In a slump....

This year has been really strange, I've had some great fishing opportunities but the catching fish part has been just ok.

I hooked my first carp which was exciting, but it broke off.

I caught some smallies for the first time, but none were over 12 inches.

Drum fishing was a great experience I look forward to doing again. I can see how it is exciting. I'd like to hook up with one of those.

I was able to finally get to the mtns but the weather was cold and I didn't have much time to fish. This last weekend I was on the water for maybe an hour. It was a hatchery supported stream. The water was low and the stream had obviously been pillaged.

I can't believe how much stuff I've gone through this year in terms of gear. I really need to figure out a system. I lost one rod and reel to the New River. Broke my Orvis last week. My friend fell on my redington and broke the reel. Somehow I managed to lose my felt bottoms for my Korker boots? I swore I was wearing them on the smallie trip. How could they have just come off? I'm determined to find them. I've already searched my house and storage area but here is no sign of there existence. I've found the mud bottom souls but can't for the life of me understand what happened to the felt souls.

The weather is starting to cool down and my focus is turning more to the birth of our first baby. I want to get the rod fixed and plan some trips for this winter, but I think that's going to take a back seat and this spring will be about raising a baby.

This last weekend it was confirmed the Family Reunion will be in Idaho next year. It is in June and the snow melt might effect all the rivers and creeks in the area. We'll see.

I'm going to try and get back in touch with my Neuse River fishing buddy to attack the Neuse this winter.

Snap, Crackle, Pop...

I've always been one of those people that learns things the hard way. Even if I get good advice and know there's a better way, I seem to do things the hard way over and over until finally I give in. Today was my latest lesson. I went fishing at lunch at the pond by my work. The weather was rediculous, in the low 70's, not a cloud in the sky. I saw the carp that I beleive I hooked a couple weeks ago. I made a few futile casts towards it. It ignored my fly and continued cruising into the depths until it's enormous shadow dissapeared. I waited for the shadow to reappear, but I was dissapointed. I worked the banks of the pond, not really expecting much. I never did catch anything. I went back to my car and kind and started thinking about this weekend and how I'll get to trout fish. When I pulled into the parking lot, I started to gather my things and rolled up the window.... Crackle, crackle, SNAP.... POP!!!

What's sad, is I knew what this sound was. There was no doubt that was the sound of a rod tip being destroyed by a window closing. I didn't want to look at first and hoped my hearing was just bad, or the window bent the rod enough to make a slight crackling noise like a stick on the threshold of snapping. The end of my rod made an L shape with a few strands of fiberclass holding the tip on and the fly line reinforcing it. I said a few colorful expletives and was reminded by images of people telling me that you should pack up your rod after each use. This just made me madder. This is the second time I have broken a rod this way. The first time, my wife rolled up the window and snapped one. To make matters worse, this was the 8wt orvis my friend gave me. I haven't even had this rod a year.

So anyways, I'm going to see if I can get orvis to fix this, I have a TU member who is a friend that might be able to replace the tip as well. The whole situation is just annoying. I'm ending my rant. At least I'll have my 5wt for this weekend. Hopefully it will get a few tugs from eager trout. I will break it down and put it away everytime. That is the only way to ensure 100% that it will never get snapped by a car door window.

Pond Feeshin'

I went to the pond by my work today to try and catch that carp again. I didn't see the carp but I did see a bunch of bass and bluegill. I spotted a bass and I put my fly in front of him a few times. I eventually thought I hooked him but it ended up being a bluegill. You hear me in the movie, I get excited thinking I caught the bass, then you'll hear me say, wait a minute....
I only had my video camera so I didn't get many pictures. I caught a few gill and one little bass. I was able to catch this crappie as well. It's the biggest one I've caught yet on a fly rod. The fly I used all day was a small black beetle pattern. The weather was warm compared to what its been. We've had some cold days recently. Today was a nice blue sky cloudless day in the 70's.