Troutrageous 2016 Year In Review

2016 was kind of an interesting year. Probably not one I will put on a pedestal, but not a horrible one either. Yeah, some things didn't work out the way they were supposed to, (draw your own conclusions with that statement), but in keeping with my "glass half full" outlook on life, there were a lot of super rad things that happened too.

The blog published 112 posts and went through a few identity changes, (probably not done with that yet). I don't think that's too shabby in terms of conjuring inspiration coming from a guy that is probably doing less and less fishing each year. But it's all about quality over quantity, and there was a ton of quality in 2016. Below are a handful of my favorite posts, those that summarize the year at a glance.

2016 started out well with the annual trip to chase shad on the St. John's River with Captain Rich Santos. Not only did we get into some shad, but I also caught my first "Sunshine Bass" hybrid. Rich is an excellent guide, and an equally capable photographer. I was happy he took so many photos to document the outing.

For More: Florida Shad, Bream, & A Bonus Fish On The Fly

As a family, we did our fair share of exploring Florida. We're still relative newcomers, so there are plenty of things to see and do right in our own backyard. We visited a ravine, a lighthouse, went to Bass Pro, a wax museum, and even hopped on an airboat! Florida's beaches are great, but there's just so much more to see and do.

For More: Exploring Florida

May was a fairly busy month, and believe it or not, I actually got a lot of trout fishing in! The month started off with a weekend in north Georgia chasing down some small stream rainbow trout. I really like that part of the Southeast, I need to make a point to get back more often. The end of May was just as good with a flight out to Wisconsin for the Midwest Tenkara Fest. The camaraderie was superb and the fishing was even better! Absolutely love the Driftless.

For More: Decompression In A Trout Stream & 

Wandering Back To The Driftless Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3

As I mentioned earlier, we adventured in Florida a little bit in 2016 as a family, however, we didn't stay in-state for our July summer vacation. Instead, we headed West, and did a nice multi-day bus tour of several of our National Parks. Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, & Grand Teton were the highlights, with several fun and interesting stops in between. The sights were absolutely unbelievable!

For More: Wednesday Nibbles - Summer Vacation Edition

Not all of the year was spent traveling. Two of the more popular posts I wrote for the blog had nothing to do with fishing trips, vacations, or anything like that. In the first, (which I'll admit is a bit of self-pity post), I lamented the lack of trout in my Southern locale. The second simply highlighted the tenkara rods that I own/fish, because everybody likes a gear post.

For More: Without Trout & My Fab Five Tenkara Rods

Finally, October brought the Tenkara Jam in Cherokee, North Carolina. It was quite possibly my favorite fishing trip of the year because I not only got to pursue the wild trout of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park while it was in its beautiful fall colors, but I got to represent Tenkara Angler magazine at the Jam, really the first time the magazine went "on the road" to an organized event. I caught fish, saw old friends, made new ones... It was just awesome.

For More: The 2016 Tenkara Jam & Fishing Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Now there were plenty of other things that took place on the blog in 2016, but in the interest of time, (I feel I've already overstayed my welcome), I'll leave it at that. I hope all of you are able to look back at your 2016s and pick out all of the fun, happy, and awesome moments too. Even if you didn't catch all the Pokemon fish, I know you had fun trying.

Happy New Year!

Infographic - Yay or Nay?

Was playing around with some websites last night, and stumbled upon one that makes creating web assets really easy. In any event, I got to playing around and made this infographic of sorts. Don't judge me on the information contained within, it was more a test than anything else.

Wondering if this is even something you as consumers of internet content actually like to see? They're pretty to look at I suppose, but not sure if they really serve a purpose.

New Clothes Don't Fit Quite Right

Have been playing around with some new blog templates over the past 24 hours. I was just tired of looking at the same old thing for a so long. Now, Blogger itself doesn't have a ton of template options, but there are a lot of others out there to be had if you know where to look...

I kinda came to a stopping point with this one for the time being. Sunk far too much of a Saturday into fiddling with this setting or that setting trying to make this "responsive" template look generally good on both desktop & mobile. Not really sure I like it, but meh, I'll leave it around for a little bit, see how everything works and whatnot. I can always change it back. 

The one thing I do like is that you can see animated GIFs from the preview page. I mean those possibilities could be endless...

Of Rock & Riffle - Check It Out...

Gotta admit, I'm a little burned out. After spending the better part of the last week and a half putting together the latest issue of Tenkara Angler magazine, I don't have much flame flickering to write a blog post here, even though I've got ideas bouncing around in my head like ping pong balls. Troutrageous! will be the unintended short-term victim I suppose...

So in lieu of reading a new post from me, let me send you over to Adam Klags' blog "Of Rock And Riffle." His Tuesday post was a fantastic recollection of a recent fishing outing in the Adirondacks and well worth the visit/read. So many great photos, I guarantee you'll dig it, even if you don't care for tenkara...

I'll come back strong tomorrow. Maybe...

Introduction To Tenkara Wandering

I used to run a bit here called Wednesday Nibbles, I still might bring it back out of mothballs in the future, but today is not the day.

Nibbles was/is very formulaic. It was split up into 4 sections; fishing news, pop culture, more fishing news, & "blog love." The latter being the highlighting of a blog from my blogroll.

So in lieu of the total Nibbles experience, today I'm going to jump straight into blog love, and refer you to a new blog I've become fond of, Tenkara Wandering.

Yeah, I know, another tenkara blog, but really, it's good. No Japanese motifs, no man-bun sporting hipsters, no debating "to one-fly or not to one-fly," it's basically a well-written fly fishing blog, but the author (Andy Wayment) happens to swing a tenkara rod. You'll dig it.

Two of my favorites posts are entitled Siren Creek and Tenkara Humble Pie.

Oh, and the photography is pretty spot on too.

I'll also note the fact that while Tenkara Wandering is a new blog without many posts, should you happen to enjoy Andy's writing, you can also check out his more-established blog, Upland Ways.

Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year everyone!

My Last Fish of 2015

I'm not going to write a "New Year's Resolutions" post this year, as my goals are simple...fish more & write more. I'm certain with a little bit of effort, I will achieve both.

As for you...well...right after you all start the year right by running off to renew your fishing license(s) and make a donation to your preferred conservation group, please be sure to check out the 2015 year-end recaps or 2016 resolution posts from some of my blogging friends in the slider below, just click on the image to jump to the post.

There is really a lot of great content out there right now, would be a shame to miss it. Plus, they'll take the edge off your New Year's hangover...I promise.



Oh, and if the little slider thingy doesn't work on your preferred method of reading the blog, please let me know in the comments below...this is the first time I've used it and it works on all of my screens, desktop & mobile, so I hope it does for you too.  

If not, here are the links to the various posts, old-fashioned style, which is sooo last year...
CARF Outdoors: 2015 Year End Review #1CARF Outdoors: 2015 Year End Review #2Teton Tenkara: It Was A Good YearTFM: 2015 - A Whirlwind of Fun and FirstsTrue North Trout: 2015 Great - Look Forward to 2016Northern California Trout: That's A Wrap 2015 Is In The BooksThe Trout Zone: 2015 Year In ReviewPile Cast: 2015 Year In ReviewBonefish On The Brain: Five Goals For 2016Tenkara Grasshopper: A Happy 2016 Tenkara New YearWaterdog Journal: New Year ResolutionFisherous: Journal: My Outlook for 2016Windknots & Tangles Lines: Windknots in the rearview mirror...One Bug Is Fake: OBIF's Favorite ThingsLooknfishy: 2015 Out...Small Stream Reflections: Bookends...2015 in closingMike's Gone Fishin'...Again: Place

2015: A Troutrageous! Year In Review

Not gonna lie, 2015 was not a banner year in either the fishing or blogging categories for myself or this website. I probably fished the least of any year in a while, and I know I blogged the least (108 posts vs. 2014's prior low of 138). But that doesn't mean one can't pick up a spoon and dig deep through the proverbial carton of vanilla ice cream to find the motherlode of cookie dough goodness sneakily hidden somewhere beneath the surface.

Cookie dough ice cream is pretty much the jam. You can even buy ghetto, store-brand
cookie dough ice cream and it's guaranteed to be awesome, and that's gospel.
Oh, and chocolate chips.

So with that said, here are the posts that I thought represented the blog well in 2015, and due to my erratic blogging cadence, you probably missed.

Fly Fishing The Florida Shad Run

Pretty much the most fun fishing excursion of the year. Big props to Captain Rich Santos for taking this noob out on your skiff - your extreme patience and good humor is commendable. Might also mention, this was one of the few times I actually used a reel while fly fishing in 2015. Crazy, right?!?


Exploring Florida - Kennedy Space Center

Nothing to do with fishing, everything to do with Lilly. Got to play chaperone (& hooky from work) on her big 3rd-grade end of year field trip to Kennedy Space Center. As Lilly's gotten older, I don't blog about her as much (for privacy reasons), but this one was too good not to share. We both acted like 9-year-olds that day!


Adventures in Bad Photoshop

This isn't one post specifically, but a few that share a common thread of misguided forays into the world of amateur Photoshoppery. From poking fun at Amazon, to Bigfoot hunting, creating lightsaber-buddies, giving a helping hand, or even checking in on John Adams & Clark Griswold, there was a little bit of fictional nonsense spread across the calendar year.


Tenkara For Everyone!

For being the "simple" form of fly fishing, I sure write an awful lot about tenkara. Too much for my own taste even, but these days I'm addicted, so it's what I do. Two of my most enjoyable fishing "road trips" involved a flight to Wisconsin for the 2015 Midwest Tenkara Fest & a 7-hour drive to North Georgia to enjoy some Comfort Food & Trout Streams. There were about a dozen Tenkara Tuesday posts as well. Finally, I also started a tenkara-themed emagazine named "Tenkara Angler" that's been received well enough to carry it into 2016.


ICAST/IFTD 2015

Probably the most "work" I've done this year on the blog was a six-pack of  ICAST/IFTD recap posts hastily thrown together after spending a day at the show in July. As a matter of fact, the Fishing Kayak/SUP post was the most popular post of the year in terms of overall visitors; lesson learned, everyone loves gear posts!

So there it is, 2015 in review. Thanks for stopping by for another year of mostly self-centered frivolity. I never expected this blog to have as many readers as it does, and I can't thank you enough for taking an interest in the content shared here.

Also, if you are a fellow blogger and haven't, why don't you write a year-end post? I'd welcome a link to yours in the comments below; I mean who can say no to an opportunity for cross-promotion, right?

Merry Christmas 2015

Happy Holidays to all of my fishing friends!

Hope you are enjoying your Christmas Vacation...

*Pre-Photoshop components "liberated" from NY Daily News & Midwest "Southern" Tailwaters

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

Public Service Announcement - This River Is Wild

Many of you are familiar with the exploits of the "This River Is Wild" crew. Great writing & photos, awesome fish, carp camo, all that good stuff...

Well, due to some unfortunate events, their blog was forced to move URLs to:
http://www.thisriveriswildflyfishing.com/.

So if you haven't recently, check 'em out (again), and don't bother going to the old site should you have it bookmarked, blogrolled, feedburned, or whatever...unless you enjoy the writing of domain squatters.

We now return to regularly scheduled programming...

Wednesday Nibbles - Record Bass, Trophy Trout, Internet Fishing, Spycams, & RD Edition!

Hey it's Wednesday...we've made it half way through the week! No small achievement these days...so let's celebrate with some fresh Wednesday Nibbles. After all, the more time you spend reading this post, the closer you'll be to the weekend upon completion. So let's get at it...


Record Fish In The Chipola River

The folks over in the Northwest corner of Florida are catching some really big bass, in particular Shoal Bass in the Chipola River.  Toward the end of September, Stewart Mayeaux caught a 4.85 pound, 20.9 inch shoal bass, a Florida state record, breaking the prior record which was only set back in March...in the same river!

Photo: MyFWC.com

According to the Florida Wildlife Commission, "Shoal bass thrive in the Apalachicola water system, including the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers of Alabama and Georgia, and the Chipola River in Florida. Once thought to be redeye bass, they were determined to be a separate species in 1999."

So I've evidently got to get to the Florida "panhandle" ASAP...have tenkara rod, will travel!


Extreme Couch Fishing

For those not interested in traveling to the Chipola to go fishing...well...I'm not gonna lie, I'm not exactly sure what to say about RoboFisher, so I'll let their video and website do the talking for me...

"Robofisher is a revolutionary device, installed on the banks of a lake, in a corner of the planet, which can be controlled online, from another corner of the planet, from your computer, in order to fish real fish."


So yeah, it's like a interwebz video game...but you're catching real fish all over the world via fishing drone...and ummm....okay...yeah, I got nothing else...


Pennsylvania Trophy Trout

Some cool things going on in Pennsylvania (holla!) around their trout stocking program...

The announcement of "Keystone Select Trout Waters," an initiative by the PA Fish & Boat Commission, promises to excite anglers by stocking 8 different bodies of water with 3,200 "big" fish, ranging from 14 to 20 inches.  The waters will be overseen by Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only (DHALO) regulations, meaning fish can only be kept during certain months of the year, the rest of the time reverting to catch & release.

I know, perhaps not too exciting for my friends out West accustomed to catching big fish like that, but it's baby steps for Pennsylvania, a generally behind-the-times state in which you can't even buy beer in the supermarket.


New Wearable Camera Option

I have a GoPro. I don't really use my GoPro. If I didn't use gift cards to fund the majority of the purchase, I might feel like I wasted my money. I'm just not really into setting up shots, editing video, or any of that stuff, much less wearing a plastic-encased camera awkwardly on my chest or head or wherever.

If you're like me, perhaps the Narrative Clip 2 is for you. Far more passive than a GoPro, the Narrative Clip 2 is basically a very small, wearable camera that takes 8MP photos and 1080p HD video in a hands free fashion, automatically at a time interval of your choosing.

So essentially, you clip it wherever you want it, set it to take a photo say every 30 seconds, minute, 5 minutes, whatever, and go about your business, hiking, driving, fishing, etc...  At the end of the day, you'll have a bunch of spontaneous photos to review of your outing. Upload them to cloud storage, delete what you don't want, and you're good to go.

Honestly, I'd be curious to see what I ended up with. Hopefully not a ton of out of focus photos. The only drawback for an angler; it's not waterproof...so keep it high & dry.


Blog Love

Last but not least, time for some blog love. Because that's just what we do here at Wednesday Nibbles.

I have to say my Blogroll has become a sad state of affairs...so many blogs that I used to enjoy reading have gone dormant over the past year or so, it's slowly but surely gotten smaller and smaller (by about 2 to 3 blogs) each month.

So I figured I'd shout out to 3 of the blogs that have been in my blogroll the longest, heck, even pre-OBN days, and are still kicking out posts at least semi-regularly...because you've gotta throw some love at a good long-term Blogbuddy.

• Northern California Trout - Good ol' Shoreman's been a bit quiet the past week, but he still cranks out posts with regularity. His tales of lakes, Powerbait, and sometimes float tubes (and bears) are always the highlight of my day. Hope he gets some snow this winter to keep the water flowing.

• Windknots & Tangled Lines - Yeah, you all probably know Howard. Knocking out humorous posts, living life, being the man. I still owe you breakfast the next time I'm out in Colorado buddy. Check out his blog for what is typically a daily dose of irreverence.

• The River Damsel - Holy smokes, after a long hiatus, she's back! Glad to see it too, it's tough to keep up with her exploits scattered across Facebook. I don't think I have another friend in blogdom that is more "fishy" (in a good way) than Emily. Keep doin' what you're doin' RD, you're awesome (& an inspiration)!

R-Domination!

New & Improved Moldy Chum - An Unsolicited Review

I'm going to put Tenkara Tuesday on hold for a day.

I couldn't help but notice yesterday that one of my favorite sites, one of the few sites that has been a constant in fly fishing media for the last decade, Moldy Chum, wasn't so moldy anymore.

With a top to bottom redesign, the crisp, clean, new website is definitely a visual upgrade that's easy on the eyes.

The latest version brings over some of the content from the old site, plus has functionality to incorporate additional features like regular giveaways, wallpaper downloads, and better showcase the "Slab of the Month" contest. It's all great stuff, I think they hit a visual home run. Bold images, clean fonts, better social and sharing features, and a better platform to actually write extended posts if they so choose, there's a ton of goodness going on here.

With the good, there's the bad, and in making all of these upgrades, it's hard to ignore that they've made it a little bit more cumbersome to actually consume content. If nothing else, the simple vertical layout of the old site made it very easy to skim several posts very quickly. Now you kind of have to click into each individual entry (unless I'm missing something, and if I am, it's not intuitive). Whatever you think, you can't deny it's not as easy as "scrolling down."

I'm sure that change was in part done to improve stats that advertisers (and possibly Google) view as important, such as page views and bounce rate, but it's a change that's tough to ignore. Especially because Moldy Chum is known for publishing multiple posts in a day.

I'm more than willing to give it a try though, because as a loyal reader who eagerly looks forward to his lunchtime diversion, (and a fellow blogger who has been gun shy to make even a small change to his own blog in fear of blowing things up on a website squarely rooted in 2003 technology), I'm certain the change just needs to grow on me.

Good stuff guys. Congrats on the new site, it looks great!

Have you visited the new Moldy Chum yet?  

What do you think?

This Made My Morning

Might not be everyone's taste in fishing blogs, but I'm certainly glad to see he's going to give it another try...

It's certainly more fun around here when my buddy in Georgia is creating some fishing content.

http://thefishlicker.blogspot.com/

So when we going fishing again?
I've got some graphite cane poles with your name on them.

The Top 5 Troutrageous! Posts of 2014

More year end hi-jinks, coming up...

2011 was kind of a stellar year around here.  3 years ago I hacked together penned 280 blog posts within the calendar year.  I know...WTF, get a life, right?  That number's been slipping each year since...down to 172 in 2012, 154 in 2013, and a "mere" 136 so far this year (not counting today's hot mess).

Anyway, of those most recent 136, there were probably at least a few that were somewhat worthwhile...or entertaining...or had some sort of redeeming quality...at least that's what my Google stats tell me by "your" visits.

So for all of you that have been around for the ride, or are even brand new to the blog, I figured I'd close out the year with a Top 5 post. "Popularity" being judged by Google Analytics' visitor statistics. Which I do understand is clearly flawed logic since posts written in the beginning of the year have a better chance to amass more traffic, but whatever...blah, blah, blah...

(Also, to any blogger that also plans on doing a year end recap either this week or next, please note that THESE RULES STILL APPLY).

The Top 5 Troutrageous! Posts of 2014

#5.  Daft Punk Unmasked; A Crappy T! Grammys Recap

My buddy Howard over at Windknots & Tangled Lines didn't really have a banner 2014.  But he did evidently get some red carpet time in with some author I never heard of and the guy in the Arby's hat...while looking quite dapper in the process.


#4.  A Plea For Help - Save Our Wild Puffer Balls!

Yeah, I was clearly smoking crack or something when I wrote this one.  The fact that it's so long (that's what she said) is what really gets me.  I think I had the brainstorm for this opus while I was mowing the lawn in 98 degree Florida heat.  Heat stroke, yep, that's what I'll blame this on...


#3.  The Quest For The Ultimate Fly Fishing Kayak - Part 5

For whatever the reason, folks must have been really into the new Feel Free Lure fishing kayak.  I've written several "Quest For The Ulitmate Fly Fishing Kayak" posts, and this one was by far the most popular, not only of this year, but perhaps (in relative terms) of all time...


#2.  ICAST / IFTD 2014 - Reels In Review

For a blog that talks a heck of a lot about tenkara, my readers sure do like reels.  I mean who am I kidding, how can you not?  Heading to the ICAST/IFTD show in Orlando this year as "press" was a pretty cool thing.  I actually wrote a handful of posts about several different product categories from the show, but this came out tops, by a wide margin.  The Fly Reel Company's RB1 (picutred above) might have been my favorite reel at the show...


#1.  So You Want To Buy A Tenkara Starter Kit? Patagonia vs. Tenkara USA

The people have spoken...and I guess they were interested in tenkara starter kits...  Patagonia created a bit of a buzz in early 2014 when they entered the tenkara market with their "Simple Fly Fishing" concept.  Primarily packaged in a "kit," I compared their offering to the leading competitor's offering.  I really wasn't trying to pull ALL of the options into this post, as there are many worthwhile sets in the marketplace...only trying to compare comparable offerings from a pricepoint and feature/benefit standpoint.  The choice was clear to me, but I certainly can't fault you if you went in another direction.


And with that, I conclude the Top 5 Troutrageous! Posts of 2014.  Unless of course I pull one out of my backside in the few days left between now and New Year's.  I seriously doubt that will happen, but who knows...

I hope you enjoyed...or at very least, tolerated...the offerings here over the last 362 days.  I'll try to do better in 2015, because it'd be hard to do much worse...

A Look Back On 2014, Instagram Style

I was never really one to embrace Instagram.  Sure I've had an account for a few years, but seldom posted to it.  At some point this year I decided to jump in and give it a legitimate "go," both expanding my posts and seeking out great content from others...I think it was a few weeks before the Tenkara Summit.

Anyway, it's been a fun year posting there, making (and connecting with) many new friends along the way.  I even found some hacks to make it integrate better with the Mothership...and created a spin-off blog of just tenkara-based Instagram posts.

As such, I thought I'd share the 5 most popular Troutrageous! Instagram posts of the year...as determined by number of likes (which is definitely skewed toward the back 1/3rd of the year).  It's fun to look back at the year that was, especially when it's in pictures.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all of my Instagram buddies! #buddytheelf #fishing #spaghettiandsyrup

A photo posted by Michael Agneta (@troutrageous1) on Dec 12, 2014 at 5:04am PST

#kebariface #tenkara #bass #florida

A photo posted by Michael Agneta (@troutrageous1) on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:42pm PST

Fingers full of brownie... #tenkara #tenkaracatch #flyfishing #Iwana11 #pennsylvania

A photo posted by Michael Agneta (@troutrageous1) on Oct 10, 2014 at 7:34pm PDT

Muddy water butter belly... #tenkara #tenkaracatch #flyfishing #pennsylvania #browntrout

A photo posted by Michael Agneta (@troutrageous1) on Oct 10, 2014 at 4:24pm PDT

Brookie #tenkara #tenkarasummit #tenkaracatch

A photo posted by Michael Agneta (@troutrageous1) on Sep 9, 2014 at 9:33pm PDT

If you're not on Instagram yet, check it out.  

If you do, you can find me HERE, I'd be happy to say hello.

Merry Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays to all of my flshing & blog BUDDYs...

*Pre-Photoshop components "liberated" from schmoesknow.com & brevardnc.com

A continuation of last year's "Festive Fly Fisher" post found HERE

Black Friday Fishing?

Anybody getting up early this morning to go to your stream, lake, or ocean...rather than running head-first into the retail orgy that is "Black Friday?"

Like are those $150 40" no-name TVs really any good anyway?

I'm actually working (from home) today, as I work in internet retail...so I'm somewhat fortunate that I don't have a physical store I need to present at...taser in hand to keep rowdy shoppers in check.  (P.S., if you want to help put Lilly through college AND skip the crowds, shop HERE for all of your favorite team gear).

Anyway, I hope some of you are going out fishing.  I might try to make it out to one of the neighborhood ponds later today, once the chaos of the morning's shopping frenzy calms down a bit and emails stop popping into my Inbox like Jiffy Pop.  When I used to live in Pennsylvania, my local trout club would do an annual Black Friday morning stocking, so it was fun blowing off some steam tossing spinners or casting buggers at brain dead naive stockers...

Stocker.  Check out its biceps...

I guess if you have to do some shopping, and choose not to shop with my employer, there are a ton of fishing deals to be had online too - one only has to check their favorite brands on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media to see what coupons or %s off they might be offering.  There's usually more than a few deals to be had, so don't feel guilty about sprucing up the gear collection.

Or...just wait for Small Business Saturday...or Cyber Monday...or whatever...

So what are you up to today?  Whatever it is, I hope it's AWESOME!

Fishing...Shopping...Working...Napping...Eating Leftovers?

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

Image Courtesy of Steve Cobb
Hope he can tie a Stove Top Stuffing fly too...

Just wanted to wish all of my readers a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope all of you are enjoying the holiday with friends and family (and maybe a river if you're lucky).
Thanks for all of the support over the past few years.

Now where's that can of cranberry sauce...?

An Ode To The Underground

Well...actually not technically an "ode"...because an ode is a poem.  And I don't write poetry.  If anything I lay down white boy rhymez...like B-Rabbit vs. Papa Doc in 8-Mile.  Ugh...not really...and totally off topic already...what the heck is going on again?  OK...deep breath...let's call this a "tribute post" and leave it at that.

So as I was trying to say...a few days ago Tom Chandler fired off what could be the final post at The Trout Underground for the foreseeable future...and in doing so, a little piece of me died inside.

Now I can't blame Tom.  He's been writing The Underground for almost 10 years...which might as well be 1000 in blogger years.  I think most blogs probably last 2 or 3 posts, and that may be generous.  Plus, if you read his goodbye post, his motivations are clear and sincere.

When I first started reading blogs about fly fishing...there were two that were a constant theme within everybody else's blogrolls...Moldy Chum & The Trout Underground.  Therefore when I started writing my own blog...it took a while to find my own style...and well, I'm going to be totally honest...I eventually tried to blatantly rip off emulate both of those blogs by sort of squishing them together.  Unfortunately, my writing skills are nowhere up to par with TC/TU, so this blog has evolved more into an affair of sight gags and pop culture references...somewhat of a long-form Moldy Chum, with a far more haphazard blogging cadence.  That said, I've always enjoyed (and envied) the Trout Underground from afar...in the shadows...like a fanboy.

Mmmm....bacon.

See, it's rare to find a fishing blog that can balance actual writing skill, topical references, and entertainment value so well...with just enough snark to not be over the top obnoxious and/or douchey.  Don't get me wrong, there are many good writers out in the blogosphere (I hate the phrase 'blogosphere' BTW)...but let's be honest, how many get caught up with using superfluous vocabulary words (like superfluous) that come instinctively to few for the sake of "reading" smart?  Or they ramble on and on and on and on, jibber jabbering away about something or another...far surpassing the attention span of the typical internet content consumer.  Sort of like this post is now.  Are you still there?

Those of you that have read this blog for a while also may know that I've included references to what I've called "Subterranean Trout" in some posts over time.  Whether it was in support of the campaign for inclusion of OwlJones.com in its blogroll, to the mention of the bromance with Singlebarbed, to the time on April Fool's Day when I altered the entire visual theme and layout of Troutrageous! to match that of Trout Underground in satirical tribute...  Why?  Because the Underground was and is relevant in our little fly fishing community...and more importantly seems to transcend demographics.  Like Denzel Washington.

Heck, I think the high point of this blog was when I wrote a post that Tom actually commented on in a complimentary fashion.  It was akin to having Obi Wan tell you that he was impressed by the way you swing your lightsaber.  Thanks 'ol Ben.

(And I'd be lying if I said I didn't geostalk my Google Analytics for about a month afterward to see if any traffic came in from a certain town in Northern California after I wrote what I though might have been a subsequent good post).

Anyway, I guess my point of all this is that if it's truly riding off into the sunset, I'm gonna miss the quirky Trout Underground.  The humor...such as the escapades of Wally the Wonderdog...and fish falling from the sky.  (May he rest in peace).  The practicality...such as the ultimate fishing hat.  The causes and actual serious topics...things like internet & blogging freedoms...and the evils of Nestle Water?  I mean, who knew...I thought they made Crunch bars...which are soooo tasty by the way.  And the human touch...Tom has a beautiful family that he is rightfully proud of.

Heck Tom, I even gave Ubuntu a try because I read about it on your blog.

So I wish the former Mr. Underground luck on all of his future endeavors.  Please don't be a stranger.

See you around, (hopefully when you write just one more post...), Troutrageous! Mike.

Tenkara With Ike - #tenkarawithike

One of my favorite non-fishing blogs over the last few years is a Philadelphia sports blog called "I Want To Go To The Zoo With Roy Halladay," or Zoo With Roy (ZWR), for short.  It is a blog that went up shortly after the Philadelphia Phillies signed ace pitcher Roy Halladay in the 2010 off-season.  The blog started as a simple, yet unlikely concept, to get Roy Halladay to go to the Philadelphia Zoo with the author...

Over the years, the blog evolved into much more, satirizing & lampooning the entire Philly sports scene (and their opponents) with quick wit and a ton on MS Paint drawings...to the point that following his retirement prior to the 2014 season, Roy Halladay became a fan of the blog...and, well, it actually happened...

So with that, and an innocent Twitter interaction this past Friday night, my half-assed, "I Want To Go Tenkara Fishing with Mike Iaconelli," or Tenkara With Ike (TWI), campaign has begun...

Those with Twitter accounts, please don't be shy about letting him know about it either... 

#tenkarawithike

Headed Home, Goodbye Colorado!

As you're reading this (if of course you're reading this on Monday), I'm probably en route to somewhere.  Breakfast.  The security line at the Denver airport.  Connecting in Charlotte.  Or my personal hope...that I'm in my car pulling out of the JAX airport parking lot headed home.

I probably need a day or two to decompress following an awesome long weekend in Colorado and and excellent Tenkara Summit.  Lots of superlatives, I know...  I'll just say I have lots of fodder for the blog, so stay tuned.  After laying dormant most of September, it may be en route to coming back to life.

I'm still in disbelief that places like this actually exist

In the meantime, I have posted some pics on Facebook & Instagram, so if you're interested, and haven't seen them already (I'd imagine most have), feel free to use the provided links to check them out.  The beauty of Colorado even makes my sub-par photography look good.