Force Friday: A Waste of $150?

A lot of people said tenkara rods were a waste of money a few years back... $150 for a cane pole... There are still quite a few holdouts, but many have come around. I've certainly had a lot of fun with them for the past 6 years and feel like I have gotten more than my money's worth.

$150 for this on the other hand...


Umm...take my money now?
Actually, I'm not sure I'm sold...but it's really freakin' cool.

Happy "Force Friday" & Labor Day weekend.
Regularly scheduled fishing content will return next week.

“Once You Start Down the Dark Path, Forever Will It Dominate Your Destiny, Consume You It Will.”

I've got trout stuck on my mind again.

I need to get back to Dagobah...er, I mean Georgia...and pay my pocket water Yoda a visit.

If not now, soon...Autumn isn't that far away.

“Always two there are, no more, no less. A master and an apprentice.”

145ish Days...

#keepemwet

MWTF, Star Wars, And The Ooze...

Starting to make some preparations for my upcoming trip to the Driftless for the Midwest Tenkara Fest.

Actually, I'm not going to lie...all of my fishing thoughts got majorly derailed last Thursday when that new Star Wars trailer dropped upon the world. Han motherf'n Solo & a chromed out stormtrooper in a cape. That's all that needs to be said. I haven't been able to focus on much of anything since... 

Stumbling through a midicholrian induced haze over the past weekend I thought it would be prudent to begin rounding up supplies to bring with - rods, lines, flies, booze, porn, Tebow... Ok, who am I kidding...packing tenkara crap is pretty easy...although I do have a tie-a-thon facing me this weekend to finish filling my fancy, hipster silicone-bottomed fly box.

Anybody know how to tie a pink squirrel kebari? 

Also sucked it up and did a half ass patch job on my wading boots with some Gorilla Glue. You know, "do or do not, there is no try." It's about function, not appearance. It was actually a fun project...because about the only thing I'm handy at is procrastination. For those that use the stuff, gotta love the ooze. You know what I'm talking about.

Could have been a royal douche and tried to call in the L.L. Bean guarantee, but these suckers have served me well over the past 4+ years...they've seen a lot of streams and hopped rocks o' plenty. Pennsylvania to Colorado, Georgia to New York, Virginia to Utah, and many points in-between. I've been nothing but happy with them. Just need to get through one more season.

Now I need to plot out where to actually fish...you know, when were not "Festing."

Sometimes too much water can be a curse. It's much easier if your choices are only chocolate or vanilla.

If you've been, and have ideas on locales, fill me in..

Otherwise, I'm just going to go where my rental Nissan Versa (or similar) takes me...trout are evidently as plentiful as cheese curd out there, so I guess I'll figure it out...

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG STAR WARS!!!!

Let's put fishing aside and talk about something important for a second.


Actually, make that 88 seconds that have suddenly made the next 12 months seemingly insufferable...

I have to wait how long?

I mean Holy sh*t...X-Wings!!!!

THE MOTHERF*CKIN' MILLENNIUM FALCON!!!!  

I'm suddenly more than moist...

Only some sort of cynical, nitpick can't be excited about this...you know, the type of wet blanket that trolls the internet belittling nymphing as being beneath fly fishing....or insists tenkara is dapping.  Simply put, anybody who isn't psyched by this, isn't a Star Wars fan.  Even if there is some strange R2-D2 / adidas Tango lovechild bopping around...

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

Oh...and I've said this before, but speaking of tenkara...the first company that makes a blue (or red) tenkara rod with a bad-ass lightsaber looking handle...just take my money now.  And yes, I will make sound effects with my mouth while I fish.

See you on the dark side of the stream...

I'll Play Along With The '80s Thing...

It's '80s week...or so I hear. I'll do my part with an '80s inspired post, if for no other reason to post this picture.

My step-brother had this poster hanging in his bedroom.
I had Ewoks.

So let's get one thing clear. I was 3 in 1980 and 12 in 1989...while these were some very formative years, I was also on the young side...so I did not partake in a lot pop-culture crazes...even though I remember having a few pair of deely-bobbers, memorizing the lyrics of Thriller, and watching Live Aid all day on TV.



Instead, I basically wore whatever my Mom bought for me, which for the first half of the decade was mainly Garanimals.

Philadelphia Zoo, 1980

Unfortunately, I really couldn't find a lot of pictures of me in all of my 80s glory.  But I did dig these out...starting with my 5th birthday cake circa 1982.  Yee haw!

Suck it Boss Hogg

But as I got older, and dorkier, my tastes continued to evolve.  We played Atari (and then ColecoVision) all the time, seem to remember collecting Smurfs, loved me everything Star Wars, and had an affinity for action-TV such as Knight Rider, Airwolf, A-Team, & Double Dare (c'mon...Physical Challenge!).   Yeah Tubbs had nothin' on me.

Could not have rocked larger Sally Jessy-Raphael eyeglasses

In the beginning of the decade, my favorite athlete was Pete Rose...

Nice batting stance...I BET it worked well...

...and by the end it was Charles Barkley...

Like Chuck, I am not a role model.

...but the whole time I only wanted Michael Jordan's shoes.

I couldn't find any pictures of me fishing in the 1980s...likely because I didn't.  But I did get to meet George the Elder & the hot chick in the red blazer...all while rockin' the box top fade.  (Yeah, that was probably '91, but so what)...

That girl is Poison!