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.

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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.

Just Waiting Around...

Hurricane Dorian can't seem to make up its mind on whether or not it wants to pay my neighborhood a visit. Originally, it was supposed to swing by on Sunday... then Monday... now maybe Tuesday night or Wednesday... man that thing is slow. I obviously joke uneasily, as I know it's unfortunately having its way with the Bahamas right now.

Locally, people have been in a bit of unrest since last Thursday. Runs on groceries and gas. Folks moving all their stuff out of harm's (& wind's) way. Don't get me started on the local news. Kind of put an odd damper on the long Labor Day weekend.

My daughter's school is cancelled through Wednesday. The in-laws and their two dogs are staying over at our house for an undetermined amount of time. They live a bit more coastal than we do, so evacuation was in the cards and we're happy to have them. We live a bit more inland, so while we'll get strong winds and rain, flooding shouldn't be an issue. Still, my office is closed through at least Wednesday as well... "working" from home likely being the theme of the week. We'll see how that goes...

C'mon Dorian, just make up your mind. As weird as it might sound, I just want it over with already.

In any event, since the hurricane appears allergic to "Florida Man" (which we should all be), the weather has been great, and I even snuck out for some fishing last night around dusk. 

Left the tenkara rod at home for a change, opting rather for a 9-foot 5-weight Fenwick and a Pflueger Medalist click & pawl reel. Really felt nice to shoot some line through guides. Boogle bugs were on the menu, and the local 'gills were happy to oblige.

Gyotaku - The Traditional Japanese Method of Printing Fish

Gyotaku.

You may not know it by name, but I guarantee you've seen it before. In brief, it's a traditional Japanese method of printing fish... like actually taking a dead fish, applying ink, and using it like a rubber stamp to make an impression on paper. Sure, that sounds a little crude, but stick with me for a few more paragraphs...

I believe it was used in the past in lieu of a fish mount to commemorate exceptional catches. Today, it is more commonly viewed in the context of art, and some splendid art it is. If you've seen the latest printing of Yvon Chouinard's Simple Fly Fishing, you'll find a gyotaku print of a leaping trout on the cover.

Coincidentally, (and the reason for this entry), I was fortunate enough to add an American gyotaku to my fishing themed art collection recently and I couldn't be happier.

I was gifted this cool little piece by Alan Lueke, a fixed-line angler out of Kansas City, Missouri. He was attending the 2019 Tenkara Wisconsin Driftless Campout, and passed along this print one evening after a day of fishing, which I've since framed.

It's actually a print of a Florida fish. See, Alan isn't a trout or tenkara purist, actually he'll use his tenkara and fixed-line rods to chase anything with fins, large or small. He commented, "The fish is a Gulf killifish caught in a mangrove flat in Fort DeSoto State Park just south of St. Pete Beach."

No matter the species, I think it's pretty rad and fits in well in it's new surroundings above my tying bench.

If you'd like to learn more about gyotaku, there are endless references out there to be had. Being Japanese in nature, it's been a fairly popular subject in tenkara-circles over the past few years, with some exceptional write-ups and examples found HERE, HERE, & HERE.

Additionally, if you're interested in acquiring your own gyotaku print, there are many artists out there, (particulary on Etsy), where you can find them for sale. Modern Gyotaku, Fishing for Gyotaku, The Mighty Bluegill, & Fresh Catch Gyotaku stand out as a few that immediately come to mind.

In any event, thank you Alan, I not only appreciate the print, but also the thoughtfulness of the gift!

Easter Sunday Big Bend

Now I'm not going to pretend, pond fishing for bluegill is not particularly difficult. Tie a fly on, toss it out, and you're almost guaranteed to catch something. Anyway, that was the plan for yesterday evening, to catch a few fish before the weekend ended and it was time to reboot the work week...

What set yesterday apart was the size of the copperhead bluegills that came to hand. Virtually no dink bluegill for a change. All were legit, the kind you can barely hold in one hand. All really solid and particularly strong fighters that put a nice big bend on the end of a fixed-line rod.

It wasn't just bluegills though, I also caught a few bass as well, as the fish were generally fairly frisky. Fortunately, the recipe was rather easy. Black woolly bugger... cast at about 10 or 11 o'clock... let it sink for a count of five... slow twitch it horizontally across your body (or along structure) back to the bank. Even when you couldn't sight the the fish while in pursuit, the swirl in the water a foot behind where your line entered the water was a dead giveaway to brace for an impending strike. 

It was a fun way to kill an hour and a half at sunset on Easter Sunday.

Gear Used:

• Nirvana 400 Tenkara Rod
• Dragonail Flurocarbon Level Line (3.5)
• Orvis Superstrong Tippet (5x)
• Generic Black Woolly Bugger

Exploring Florida: 2019 Ididahike on the Florida Trail

This past Saturday (March 2nd), I decided to join about 150 other hikers on for the 2019 "Ididahike," an almost eleven mile hike on the Florida Trail as it runs alongside the Suwannee River. I found out about the hike via a local REI events email and impulsively signed up. The annual hike is one the Florida Trail Association's larger fundraisers, so it seemed like a good cause.

Heck, I didn't even really know there was a Florida Trail, but I suppose there is, all 1100 miles worth between its two termini in South Florida (Tamiami Trail) and Pensacola in the western panhandle. Not as sexy a thru-hike as the Appalachian or Pacific Crest, but still, that's a lot of ground to cover.

Anyway, there was what seemed like a good turnout, and everyone was in positive spirits despite some pretty nasty Florida thunderstorms all morning. Much of the hike was in a downpour, but it's Florida, so while it was wet, it was still plenty warm.

As for me? My phone said I completed the hike in a little under four hours. I probably could have finished sooner, but I lost a half an hour at the multiple checkpoints along the way stopping to talk to many of the other hikers... one guy was all the way from Ontario! I was also somewhat surprised how sandy the banks of the Suwannee were. If the weather was nicer, it could have been a beach day.

Heck, I'll even toss in an unsolicited recommendation, Altra makes some damn good trail shoes (Lone Peaks). I was a bit achy after the hike, but my feet felt great!

In any event, here are some photos and a little video.

Here's a map, we hiked along the river starting in the bottom right near where it makes that last bend toward I-75, northwest to the upper left where the river crosses Route 129 at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park Campground.

Florida: Where The Winter Weather Doesn't Suck, But The Neighborhood Fishing Can Sometimes Be Questionable

Hit one of the neighborhood ponds yesterday morning. Broke out the Fenwick 5-weight and Pflueger Medalist reel and hopped on the bike hoping to get into a nice bass or two.

The weather was pretty glorious in the AM, apologies to rest of the country that is still dealing with the winter blues.

Now, I haven't really done any fishing yet this year. I went out briefly on New Year's, but didn't catch anything. So while I normally wouldn't take a photo of a dinky bream, this little one was actually my first fish of 2019. Man, it makes that small BoogleBug popper look huge.

I'll have to double check and see if February 23rd is the latest I've gone into the year before catching my first fish.

From there, the fishing was pretty slow. Unfortunately, I didn't get my first bass of the year. Instead, I caught a few more bluegill, and a mess of little crappie.

Those are crappie, albeit tiny ones, right? In the almost six years I've lived down here, I've never pulled one of these suckers from any of the neighborhood ponds. Caught a half dozen today. So that was a first, I guess...

I happened to like this photo of a different fish, because I unintentionally aligned the fountain feature in the pond with the top of its head, kind of makes it look like a whale spouting water. LOL.

Anyway, that was my Saturday morning. Messing around with panfish on a 5-weight, which honestly hardly bent under their extreme pulling power. 

Whatever... I was wearing shorts & a t-shirt in February. Still beats being stuck in the cold.

Exploring Florida: Bass Pro Pit Stop

Thought I'd post some photos from the Daytona Bass Pro Shops Outpost location. I was down at the speedway last Saturday doing a little work... and couldn't help but pop my head in the BPS across the street on the way out of town.

And just as you might expect, some NASCAR legends were represented...