A small liberal arts college in Wisconsin is giving bikes away to freshman. All they have to do is promise not to bring a car to campus. The parking situation had gotten so bad at Ripon College that they decided to give a Trek 820 mountain bike, a helmet, and a bike lock to incoming freshman not clogging up the parking lots.
“We’re a residential college with a beautiful, historic campus in the middle of a small town,” said President David Joyce, an avid cyclist. “Paving it over was not an option I was willing to consider.”
This is a great plan with only one problem I can see…. leave class, walk out to the bike rack… OH SNAP, which one is mine!?!?
A coyote attacked a young skier at Copper Mountain ski resort in Colorado last week. The coyote bit the kids parka and had bitten the snowboard of another. The picture above was apparently taken by the childs mother as she watched on. Wildlife officials determined the only way to handle the situation was to destroy the coyote. Officials assume the coyote had been fed by people and turned aggressive when it saw humans as a source of food.
Fly fishing in general can be a challenge, whether you are catching fish or not. When you are fly fishing, you are constantly “Doing”. I am always thinking about my forward cast and if I have a tailing loop or my back cast, “Are there any trees behind me?” Should I mend now or present the fly on the “swing”? If I am fishing the “swing”, then I scan my surrounding for rising fish. I sure don’t want to miss a hatch of midges or caddis flies. The typical fly fishing season for most fly fishers in my area is from April until September; basically spring to fall.
And after the season is over, many fly fishers retreat to fly tying tables and start tying for the next season. However, for some of the brave, the fishing season doesn’t end. The winter fishing season poses a few new set of obstacles and conditions. There is increase wind, which can destroy a cast in a split second, snow, ice, etc; do I really need to go on about winter conditions?
Then there are the flies. My advice is GO BIG; big flies mean more protein. Think of it as this, a trout is not going to go after a slider when it can have a Double Whopper with cheese. In the winter, I typically fish flies from size 6 to 12 (except midges); of course, it depends on the weather and where I am fishing.
The most important aspect of winter fishing is clothing. Layering is an important topic worth discussing at a later date. But generally, if I am headed out for an afternoon, I will wear a medium cushion sock, a base layer (upper and lower), fleece wader pants (lower), and nylon pants and a fishing shirt as an outer shell, and possibly a fleece jacket or vest. Of course, I am wearing waders while I am fishing.
With all of that said, if you try to little bit of winter angling, just remember to stay warm, have an open mind about the fishing, and try some new flies or tactics you normally wouldn’t try.
National Geographic Adventure has announced the winners of their photo contest, and there are some good ones in the mix. Great combinations of wild places and great amateur photography. Makes you want to take a month off and go backpacking with your camera gear.
The photo above was taken by Langley Eide of Arrow Glacier Camp on the Western Breach route on Kilimanjaro. An interesting fact about this photo is that it was taken just before the first ascent of this route since a deadly rockfall in 2005. I was lucky enough to have ascended this route just a few weeks before that rockfall and was one of the last people to summit via that route, until this shot. It’s a tough route with alot of loose rock. Beautiful to behold though.
I had no idea you could do this. Apparently you can take trekking trips through the Alaskan mountains with Yaks carrying your gear. The yaks were brought over from the Himalayan mountains as calves. Now that they’re all grown up they’re ready to start hiking. It’s not cheap my friends, but it does sound like a cool way to see the Alaskan backcountry and give your back a break.
I carry a wide range of flies for fishing my local waters and most of my flies have resulted from finding patterns from books and online that I think look good or maybe a twist of my own creation. They work well on my local waters as well as some of the distant places I fish too. But I have never collected aquatic bugs from my local waters to tie imitations of the bugs found in my home waters.
A few weekends ago, I attended a fly tying class at Fly South in Nashville, TN. The class, Caney Fork Essentials, involves tying flies designed by local fly fisherman (Guides / Former Guides) for the Caney Fork River, my local home waters. For the cost of $35.00, the student learns to tie eleven patterns ranging from a mayfly, to several caddis and midge flies, as well as a few others. My two favorite patterns from fly shop owner and guide Jim Mauries are JT’s Sowbug and JT’s Bead-Head Caddis Emerger.
The tying class begins at 9:00 AM and finishes any where between 3:30 / 4:00 PM with an hour lunch break. The class provides all tying materials and tools, but if you have your own, I recommend taking them since you should familiar and comfortable with your own tools. If you do take your own tools, take your vise, a couple of bobbins spooled with black, tan and olive thread, scissors, hackle pliers, dubbing brush, bodkin, and whip finisher. Also included with the cost of the class is a nice paper handbook with all of the patterns, a brief description, and space to take notes as you tie the fly.
The class is limited to six to seven participants. I was lucky enough to have only one other classmate, so the interaction between the teacher & student was great, which was nice when I had a couple of problems with the patterns. The Caney Fork Essentials tying class is an intermediate tying class. The participant should already know how to put a hook into the vise, attach thread, etc. If you are interested in learning to tie flies, start out with a beginning fly tying class.
Fly South is also offering other fly tying classes including, Fly Tying 101, Smoky Mountain Classics, Tennessee Tail Water Flies, Saltwater – Bonefish/Tarpon/Permit, Saltwater – Jacks/Redfish/Trout, Saltwater – Striper/Blues/Albies, Flies for Freshwater Stripers/Hybrid, Tennessee Smallmouth Flies, Carp Flies, Bass Flies Top to Bottom, and Tennessee Trout and Terrestrials. The cost of the other classes range between $35.00 and $85.00. If anyone is interested in learning some new and interesting patterns for the Caney Fork River, I highly recommend taking the Caney Fork Essentials fly tying class.
It’s that day… the day when all the forgetful men panic because it’s Valentine’s day and they haven’t done squat. Don’t get caught being a jerk this year…
Here are a few “outdoorzy” ideas for the last minute shopper. Just buy it online, print out a picture, stuff it in a heart-shaped card, and tell her it’s on it’s way.
Everyone knows you can use Google Maps to map things. But MapMyRun.com has put this to use for running routes. Let’s say you travel alot for work, and you’re going to be in a new town this week but want to keep up your jogging schedule. Well hop on this site and do a search on the city you’re going to. There are many routes that are loops from hotels, perfect for travelers.
MapMyRun is also a great way to share your running routes and even find a new one in your own town.
The Orvis brand of reels has been a choice of mine for several years. I started out with a Battenkill reel, then I upgraded to the Battenkill Bar Stock reel, and then to the Battenkill Mid Arbor reel. Still own all of these reels, but I mostly use the Mid Arbor reel. I have used these reels for both fresh and salt water fly fishing.
The Orvis Battenkill Mid Arbor reel is anodized and machined from 6091 bar stock aluminum making it durable and lightweight. Since the reel is a mid arbor, it picks up the line faster than a standard small arbor reel. This is especially important when a fish runs towards you, rather than down stream. A mid arbor can have an impact on line coil. Fly lines on small arbor reels coil up when pulled off the reel due to being tight on the reel for given period of times. That is why before every fly fishing trip, an angler should stretch out the fly line before any use. This should remove the coils.
The spool is easy to take off and put back onto the reel. There is a small lever in the middle of the reel spool to remove the spool from the body. I would recommend carrying an extra spool with a sinking or sink tip line for fishing streamers and big nymphs when you want to get the fly down deep into the water. The drag adjustment knob is large and easy to adjust at anytime.
The reel is priced between $119.00 and $129.00. It is medium price freshwater reel when compared to a large and small arbor reels from Orvis. If you are considering about getting into fly fishing and are looking to buy your first outfit, consider this reel.
