Making Wednesdays Great Again

The First Wednesday Nibbles Since 2016?

Thought I'd bring back Wednesday Nibbles. This is the space I use to jot down some random notes. These are more for documenting fun, yet generally dissociated things that may not merit a blog post of their own. So here we go...

Planning 2021

Is it me, or does it feel like we all might be able to more liberally travel by the end of the summer or early fall? Certainly seems that way, especially with the Russian-developed Sputnik vaccine recently testing well.

I'd like to try and get to three distant spots for fishing this year (if things fall into place). Wisconsin, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. I've also technically got Oni School coming in Utah, but I guess that is more dependent on Oni than me.

In the short term, I'm looking to outfit my CR-V for a bit of car camping. Just want to get a little mattress of some sort to toss down in the back to sleep on. Gonna make a run up to North Georgia or western North Carolina either in the end of February or early March. Maybe upgrade the sleeping bag as well.

Flyside Chats with Anthony Naples

Looks like Anthony has been making use of his time and has cranked out a few 15 minute-ish videos with some of this fly fishing friends. The first four episodes of Flyside Chats featured Rob Worthing, Matt Sment, Jason Klass, and Tom Davis.

I'm excited to see how this series develops, and I'd really love to see some chats with folks from more of the rod and reel side of the spectrum. I know Anthony dabbles in many styles of fishing, so perhaps he's already got some things in the works. Either way, I'll be watching!

Moss Piglets & Water Bears

I love these goofy videos. Not a vulgarly funny as the O.G. crazy nastyass honey badger video, but still very entertaining. I'm sure you'll find this one amusing as well. 

        

Buying Alaska

Over the last month or two I've become more and more addicted to the Buying Alaska series on Destination America, which resides within the Discovery's network of channels. There's about 60 episodes of re-runs that ran from like 2012-2015, and it's just intoxicating. 

You're probably familiar with the premise, although it's usually done in more urban or tropical locations. Here, people want to move to Alaska, get presented with 3 homes, have a budget of like $200K, and are shocked when they don't have running water and have to make use of an outhouse. I love it, and basically binge it on Saturdays or Sundays when episodes seemingly run back to back to back. And when not in Alaska, there are carbon copies of the same show highlight homes in the Yukon or purchasing RVs. All wonderful.

Tenkara Perspectives

While I had been cranking out posts here in the beginning of January (pre-NFL playoffs), I had also written a little bit of a tenkara retrospective and look to the future over at Tenkara Angler. I published it last week and it drew a lot of reactions both on the blog and on other social media.

It was a long read, but the gist of it was that tenkara's seen a lot of ups and downs over the past 10+ years. However, thanks to people seeking everything "outdoors" during the pandemic, it would be a great time in this mini upswing for those with the wherewithal to become the sport's latest stewards.

So check it out, and also check out Daniel Galhardo's response over at Tenkara USA. It's nice to see that Tenkara USA is firmly focused on the future of tenkara outside of Japan as well!

Wednesday Nibbles - IFTD Fishing Accessories Edition

A continuation of my 2016 ICAST/IFTD product email solicitation notes...

Figured I'd gather some of the accessory items into one post. A sort of Wednesday Nibbles of fishing accessories that you might find of interest...some good stuff here, if you're so inclined...

BlackStrap

Because who doesn't like UV protection? This company is particularly appealing (to me) because they have a special series designed by Vaughn Cochran, who runs the Blackfly fly shop down here in Jacksonville. Check out their 2016 collection, including the Blackfly designs, HERE.


Rock Treads

Rock Treads sent quite a few emails challenging retailers & media to test out their slip-proof product vs. competing boot surfaces. As a person who uses screw in studs with my "sticky rubber" boots to combat those slippery rocks in the Smokies, these are definitely interesting. Check out a video with more information HERE.


Fincognito

Check out these fully sublimated hoodies! They also make them in boxers too. Seriously, these are pretty cool. The A.D. Maddox "Running Rainbow" and Hayden Hammond Redfish designs pictured above are new for 2016/17. Want to stand out in a crowd? The Fincognito website is HERE.


FishOn Energy

Talk about adding style to fly fishing apparel. Sure, this may skew toward a younger demographic, but what's wrong with that? I'd probably own most of it if I weren't so much of a tenkara angler. Something about having a reel in the logo really doesn't work for a tenkara guy...but it doesn't make it any less awesome. So much good stuff on their website, it's hard to choose a favorite.


Grayl

Why pack a water bottle to the stream when you can just filter all of the water that's around you? While filters like the Lifestraw & Sawyer Mini have become popular with minimalistic anglers in recent years, Grayl looks like another good (slightly larger) option for water purification.

Wednesday Nibbles - Summer Vacation Edition

The weeklong summer vacation is over. It's actually been over since Sunday afternoon, but you know, needed a few days of recovery before sharing something on the blog.

Our trip from Mt. Rushmore to Yellowstone to Grand Teton/Jackson to Salt Lake City was not a fishing trip, so if you read this blog purely for the fishing expertise (ha!), feel free to click off now. However here's a quick week in review, via captioned photos...


Day 1 & 2: Rapid City, SD / Crazy Horse / Mount Rushmore

Wheels down in Rapid City, and there was quite a storm on the horizon to greet us!

The hotel had a small lake out front, this was the only fishing I'd do on the trip.
Bass put up a good fight though.

The bus. Home away from home for a week

Didn't know what to expect from Crazy Horse.
They've evidently been blasting and carving since the late 1940s.
It's quite the sight, much, much bigger than Mt. Rushmore.
Maybe I can get back in a few decades to check the progress.

Down the road about 20 minutes from Crazy Horse, there's a spot on the highway where you can stop and see Washington's profile peer from the side of the mountain with no other presidents (or sign of the park) in sight. It's cool, but kind of eerie at the same time.

I was pleasantly surprised by Mt. Rushmore. Figured you just went and stared at the side of a mountain. Instead, there's a whole complex with walking trails, museums, etc...
Could have spent the whole day there if we had the time.

Day 3: Repositioning to Cody, WY

Day 3 was pretty much a waste, we were in the bus pretty much all day as we moved from Rapid City, SD to Cody, WY. Did catch this "wild" pic of the girls in the Wyoming visitor's center.

We drove by Devil's Tower...

Stopped for lunch in Sheridan, WY...

Drove through the Bighorn mountains...

Before ending up in Cody for the night - home of Buffalo Bill, and never-ending cowboy-kitsch

Day 4 & 5: Yellowstone

The first day was kind of rainy, but we did see a lot of wildlife.  Bison, bear, coyote, elk, & deer

And some really cool old park buses

Elk can walk on the travertine

But we stuck to the boardwalk to take selfies in front of it

The following day's weather was much better.
All of the thermal features were amazing

As were the falls in the canyon

The photo doesn't do this one justice!

Wouldn't want to swim in that hot tub

Gotta take a picture of Old Faithful, right?

More pools

Standing on top of the hill looking down at the river surrounded by geysers was breathtaking.
Two days were not even close to being enough to sample Yellowstone's wonders 

Day 6: Grand Teton / Jackson, WY

On Friday we headed South from Yellowstone down Rockefeller Parkway through Grand Teton National Park

We stopped several times along the way - there were so many scenic views

I mean come on, is this for real?

The highlight was a lakeside picnic lunch

I'm not a holy man, but the view out of this roadside church window was amazing

Once we reached Jackson, we took a ski lift up to the top of the mountain overlooking town

And then descended to take in the Cowboy meets Hippie vibe

Watched a street performance (don't worry, the good guys won)

And washed the day down right

Day 7: Repositioning to Salt Lake City

The last real day took us to Salt Lake City via Logan Canyon

Lilly approved of the scenery

I approved of lunch. If you're ever in Logan, UT, Angie's is amazing.

Our trip ended with a tour of Temple Square

With beautiful architecture

But no Tabernacle Choir, (they were on the road).

And after that, a night of sleep, then home to Florida the next morning.

Our vacation went so quickly, but it was certainly a memorable one. I feel like I shared so many pictures above, but I took TONS more. So many neat things to see and experience.

As for the bus tour aspect, I'm not certain I'd do a bus tour again, as I felt that while we saw a lot of incredible things, we really didn't get to spend enough time at any one particular place to really enjoy them. We kind of figured that was going to be the case heading in; it was sort of like when you go on a cruise ship and visit several ports of call, but spend a lot of time "at sea."

It was more a quick sampling of some magical Western sights, many of which I know we'll head back to in the not too distant future. K.C. is already scoping out a return to Jackson & the Tetons, and I just saw so much beautiful water out the bus window that was screaming to be fished!

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.