there if you look hard enough, but the soul is gone.

I sure hope Tom Chandler is out there somewhere enjoying fatherhood, writing, fiddling with the latest Ubuntu OS, and maybe even fly fishing. With the escalated craziness in the world the past few years, I'm sure he's had some opinions. If you know if he's sharing them somewhere in particular, I'd love it if you'd point me in the right direction. 

Man, I miss The Trout Underground...

Flyside Chatting

You may have recently seen me highlight Flyside Chats, a new video interview series by Anthony Naples. It's been great so far, with some really thought-provoking guests. I suppose Anthony either ran out of people to talk to, or just decided to lower the bar, because he asked me if I'd be interested in chatting. Being the vain, egomaniac I am, I took him up on the offer last week.

While I probably wasn't the most interesting guest, I tried to bring some energy (and a fun hat), and had an enjoyable session with Anthony. We talked a little about 2020, hopes for 2021, Florida and North Georgia, favorite flies, and musical preferences.

So if you're bored... and I mean really bored... feel free check it out here.

...and check out Anthony's blog Casting Around for a ton of fly fishiness and other installments of Flyside Chats (with far superior guests).

Happy New Year 2021

Hey, Happy New Year to everyone out there reading this!

2020 is dead, long live 2021... (I think, because what's that saying? Sometimes the devil you know is better than the one you don't.)

I figured today would be a good opportunity to get back on the Troutrageous! horse... and just start getting that fishy mojo going again. 2021 isn't going to make itself better without a little effort.

Resolutions, yeah, I got a few. Reviving this blog being one of them. The landscape of blogging has changed so much since its heyday, I'm not even sure I recognize the "scene" anymore, probably because it's moved to Instagram. So, this may prove to just being me writing short entries to myself, but we'll see how that goes.

In any event, wishing everyone a happy and healthy start to the New Year. Let's get after it together.

A General Update, As It's Been More Than A Month...

As you can probably tell by the silence here, I haven't done much fishing to really report on over the past few weeks... so it's been tough to come up with much inspiration for posts without regurgitating other people's content.

Unlike most other Floridians, (at least where I live), we've actually been abiding by the whole "shelter in place" guidelines since March. Sure, I go for walks around the neighborhood each night and we pickup takeout food once a week or so, but what I wouldn't give to have a nice sit-down meal with table service, a cold beer, and multiple televisions playing various sporting events in the background again... ah, the simple things.

However, I'm rather excited to report that the family & do I have a little 4 day, 3 night getaway scheduled for August. Our school district decided to delay the start of the school year, including distance learning, by three weeks, extending Lilly's summer. 

Check out the photos of this place, (the ladies in my life do not agree with "camping")..

Now I doubt with the summer heat that the trout fishing will be stellar, (and perhaps I should just go with the mindset of getting into some warm water species), but just a change of scenery near moving water will be more than welcomed. I'm probably the only guy in Florida who doesn't really get excited about the ocean and would rather be in the mountains any day of the week. Weird, I know.

Anyway, while I haven't been writing much personally here, I've been writing a bit more semi-professionally (and doing a ton of website administration) over at Tenkara Angler over the past two months. What started as a quirky, quarterly crowd-sourced e-magazine has kind of blown up into a team of three like-minded angler/editors, a content rich website, and a lot of interaction with and influence from the community.

If you haven't stopped by, here are some examples of a few of the more popular posts that have been written, either by myself, my partners Jason and Matt, or even reader-submissions. Most of it isn't even about "tenkara," it's more about fishing, friendship, and adventure, so I think you may enjoy it, even if tenkara isn't your thing.

• Tenkara is Misunderstood, Let's Fix That
• Handmade Safety Pin Fishing Hooks
• A Tenkara Rod Designer's Notebook
• Exploring the Florida Genryu
• Trip Report: Haw River, North Carolina

Anyway, I've got a lot of fishing blogs to catch up reading... so if you've been writing, and you're in my blogroll, you'll probably see me in your comments soon.

Trout Fishing Madeira Island

So what's been keeping you busy?

I haven't blogged in a little over a week, mostly because work has kept me pretty busy, (I can't believe I'm going to say I can't wait to go back to the office... whenever that is). Over the weekends I've been dedicating my "computer time" to putting together the next issue of Tenkara Angler magazine... so it's kept me away from these familiar confines.

I'm still putting some finishing touches on the magazine, so the next issue probably won't release it until Monday the 13th, but here's a sneak peek of the cover, for those of you who have interest in that sort of thing.

The cover photo (like many others in the issue) was submitted by Joao Mota, who interestingly enough is a fly fisherman & tenkara angler who lives in Madeira Island, Portugal. In doing some research, turns out this absolutely beautiful place has a rainbow trout stocking program... of which wild populations have taken root. Who knew? I certainly didn't.

I did a little more research, (I find stuff like this fascinating) and found a few of these articles and videos floating around out there on the subject. Even found a video with Joao in it (the first embed below...)

• 9 Reasons Why Madeira is a Spectacular Atlantic Island Escape
• Fly Fishing Holland Vacation Summary
• Globetrotter Avenue

UPDATE: 
One of my tenkara buddies mentioned he actually had the opportunity to fish Madeira Island as well while he was visiting on a business trip a few years ago. Talk about a small world! Appears he used the same guide service as above, so there's even video proof - how did I miss this?

We Caved to the Craziness

Philly trout trip... off.

I'm adopting this look moving forward:

Yesterday was just a crazy day.

I work in sports, so I see things through a distorted lens, but I've never witnessed a chain of events quite like this...

First the NBA announces games with no fans, then the NCAA pretty much squashes March Madness, then the Ivy League cancels spring sports (not to mention many schools go to virtual classes), oh yeah, then the NBA suspends the whole season when two teams are forced into quarantine, and I'm sure a ton of other things too that I've just overlooked...

I didn't even mention that the President closed the US borders to European flights... and Forrest Gump can now add COVID-19 to his long list of life experiences, and the stock market is in shambles. Yikes!

I like facts, and most say there's nothing to be concerned about if you're relatively young and healthy and hand-washy... but we're cancelling our flight to Philly. So highly likely no trout for me next week. At least we're not flying up there now. Even if we were not to get sick, I don't want to be more prone to spread anything to anyone that is.

Strange times to say the least... Pass the Jack Daniel's... with a side of Purell.

Shaking off the Rust

I haven't blogged for real in a while. Not counting the Tenkara Angler infomercials posted, I think the last original entry here was in October or November or 2019. I did contribute to a crowd sourced post over at the Tenkara-Fisher blog, but that's about it. Ouch.

I've had a tough 2020 so far from a fishing front, as in the fact that I haven't done any. That's kind of strange, but it's a trend that's going (and needs) to end soon. I'll definitely get out this weekend to hit one of the retention ponds in my neighborhood... heck with the clocks "springing ahead" maybe I'll be able to do a little after work fishing soon. However, I'm really excited that I'm headed to the Philly area for a week on the 13th, where I'll have to sneak out of family obligations to visit some special regulation water and chase some trout. 

Coronavirus pandemic panic be damned, I do hope to get out and about a bit to get on some trout water this year. I even picked up a new Orvis 3-weight Superfine rod & Battenkill reel that I'm rather excited to use. No, I'm not giving up tenkara, quite the contrary, I just wanted to make my fishing a little more reel.

To date, my tentative (trout) fishing travel plans are as follows:

• March - Southeastern Pennsylvania
• April - North Georgia, may also check out the Bigfoot museum
• May - The Driftless, Wisconsin - Tenkara Campout
• July - Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
• August - Utah - Oni Tenkara School

Would love to try to squeeze in a few other trips here and there, but I just don't know where they might be. Maybe I'll dust off the saltwater rod and try flailing around in the local surf again. You've probably noticed, I never really took to the Jacksonville scene as it relates to my fly fishing. We'll see how that goes.

In any event, I'm going to try to post a little bit more on here as I start to re-focus on fishing. Maybe some of it will be irreverent or odd, just like the good old days of 2010 & 2011. Or not. We'll see. Either way, I'll definitely be consuming more fishing content, so if you write a fishing blog that I follow, look for me in your comments.

---

P.S. For those of you that have been around for a while, Lilly turned 14 this past week. Fourteen! When I started this blog she was one. Crazy how time flies. High school next year. I don't write about her much to protect her privacy as she grows up, but she's become quite the interesting character. 

She is obsessive about creating art - be it digital, watercolors, paint pens, pencil, you name it. She loves Broadway musicals, (she does backstage tech for her school's productions), eating ice cream, and sadly, I couldn't get her to go fishing with me if I tried. She has a very unique style of drawing and maintains her "portfolio" on Instagram. She's also a good kid who does well academically in school and simply cares, be it for others that need help, causes, you name it. She has a huge heart. I hope she keeps that quality as she gets older, the world certainly needs more of it.

Tenkara Tuesday: There's Some Great Content Out There Right Now...

Welcome to Tenkara Tuesday...

Man, it's a great time to be a tenkara angler. With folks emerging from their winter hibernation, there's been a lot of great content floating around the internet recently to really get you stoked to go fishing. In today's post, I'll do a quick spin through some of the things that have caught my eye...

Blogs Reborn

It's been cool to see some of the better tenkara-friendly blogs release a stream of new material after periods of silence. First off, Jason Klass has been on a roll lately pumping out new posts over at Tenkara Talk. A lot of the recent entries have been gear-oriented - flies, packs, boots, accessories - so before you hit the water, head over to do some serious reading so you can figure out what you may (or may not) need to bring along.

Additionally, Anthony Naples has resuscitated his Casting Around blog. I always enjoyed Anthony's writing and the latest installments are no different. A few new entries on flies and fly tying have been extremely informative reads.

Fantastic Instructional Video

Discover Tenkara's John Pearson and Paul Gaskell have done it again with their new DVD/download release, "Manipulations: The Illusion of Life in Fly Fishing." There is nobody out there right now producing the kind of high quality instructional product these guys do, and this video is phenomenal. It does a really deep dive on using fly manipulation to entice unresponsive fish... but the best part is it's not just intended for tenkara anglers, but standard fly anglers as well. Check out the beautiful camerawork in this short video excerpt...



Two Tenkara Reads

This week, two tenkara-themed e-magazines were released, so if you're into that sort of thing you're in luck!

The first, the February issue of mounTEN, Tenkara USA's zine, is wonderfully composed with a feature on Katsutoshi Amano. There's also a fascinating look back at their "launch" video... you know the one that got everybody asking, "but where's his reel?", and of course, the fantastic artwork of Jeremy Shellhorn. Heck, you might even see a familiar name or two in the article about Tenkara USA's best-selling rod, the Sato. Check it, you won't regret it.


Oh, and I'd remiss if I didn't mention the newly released "Best Of" Tenkara Angler Warm Water Fixed-Line Mashup issue. Yeah, due to popular demand, I pulled together all of the great warm water content (think bass, panfish, carp, etc...) from the past three years and compiled them into one (re)issue. The response has been pretty favorable so far, so if you're interested in pursuing any of those species with your tenkara rod, you may want to give it a look...


So, looks like you've all got a lot to read and watch now... I hope you enjoy it all as much as I did!

Brushes with Brookies & Beer

If you're still reading fly fishing blogs, (and I assume you are if you're reading this), do yourself a favor and visit Nick Cobler's new site, "Brushes with Brookies & Beer."

According to the website:

"Welcome to Brushes with Brookies & Beer, my little spot on the web to post my adventures and art. My goal is to use this as a way to journal this year’s trek through watercolors and wilderness. Hopefully sharing some photos and words along the way.

Whether seeking out small stream brook trout or creating art, or shooting photos, this is where I’ll post some of the fruits of my labors of love – fly fishing and photography. And maybe a few beer things. Hope you enjoy what you see."

There's already some great content on the beautifully rendered site, and if you're familiar with Nick from Instagram, you'll know there's likely plenty more to come. Plus, he's the talented graphic designer responsible for the Tenkara Angler logo... so anything he does is good in my book.

So check it out... bookmark it, add it to your RSS reader (do people still do that?), or whatever method you use to regularly visit blogs. C'mon, you know I wouldn't steer you wrong.

Happy New Year 2019!

Happy New Year to everybody out there stopping by...

Best wishes for 2019, including sticking to your resolutions, whatever they may be.
Mine are to simply fish a little more, write a little more, and enjoy the outdoors with friends & family a little more.

Here's to a fish-filled 2019!
 

 

A Look Back At 2018

2018 wasn't the "fishiest" of years for yours truly. I had a very fun and adventurous year, and did a lot outdoors, but a lot of it wasn't fishing oriented, which is okay.

One of my main objectives for the year, which was to fish the salt a little bit more, never really got started. I busted up my right shoulder at the end of 2017 and had to do two rounds of physical therapy this Spring & Summer to get it back in order. As such, I really wasn't really able (or confident enough) to swing the 8-weight, and decided to put the kayak on mothballs. Getting that thing on top of my SUV was always an upper-body chore.

Instead, when I did go fishing, I stuck to lightweight tackle, such as my tenkara rods and Cabela's CGR fiberglass four-weight.

Anyway, looking back at 2018, here are the top five memorable events, as reflected by posts on the blog. In chronological order:

1. The Eagles Super Bowl Parade

No, this has nothing to do with fishing... or even the outdoors, at least in the sense of the "water/woods/mountains" sort of thing. But, the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl in February and I made it my mission to be at the parade. It was amazing. People of all backgrounds flooding the city streets all in jubilant celebration. A once in a lifetime experience for most, myself included. I still can't believe that happened. While there was no post on the blog specific to the parade, here are a few more photos below.

2. The Midwest Tenkara Fest / Driftless Trip

After taking a year off from the annual pilgrimage to Coon Valley, Wisconsin, it was really great to get back there last May. The fishing is always stellar, the people at the Midwest Tenkara Fest are great to hang out with, and did I mention the fishing is stellar? I had a great few days bouncing around the Driftless, catching all kinds of fish in waters that have come to hold a special place in my fishing heart. Two posts of the May outing can be found HERE & HERE.

Sadly, this might be the last trip of this specific kind, as even if I get back to the Driftless, the small town that hosted the Fest was ravaged by flooding during the summer. While I'm certain the fish are fine, I know the area will need some time to rebuild.


3. Pacific Northwest / Seattle Trip

This was probably the highlight of the year. I was so fortunate to be able to take the family on a trip to Seattle, including a day tour of Mount Rainier, and then go on a cruise to Alaska (Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway) and Canada (Victoria) before returning to Seattle for another day in town.

Words can't really describe all of the natural beauty we witnessed; beautiful forests, peaks, and waterfalls in Rainier, the omnipresent Tongass National Forest in Alaska, whale watching, glaciers, wild rivers, salmon, bears, bald eagles, Butchart gardens, it was pretty amazing. I'm still awestruck, and not so secretly planning a return. But this time with a fishing rod.


4. Mountain Medicine

I took two trips to the Brevard, North Carolina area in about a month's time. As such, I'll lump the two trips together under number four, as the second was basically a continuation of the first.

The first trip was a quick jaunt over Labor Day weekend to clear the head right before the beginning of the NFL season (when work really starts to "pick up" for me). I spent a day fishing in the streams of Pisgah National Forest, before taking the opportunity to swing over to Smoky Mountain National Park (I mean if you're that close, why not?) In each case, the cool of the water and woods and the friendly nature of the fish made it well worth the travel.

The second trip was around the Tenkara Campout, a loosely organized event held in early October at the Davidson River Campground. The weekend was spent fishing, drinking beers, telling stories, and finding new blue lines to explore by the campfire, and even more fishing. I had an extremely memorable brook trout adventure with Hugh & Jason that was just so much fun...

5. "Fishing Fitness" Journey

After a lot of procrastination, I finally decided to do something about my post-40 year old weight gain, due mostly to inactivity and poor eating habits. I made some diet and exercise changes, logged some of the progress on the blog at the bottom of other posts, and am happy to say that unless there's some sort of major holiday regression, I'll end 2018 about 20 pounds lighter, two waist sizes smaller, and just generally happier when I wear some of those "athletic" cut clothes that are prevalent these days.

It also helps a bunch when you're hiking up into a mountain stream or rock hopping from plunge pool to plunge pool to be a little bit lighter on your feet. I still have a ways to go to get where I'd like to eventually be (180 pounds), but this is definitely a good start, one I'm looking forward to continuing in 2019.

-----------------------------------------

So those are my top five "happenings" from 2018, most of which are documented in the blog if you'd like to follow the links embedded in each recap. If you have your own blog, I'd love to read your 2018 highlights too. If not, let's see them in the comments below... reflecting on the last trip around the sun is fun, plus it helps set the tone for the next 365 days.

Merry Christmas 2018

Happy Holidays to all of my fishing friends!

Hope you are enjoying the nitty GRITTY of your Christmas Vacation...

*Pre-Photoshop components "liberated" from Sportquest & Philly.com 

A continuation of prior "Festive Fly Fisher" posts found HERE, HERE, & HERE

Some Sunday Morning Blog Love

Haven't given out any "Blog Love" in a while, so since it's Sunday morning... and you all have time to kick back, relax, and read stuff, figured now might be a pretty good time.

The Tying Shed

First up, The Tying Shed, a new-ish blog by Michael Richardson...

If you're a fly fishing purist, please don't be turned off by his recent "mop fly" post, this blog contains some really good stuff that shows off both his fly tying &  story-telling. Michael was also featured in the latest issue of Tenkara Angler magazine, although he's just as comfortable with a rod & reel.


Cutthroat Tenkara

Up next is Cutthroat Tenkara, by Isaac Tait...

You may recognize Isaac's name from his other blog centered around his time in Japan, Fallfish Tenkara. Well, Isaac is living in the United States again, and as such the species in his latest effort has changed as well. However, the adventures (& photos) he takes in the mountains in pursuit of native trout are just as spectacular.


Flyfisherous

Another blog reincarnation is Flyfisherous, by Cory Perry...

About a month ago, Cory made the announcement that his former blog, Fisherous, was sort of migrating over to this new address with an updated, slick design. With it came a renewed dedication to passing along fly fishing news and notes, as well as report on personal fishing adventures. Take a peek, or at least update your bookmarks.


Tales from East Yahtam

Surprised I haven't mentioned Tales from East Yahtam by George Brown yet on this blog. It's really, really well done...

George has been a friend on social media for as far back as I can remember... This blog, recounting the time he spent in Alaska with his father and his father's friend, outdoors legend George Mann is an absolute joy to read. Wilderness & fishing stories, interlaced with a healthy dose of humorous anecdotes and sentimentality, I even like the how the hand-drawn sketches that accompany each post compliment the stories within perfectly. Take a trip to East Yahtam, you won't regret it.


The Silent Pursuit

Last, but not least, is The Silent Pursuit, by Steven Smith...

So this isn't a new blog, not at all. It's more like a blog where the light switch was recently turned back on. Steven is a fishing buddy from Pennsylvania who had some changes take place in his life and put his fly fishing and blogging on the back burner. Now that his situation is a bit more stable, he's back at it. The post explaining his absence (& re-emergence) is a must read.

So that's that. A handful of new blogs for you to bookmark, add to your feeds or readers, whatever. Check 'em out. I'm certain you'll enjoy them all!

An Update Of Sorts...

Hey, how's it going... if anybody's still out there...

It's been a little while since my last post. Right before Thanksgiving, I guess. The fact that blog posts reflecting on a recent absence seem to be more and more frequent is not lost on me. The blog's been in a funk for a while, and it's probably because I've been in a funk for a while. I can't tell you when the last time I picked up a fishing rod was... September?  Ugh.

A lonely rod sits unused...

November and December are usually rather tough times for me (& the blog). I work in e-commerce retail, and spend far too much time in front of a computer screen on the weekends, rather than enjoying personal (& family) pursuits.

Plus, I've been dealing with a bum right shoulder for a little bit. I'm not certain how it originally happened, but in the last few weeks, it was causing quite a bit of discomfort. Caused a few sleepless nights and just general daily pain, but with a recent diagnosis and a rehab plan, I think we're on the other side of that now...

However, it isn't all bad in the land of T!... we did have some (non-fishing) fun.

Living in Florida, and with Disney season passes, we did get away one weekend to EPCOT & Magic Kingdom. That was pretty fun, plus the parks are always decorated so nicely for the holidays.

I also spent a weekend in Homestead, Florida at a NASCAR race. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan in that I have a favorite driver or anything, but it's part of my job so I've created a bit of an affinity. NASCAR races are very unique sporting events to attend, if you haven't been to one, it's worth going at least once.

And we did get out to see the new Star Wars! Don't worry, I won't spoil anything, but I think I'm turning into a Star Wars curmudgeon... because... ummm... uhhhh... I didn't really like it...

Don't get me wrong, it certainly had its moments, and it was awesome to see Luke Skywalker back on the big screen, but there were just so many things that left me scratching my head. I'm probably just too invested in the saga...

This weekend, I've got one eye on work, and another trying to get the Winter issue of Tenkara Angler completed. I'm definitely a little behind on the latter, but hoping to get it published before the end of the year. The content is definitely top notch again and should be an enjoyable read.

So with that, I make no promises that I'll be posting again before Christmas. I'm hoping things fall into place, but the way this blogging year went, probably won't be the case. In any event, I truly wish all of you the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons - looking forward to 2018 full of family, friends, and fish!

Thank You & Happy Thanksgiving!

I know blogging is a dying segment of social media, and I haven't really done my part to keep this blog particularly vibrant with content either. That said, can't help but be extremely thankful for all of the great people (past & present) that Troutrageous! has brought me into contact with - either virtually, or in person.

I'll keep it short - as today is a day best spent with family and friends, so in closing Thank You & have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Forget the turkey... let's fish!

Troutrageous!: The Return

Wow.  Been away from the blog for a few weeks, it's been a little bit hectic, and while I could have probably made time to squeeze in a post here or there, I figured it was best not to rush anything.

Since last I wrote, it's been kind of crazy; we made it through a legit hurricane-scare here in Florida, real-life work responsibilities have really picked up with the beginning of the NFL season, (including a three-day off-site), and well, I did sneak away for some fishing, in the form of the Tenkara Summit, in Estes Park, Colorado.

In any event, I'm going to try and catch up on some overdue posts this week, as long as wrapping up the final steps in assembling and publishing the Fall issue of Tenkara Angler magazine doesn't get in the way.

Hope all of you have had a great September... man it flew by fast; and to my fellow bloggers, looking forward to catching up on your recent posts as well.

See you later...

Troutrageous Rainbow Tube

You've always wanted a rainbow tube, right?

You know, a tube that harnesses the power of unicorns, leprechauns, and pixie dust? 

I think that's what's going on here, so today may be your lucky day...

Honestly, I'm not really sure, but I do dig the name. It has a nice ring to it.

Sadly, I have nothing to do with the creation of this item. I only trademarked "Troutrageous" as it relates to protecting the intellectual property of a crappy blog, not for the production of festive tubular apparel. However, if you are interested in this item, check it out over at FisheWear.

(Tell them Troutrageous! Mike sent you, they'll have no clue what you're talking about - HA!)

Cool Stuff: New Blogger Themes!

Wow, talk about unexpected...

Blogger as a blogging platform has kind of been on the wane. And with the way Google has a history of pulling the plug on products somewhat abruptly, it wouldn't have surprised me if they announced on Monday that they were sunsetting Blogger at some point in the not too distant future.

Image: Slate.com

Instead, for the first time in quite a few years, they announced that they've released 4 new native Blogger themes for people to give their blogs a nice little (mobile-friendly) face lift. Talk about overdue.

Introducing: Contempo, Soho, Emporio, & Notable.

The new themes can be found in your blog dashboard, and can be easily customized with Blogger's simple to use WYSIWYG tools. Honestly, as I've tried other 3rd party themes over the years, and found the biggest issue to be the fact that customization usually required some bit of coding to get it how I wanted it to look, or afterward still wouldn't care to load pages particularly quickly. This immediately solves those issues.

Are the 4 new themes perfect? No. Is Blogger anywhere near as customizable as Wordpress? No, but they're a step in the right direction, and I'm happy they invested resources in this minor, yet needed update.

If you use a Blogger blog, check them out. I flipped this blog over to the "Contempo" theme in a matter of minutes.

For Sale: New T-Shirt, Old T-Shirt, Random Gear...

Time to make like a carnival barker because the deals in the T! Store have never been hotter!
Just wanted to bring a few additions to your attention today...let's make a deal!

First off, Tenkara Angler swag was added to the store over the weekend in the form of tees and stickers. I had several people ask about Tenkara Angler t-shirts & hats at the Tenkara Jam, so we decided to move forward with a new, limited run "Tamo T-Shirt" in collaboration with the guys at Six Waters Co. They did a great job on the design, don't you think?

The super-soft tee comes in every color of the rainbow, given your rainbow is monochromatic heather blue. The first print run was limited, but at the time of posting, all sizes were still available, and I'll toss in some free TA stickers as well. The tees fit relatively true to size, my XL fits fine (I'm 6', about 210).

So in with the new...and out with the old...

The ever popular Troutrageous! Tenkara Sasquatch tees are now on clearance. I have a few random quantities leftover in sizes Large and XXL only. Originally $20, if you're Cinderella and shoe fits, you can have a tee for the steal of a price at $10.  I mean they're "CARF Approved" so that's gotta mean something, right?

Finally, I've been going through my gear, and just found a bunch of stuff that's in great condition, but I just don't use much anymore. Rather than go immediately to eBay, I've posted those items at the bottom of the T! store under the section, "Garage Sale" Maybe there's something that interests you, maybe not. Either way, some good deals to be had on gently used fishing gear.

Check out the T! Store HERE

So that's that on this final Monday morning of January.
Hope you're all ready for an awesome week.

2017: It's Gonna Be HUGE!

2017 is going to be a BIG year for the blog. One might even say HUGE. How can it not be? I even snuck out on New Year's day and caught this beast as my first fish of 2017!

I mean it is par for the course with the rest of the dink fish pics posted to this blog over the years, so that's certainly not what's going to make 2017 special...

What is?  I enjoy numbers, so let's review three of them.

40

I turn 40 years old in June. Cue the music... Hap-py birth-day to me.... The average US male lives to be 78.8 years old, so I'm officially middle aged and closer to death than birth. Yes!

25%

I will have been writing this blog for 25% of my life.

Yes, for a quarter of my life I've been the author of a poorly written blog about some guy who really doesn't fish that much (or that successfully). And get this...a handful people actually still come and read it...

So what does all this mean?
Well, you don't have to be a mathematician to figure out the last number...

10

It means this blog turns 10 in June! Seems like most blogs only last 10 days, not 10 years, especially those that churn out questionable content like one might find here.

Anyway, a lot has happened in 10 years on the blog.

If you've been around for any length of time, you'd have witnessed the rise of the Owl Jones bromance, blog love given out by the handful, horrible pop-culture references, Wednesday Nibbles, too much of Valley Creek, bad photoshops, my kid grow from 1 to almost 11 years of age, the T! Party, Sacred Cows, oh, and then the ridiculous Japanese fishing obsession hobby. (Did you know the first posts on this blog were about spin-fishing and bending wire & bottle caps to make lures? About as American as it gets, what the heck happened?)

So in 2017 I plan on digging out and re-publishing some of my favorite posts of the past 10 years and taking a walk or two down memory lane. It's extremely egotistical and self-serving, but you might enjoy it too. Maybe. Okay, probably not. But stay tuned. If nothing else, it'll be a simple remedy for writer's block.

I guess this is the time in the post where I'm supposed to say that I also hope to create some new memories too; you know the ol', "ten more years!" But once you hit middle age, well, there are no guarantees. Plus, I always did my best writing late at night, and I'm much too fond of bed these days...