Calling All Cars....Stolen Drift Boat

Calling all cars.. Be on the lookout for a drift boat stolen from Unicoi Outfitters in Blue Ridge, Georgia. From the posting over at the SEFFF:

From Jimmy Harris at UO:

Well, here we go again. Someone has stolen our Hyde drift boat from behind the store in Blue Ridge. It's red, black and white, has counter-balanced oars, and, when it left our place it had an oval Unicoi logo on each side of the bow. You never know if someone dumb enough to steal something as large and unusual as a drift boat will have the sense to take the logo off. Not sure how you fence something like this but we would appreciate everyone keeping an eye out for it. If you have any information concerning its whereabouts, you may call our shop in Blue Ridge at 706-632-1880 or our shop in Helen at 706-878-3083. If your information leads to the recovery of our boat, I promise you will be one well-equiped angler, compliments of Unicoi Outfitters.The boat was evidently taken some time Monday night or early Tuesday morning.

We met these guys at the Fly Fishing Retailer Show in Denver last year. If you have any info be sure to drop a dime (or a quarter these days)

Once Bitten

Alabama angler Ben Roussel snapped this remarkable photo on a recent fishing trip to one of his secret fishing holes. He made us promise not to tell you where he was fishing and to remind you that if you do figure it out the place is literally crawling with snakes....and bears.....an panthers etc. Thanks for the photo Ben!

Fin-mobile

Our long time fishing pal Paisley is currently in the process of building the ultimate fly fishing tear drop camper. He is also documenting the construction steps for a future series of articles for FlyfishMagazine.com. It's too bad he didn't get a look at the Fin-mobile from the folks at Save our Wild Salmon before he started the build.

A Bristol Bay Update from FeltSoul Media

Fly fishing video Guru Travis Rummel writes us with an update about FeltSoul Media's current project that features Alaska's Bristol Bay.

Ben and i have been hard at work for the last two weeks up here, with 50 or more days to go this is looking like it is going to be our best effort yet. it is incredible up here.

best,

travis

To say that Travis and Ben are adventurers would be a pretty big understatement. Their current base of operations for the Alaska project is a shipping container in a place called Gypsy Corner. Visit the FeltSoul blog "The Wire" for regular updates from the guys who put the "new" in new media!

Wanted: Sponsor

Companies regularly sponsor skaters, surfers, and skiers. Even video gamers can get the corporate types to pony up some Jack. That being the case why is it so hard for a team of successful competitive fly fishers to nail down a major sponsorship? The Denver Post wonders aloud:

"Question is, can a relatively thin and static U.S. fly-fishing industry muster the money and resolve to provide the necessary boost? Current sponsors include Simms, Scott rods, Scientific Anglers, Nautilus reels and Clear Creek accessories - arrangements that provide swell gear and some cash, but not nearly enough to crack the nut."

Don't the corporate marketing departments for the fly fishing industry realize the exposure they could be getting from the post competition interviews alone:

Chris Berman here with the winner of the 2008 Fly Fishing World Championships. "It looks like you really had things dialed in out there today." "Thanks Chris, the ole Sage Z axis, 5 weight was really casting sweet today and the AquaStealth soles on my Simms L2's where gripping the bottom like no body's business." "Nothing quite hauls'em in like frog's hair fluorocarbon."

A tall mocha & a dozen prince nymphs please!

TriCities.com posts a story about Damascus, Virginia fly fishing guide Richard Rominger who may have found the answer to the decline of fishing by opening a combination fly shop / expresso bar. He hopes the combination he offers at "Trail's Crossing" will help attract a younger crowd.

"I want my shop to be hip and cool,’’ Rominger said. "I witnessed the youth-driven growth of the snowboard industry, and the I think fly fishing is heading that way. I don’t want folks coming in and hearing the sound of crickets.’’

Don't expect a tail water float trip from these guys.

"We don’t do run-of the mill fishing trips to places like the South Holston or the Watauga River."
"We put backpacks on and take people out on back-country adventures where no other guide service would ever take them. We’ll also put you on wild trout. Fishing is like the icing on the cake on our trips, though.’’

This might be the perfect opportunity to fully document the effect of the caffeine jitters on the mechanics of the fly cast.

TFO Partners With Project Healing Waters

Project Healing Waters is getting a major boost from Temple Fork Outfitters. TFO will donate $25 for each of their new Project Healing Waters fly rods sold by tackle dealers across the nation.

"The new fly rods, based on Temple Fork Outfitter's popular "Lefty Kreh Professional" fly rods, come in two versions: a 9 foot rod for 5 weight lines, suitable for trout, panfish, and smallmouth bass; and a 9 foot rod for an 8 weght line suitable for largemouth bass, steelhead, salmon, and smaller saltwater species. The rods at translucent blue with blue windings tipped with red. The Temple Fork Outfitters and Project Healing Waters logo in gold appear on each rod. The 9 foot 5 weight fly rod is priced at $139.95, and the 9 foot 8 weight rod, equipped with a fighting butt, is priced at $149.95. All TFO-PHW fly rods are covered by Temple Fork Outfitter's lifetime warranty."

Project Healing Waters is an excellent non profit organization that makes it possible for wounded veterans to participate in the sport of fly fishing.

Make Fishing Films - Impress Girls

What happens when fly fishermen add video cameras to their kit? Scott Parrot's article Lights, Camera, Fishing tells us they just might become budding film makers.

"So the past couple months, my fishing buddy Greg and I added a video camera to the rods, reels, flies and other gear we carry into the forest for our weekly trout fishing trips.

The end result may not be our ticket to Hollywood, but it is receiving rave reviews from Greg’s girlfriend. "

Fly Fishing Affordable

This article via the News Tribune website tells us that Fly Fishing is an affordable and useful alternative for anglers.

"A complete fly-fishing setup can cost less than a fancy bass rod. Using it needn't be more complicated than spring crappie fishing. And Kansas offers some outstanding fly fishing.
To help prove the positive points I picked the brains of some avid Kansas fly fishers.
We picked a ready-to-hit-the-water fly-fishing outfit that holds all you need to enjoy fly fishing in Kansas. We also put it to the test."

Flipper Bites

Florida officials are warning residents that wild dolphins are in fact wild and might just bite you.

"Florida experts said wild dolphins are becoming more aggressive because boaters are feeding them."

Link via Local6.com

Photo via The Ultimate Guide to Dolphins

Repair Broken Fly Lines

This link comes via the fine folks from the Southeast Fly Fishing Forum. Forum user Flytier pointed us to the UK Saltwater Fly Fishing site for this simple method for repairing a nicked or cut fly line using shrink tubing. It seems so easy that it makes me wonder why I didn't think of it myself. Luckily our UK brethren worked it out for the rest of us.

"Some lines are easier to fix than others and I know we had problems trying this with Rio lines due to the core not being able to take the heat. Rio use a slightly stiffer PVC than other manufacturers. We've not tried this on Airflo line because.. well, we don't know anyone who uses Airflo lines."

Photo via UKswff.co.uk

Team USA Places 6th in World

Major congratulations are due to the members and supporters of Fly Fishing Team USA as they have placed 6th at the world championships in Finland. The American team had to beat England, Italy, Australia, South Africa, and Bosnia on their way to the team's best ever finish. Once again the French took first place in the competition. Carolina angler Josh Stevens pitched in even though he was an alternate on the team:

"During the actual hours of competition they (cell phones) are banned in only one member of the team that Captain can talk to anyone who's actually fishing. Since Captain Anthony is fishing this year alternate Josh Stevens has been filling the role as acting captain. Since he was working with Anthony I would say that he's done a pretty good job."

Here is a link to the daily play by play from Jack Dennis via the National Fly Fishing Championships website.

And an article from The Daily Sentinel.

It appears that the new method of selecting team members via regional qualifiers is working for team USA. Don't forget about our own Southeast Regional Event, August 18th & 19th.

Spotted on The Strip in Vegas....

Wherein we learn that not all bait and tackle shops sell gear!

How about some beach front property in Arizona?

Fancy a membership in one of those exclusive fractional ownership fly fishing resorts? Just make sure the guy selling it to you actually owns it.

"Johannesburg businessman Jan Faure, 55, claimed to have had R14-million to purchase the Seaview Hotel, but then sold part of the hotel without paying for it. He has now advertised fractional title shares in the Outeniqua Trout Lodge in newspapers, magazines and on the internet. He offers purchasers an opportunity to buy "fractional title shares at R285 000 each in the Outeniqua Mountain Resort (Pty) Ltd".

On Monday, the owner of the Outeniqua Mountain Resort, Dr Ingo Vennemann, said although Faure and two other men, Wynand and Jaco van den Berg, had visited last year to gather information about his trout farm operation, there was nothing to entitle them to start selling his property. "

Matching the Hatch Spy Style

I ran across this letter to the editor of the Cambridge, Ontario Times. At first it seemed to be a rather innocuous complaint about anglers fishing for Small mouth bass out of season. However, a bit deeper into the text I ran across this gem that describes the lengths that some folks will go to find out what the fish are biting.


"I watched many people over the last few weeks wading in the Grand near the downtown area. I brought my binoculars to watch the pattern the person was using. By pattern, I mean it was a person fly-fishing and pattern is the type of fly's being used. Different flys for different species."

Perhaps you might want to purchase some of these for your fishing vest:

Browning Waterproof Binoculars - 8x42

Judge Says Hatchery & Wild Fish Differ

From the Duh huh file and the Oregon Statesman Journal comes the word that a Judge has declared hatchery and wild trout to be different. This tidbit of info might not be news to anyone who has ever caught a six inch native brookie in a tiny mountain stream but it is news to the current administration who wanted to count stocked fish towards endangered species listing.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, sitting in Seattle, on Wednesday struck down a Bush administration decision to consider hatchery salmon with their wild counterparts in determining whether certain runs need Endangered Species Act protection.

FYI - The above trout with its pale colors and mangled fins is one of the hatchery raised variety.

Hot Dogs, Garlic Water, & Kool Aid

Like us, savvy reader Nick from Morganton, NC likes to fish the Burke County Prison Pond which is nestled snugly between the gun towers of a maximum security prison and a high rise juvenile detention facility. While we are chasing small panfish and the occasional large mouth bass he goes after big blue catfish. He sends us the following fishing report. Purists be warned bait is mentioned prominently:

Hello Flyfishmagazine

My name is Nick I live here in Morganton,NC and just wanted to tell you the 2 ponds at the prison and highrise are some of the best pond fishing areas for big blue cats! I recommend anyone who likes catfishing to try out the ponds. The best baits are chicken livers,night crawlers with hotsauce,and hotdogs marinated in garlic water with a pack of strawberry koolaid mixed in. Goodluck to everyone. Nick

Nick's report has me thinking unclean thoughts about soaking my woolly buggers in garlic water and strawberry kool aid!

Leaving Las Vegas

Our work in Las Vegas is now complete. We really did have a few days of meetings to attend in Sin City...really we did. As for the results of our wagering, both PGA golfer Adam Scott ( our long shot pick for the trip) and NASCAR Driver Jimmy (could have used a few more gallons of gas) Johnson let us down in the sports book. The roulette wheel was kind to us, then unkind to us, then kind to us yet again but to a lesser extent. The Blackjack dealers were not our friends, but we did OK at the craps table.

We kept tripping over celebrities at the Palms, seeing Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller fame with his hair down and running into, sort of literally, Dennis "Easy Rider" Hopper on his way to dinner.

We were rather surprised when someone told us that Jay was chatting up the ladies outside our hotel. We knew our pal Jay Moore was supposed to be back in Nashville blogging for us while we were in Las Vegas, so you can imagine that we were relieved to find out it was another guy name Jay and not our own Middle Tennessee Editor.

If you watch for this week's "Jay Walking" segment you might just catch a glimpse of us in the crowd.

Dads & Sons

Happy Father's Day to all of us fly fishing Dads and Sons. I wanted to show you two of my favorite photos. The first picture (a bit fuzzy due to a camera dunking) is of my Dad. He is a full time Baptist minister who both pastors a church and heads up Touch the World Ministries. Had he not been called to become "a man of the cloth" I am quite certain he would have been a CEO, famous explorer / adventurer, or had he been born a few decades later quite possibly and extreme athlete. Dad regularly visits locations such as Africa, Eastern Europe, and Haiti and has been able to make a difference in literally hundreds of thousands of lives in the third world. He is most certainly the hardest working person I have ever met.

The second photo is of my 15 year old Son. He is a great kid who has excellent taste in music, plays the bass guitar, and is never too cool to spend a day on the creek bank with his decidedly un-hip Father. This photo shows him decked out in his best rock and roll fly fishing garb on a day where the temps were hovering around the five degree mark. He recently started a blog and was nice enough to provide a link to FlyfishMagazine.com.

I am proud to be related to both of them!

While looking through some photos I found this picture of my brother in law Richard and remembered when he introduced me to the world of fly fishing. I struggled for months to figure out how to catch fish and what flies to use in certain conditions. I eventually got the hang of it and learned to love the challenge of reading the rivers and landing rainbows and browns on a fly rod. There are many ways to speed up the process and I found one that I think could certainly help someone that is new to the sport. I found some information on flyfishing.about.com that covers topics from how to fish high water to fishing in the wind. If you are new to fly fishing or just need a refresher course, check them out and see what you can find.

Blondie on a Budget

Moore Beer

While our editor is trying to win enough money to retire in Vegas, I am taking a short break from fly fishing and tying to work on a little home brew. I know this has nothing to do with fishing, but sometimes after a good day of fishing; a cold one goes down good. A few years ago I started brewing beer at home and have brewed about 25 5gal. batches of all different types of beer. I am currently working on a Continental Pilsner and a Pale Ale both brewed with my favorite brand Munton's Gold.(www.muntons.com) I have found over the years that I get the best results with these kits and they produce home brew that would rival the products at your favorite watering hole. So in about two weeks when I sit down to tie some of my favorite flies, I can crack open a cold home brew, tie some flies, and know they were both created in my kitchen in Lebanon, Tn.

Vegas Baby!

Believe it or not my day job is actually paying me to go to Las Vegas for a few days later this week. The down side is that Thursday and Friday will be spent sitting in long meetings plotting the future course of credit management for the building materials industry. The upside is that the meetings will be in Vegas. With a bit of luck FlyfishMagazine.com could end up with that new corporate float plane we have had our eye on. However, it is far more likely that we will simply leave a few of our hard earned Franklin's at the tables.

In the mean time, FlyfishMagazine.com's Tennessee Editor, Jay Moore , who's corporate overhead I will be living on in Vegas, will be taking over the helm of the blogging behemoth that is FlyFishMagazine. We fully expect tall tales and great things.

We cannot resist mimicking the tag line of one of our favorite talented fly fishing writers when we say, "See you at the craps tables."

Virginia is for Optimists

The James River in Virginia has been the scene of recently reported fish kills this article at Our Valley.org gives it an optimistic spin with the title, "James River halfway to becoming ‘fully healthy’" However the report on the state of the river published by the James River Association is not as cheery.

The 2007 State of the James Report, compiled by the James River Association (JRA) for the first time in six years, gives the James River an overall passing grade—52 percent or “C”—but warns that the pace of development in the river’s 10,000-square-mile watershed threatens to reverse three decades of progress in cleaning up the James.

The rockfish are doing pretty well though:

In assessing Fish and Wildlife, for example, the report gives its only perfect scores to the dramatic rebound of the bald eagle and striped bass (also known as rockfish and striper) populations within the watershed. In 1975, the report notes, no bald eagles were breeding on the James River. Today there are 120 pairs.

Brook trout? Not so good:

Less positive is the news about oysters, American shad and brook trout, all of which are markedly down from earlier years and well below the benchmark levels set by JRA. Overall, the Wildlife category scored 46 percent or C-minus.

What do Paris Hilton and Henry Tan have in common?

Both are spending time in the pokey. Paris got 40+ days for a probation violation. Henry had his brother send him invasive plants and second hand aquarium equipment from Singapore into New Zealand and he got nine months and a $25k fine. Both Paris and Henry have paid a high price for their indiscretions but Henry's deliberate offense might have had a lasting impact on New Zealand's environment.

"This is one of the most serious cases of deliberate offending I have seen. The defendant's importation of unauthorised risk goods increased New Zealand's exposure to exotic algae or marine pests, potentially placing export earnings at risk and creating the possibility of introducing yet another unwanted pest that could impact on our native flora and fauna."

Via Protect your waters. (Editor's note: We apologize in advance for using a photo of Paris Hilton in a post somewhat related to fly fishing. We can only hope that this blatant traffic grabbing tactic does not unseat the phrase "Cindy Garrison Bikini" from the top spot on our search engine key word referrals list.)

Inside a Competition Fly Box

The fly box above belongs to North Carolina competitive fly fisher, fishing guide, and co-owner of Smoky Mountain Fly Fishing, Eugene Shuler. Eugene is one of the primary people putting together the Southeast Regional Qualifier for Fly Fishing Team USA and the driving force behind the North Carolina Fly Fishing Team.

Be sure to click the photo for an up close look.

Hire a guide for Bluegill?

Anglers hire guides for Tarpon, Bonefish, Permit, Trout, and even the occasional bass. How about for panfish?

"They told me nobody would pay (a guide fee) to go bluegill fishing," Mason recalled. "And, yeah, a few laughed." They didn't laugh long.

Garry Mason hopes you will. Read about it in The Louisville Courier-Journal.

Photo courtesy NCWRC

It's raining here today but...

According to the USGS North Carolina is in the midst of a drought. Stream flows in the Old North State are at record lows that rival the records set in the 1998-2002 drought. This coupled with recent hot temperatures are causing some area fishermen to tie flies rather than attempt to catch already stressed summer trout.

Conditions across the state range from "abnormally dry" in northeastern North Carolina to "extreme drought" in the southwestern mountains of the state, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Easy Rodder

We found this new fly fishing blog because they had a linked to us. Obviously this and the tag line "Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid." got our attention. Easy Rodder is written by "Dark Cahill" and chronicles the exploits of a New England fly angler who is getting back into the world of trout fishing after a 20 year hiatus. Side bar link added.

Dad's Day...

is just around the corner. Sure he might have conned you into spending that entire summer digging out a dirt bank in the back yard so he could build you " a mondo-cool club house / tool shed" but he did teach you everything you know about fishing. Time to go shopping!

Also we wish to point out that if it is a purveyor of fine mondo-cool bug throwing apparel that you seek, check out our pals at reel pure. They have great one of a kind gear and a fly fishing attitude to match.

Following the Stocking Truck - Chinese Style

Most of us who grew up around stocked trout streams have been witness to the long line of cars following the trout stocking truck from fishing hole to hole. It seems this might not just be a phenomenon unique to the USA. Recently the Chinese government's attempts to restock a polluted river ran in to a bit of a problem.

"Shortly after the release was completed, more than 1,000 residents in Jilin swarmed to the riverbank with nets and other fishing equipment," Xinhua said.

Reminds me of opening day of hatchery support trout season around these parts.

North Arkansas Fishing Report

The Morning News has published a new North Arkansas Fishing report. It has lots of talk of spoons and powerbait but also contains a bit of information for the fly fisher.

White River:

Scott Branyan at Ozark Fly Flinger guide service said trout are slow to bite flies, but can be caught with nymphs and streamers downstream from the Bertrand Access.

McLellan's Fly Shop in Fayetteville said the best low-water flies are midge patterns like the Jujubee, the Poison Tung, and the zebra midge.

Any fly called the Poison Tung is apt to catch our eye. Here's a link to a description and photo.

Gone like a Civil War Solider Bang Bang...

The final Roanoke River Striper report is up on the NC Wildlife Resources website. They agree with our pal Ron that this year's run wasn't its best.

Anglers interested in hitting the river for one last cast may hook a straggler or two, but for most part, the stripers quickly hightailed it back to the Atlantic Ocean after several days of scorching hot weather and water temperatures exceeding 70 degrees Fahrenheit over the holiday weekend.

While it wasn’t one of the best years on record, it certainly wasn’t one of the worst either. During weekly samples between April 16 and May 29, Commission biologists and Division of Marine Fisheries personnel tagged close to 3,000 striped bass, with many striped bass ranging in size from 18 to 35 inches and some exceeding 40 inches.

PS. We just found out that Today is Ron "Stripermaster" Barnes' Birthday. We hope he gets a chance to go fishing today!

The Trout Parade

On June 9th, 2007 Main Street in Livingston Manor, NY will become the site of The Trout Parade. From the looks of the the giant trout puppet and grinning human dry fly it is quite a bash.

Swimming down Main St. in no particular order you'll see...

• The Grande Marshal

• Hungry March Band

• Bash the Trash

• Mountain Tones

• The LMCS Marching Band

• Johnny Darling giant puppet

• The Small Fry float

• The Flying Fish

• SuperFly

• Bud’s Giant Brook Trout

• Kilgore Trout float

• Neil Greenberg’s Dancing Trout

If any of our readership attends, please send photos!

Trout Underground's Plan to Save Fly Fishing

Tom Chandler from The Trout Underground has hatched a plan to save the fly fishing industry and return the sport back to the glory days just after the release of "A River Runs Through It."

"So — purely in the interest of taking fly fishing mainstream (again) — here are the Underground’s Top Five Hollywood Movies About Fly Fishing That Should Be Made Right Away."

Our favorites thus far:

2. The Green Drakes of Hazard

4. Harry Potter and the Multi-Modulus, Four-Piece, Boron Wand of Fire

Visit his site for more and be sure not to skip the reader submitted offerings in the comments.

Like Disney only with fly fishing

L.L. Bean Inc. plans to develop a theme park style adventure center in Freeport, Maine.

"Bean envisions a "family-friendly outdoor adventure attraction with lodging amenities under something similar to a theme park operating model," the document said."

No rides though...

There are no plans for roller coasters or log flumes. Instead, the idea would build upon efforts by outdoors outfitters like Cabela's, L.L. Bean and Bass Pro Shops to generate customer traffic by offering rock-climbing walls, aquariums and even ponds to let customers try out equipment.

Via Boston.com - Photo from Wikipedia

PVC John Boat

What do you get when you put together some PVC pipe, tarps, plywood and a trolling motor? Why a PVC John Boat for some fishing on the cheap. Via Instructables.

Do you have a fishing related DIY project that's a bit out of the ordinary? Let us know about it in the comments or drop us a note.

More Anglers vs. Rafters on the Chattooga

We are not sure exactly who in their right mind would want to go white water rafting on the Chattooga River in the first place. Don't these people watch old movies? Currently on the Chattooga boating is allowed only on the lower sections of the river with the upper section, above highway 28, reserved for anglers. However in 2004 American Whitewater filed an appeal that sought to open the entire river to the raft and kayak hatch.

An administrative appeal was filed by American Whitewater in 2004 with Forest Service’s Washington Office. The appeal challenged the boating prohibition on the river above Highway 28. The Washington Office of the Forest Service decided to reverse the agency’s decision to continue to allow floating only below Highway 28, and directed the Regional Forester to conduct a visitor use capacity analysis to help make a more informed decision about how that section of the river should be managed by the agency. Until this work is completed and a revised decision is issued, the relevant provisions of the Sumter’s 1985 plan remain in effect, including the prohibition on floating above Highway 28.

Any floating on the Chattooga River above Highway 28 may only be allowed by Forest Service permits associated with this analysis. Activities allowed during this analysis period are only for data collection purposes, and may or may not be allowed in the agency’s final decision.

The US Forest Service has announced a public meeting on July 27th, 2007 in Highlands, North Carolina for the purpose of giving an update on the status of this appeal. For more information see this press release from the USFS or contact the following people:

Terry Seyden, Public Affairs Officer, National Forests in North Carolina 828-257-4202

Karen McKenzie, Public Affairs Officer, Chattahoochee/Oconee NF 770-297-3061

John Cleeves, Chattooga Analysis Team Leader, Francis Marion/ Sumter NF 803-561-4058

Here is a link to additional information about this subject from the Mountain Bridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Here is a link to previous coverage of this subject on FlyFishMagazine.

Florida's Most Valuable Saltwater Fish.

According to this article in Sport Fishing Magazine the Bonefish is Florida's most valuable salt water quarry bringing over one billion dollars into the the state's coffers. It's larger pal the tarpon does its part as well towards the 5.5 billion dollar total that comes into the state each year from sport anglers. They plan on taking good care of the resource:

The Bonefish and Tarpon Research Center will help focus scientific efforts in critical areas of applied research to support management decision making for the sustainability of these magnificent sportfish" said Dr. Jerry Ault, a Rosenstiel School professor of marine biology and fisheries and book editor of Biology and Management of the World Tarpon and Bonefish Fisheries. Ault will direct the new research center in collaboration with the various partners.

Hogzilla Redux

The photo was genuine but reports in the Anniston Star indicate that the monster hog that has been causing all the controversy of late wasn't exactly what you would call a wild hog.

Phil Blissitt purchased the pig for his wife as a Christmas gift in December of 2004. From 6 weeks old, they raised the pig as it grew to its enormous size.
Not long ago, they decided to sell off all of their pigs. Eddy Borden, owner of Lost Creek Plantation, purchased Fred.

It wasn't what one would call a clean kill either:

The monster hog gained worldwide acclaim after he was harvested by 11-year-old Jamison Stone, a Pickensville native, with a .50-caliber pistol on May 3 at the Lost Creek Plantation, LLC, a hunting preserve in Delta. The big boar was hunted inside a large, low-fence enclosure and fired upon 16 times by Stone, who struck the animal nearly a half-dozen times during the three-hour hunt.

The same sort of thing as using a 4wt for tarpon?

The young hunter's father says they weren't aware that the hog was domestic.

“We were told that it was a feral hog,” Mike Stone said, “and we hunted it on the pretense that it was a feral hog.”

ESPN's Don Barone: "A Day at The Race"

ESPN feature producer Don Barone writes about a different sort of day at the race. It's not Nascar but rather fishing "The Race" where the Long Island Sound meets the Atlantic. This time Don is fishing with members of the Danbury Rod & Reel Club and their quarry included big striper and bluefish. Having recently visited Danbury, CT I had no idea that such an organization existed. They sound like our sort of people:

"Guys who tie each other up with fishing wire when one falls asleep. Guys who stay at a nearby casino the night before and call down to the front desk to ask for a wake-up call answer the question, "And, sir, at what time would you like that call?" by saying, calmly, "In 15 minutes." And they get it.

Guys who, even after eight hours give you only about 10 minutes of quotes you can actually print. ("Hey, D.B.," I kept hearing. "That one would be the end of your career, huh?" Oh, yeah.)"

By the way, we realize this article of Don's isn't about fly fishing (they are dropping diamond jigs from a head boat) but we wanted to point it out anyway since we like Don's style.

TVAngler.com Site of The Month

The guys from TVAngler.com (North Alabama's finest fishing site) have written nice things about FlyfishMagazine and chosen us as one of their sites of the month! This alone would make them some of our favorite people but we also wish to point out that they have some great essays and some down right beautiful photography on their site. As for us they pretty much described us perfectly:

"To fill the fly fishing escape niche, we have the Fly Fish Magazine Blog. You may have noticed this site recently added to our blogroll. Fly Fish Magazine provides an incredible amount of fly fishing news, with a somewhat loose focus on the Southeast. Sometimes informative, always entertaining, the site is good for at least a half hour of time-wasting each day while vegetating in your cubicle."

Thanks for the mention!

New Hurricane Season Gear Deals

We spent this weekend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where we had planned to check out the inshore fishing with contributing Editor, Jeff Paisley. Tropical storm Barry decided that Saturday would be a wash out so instead of fishing we enjoyed a few good meals together and carried the bags for our wives as they hit the outlet malls. While I did end up with a couple of new pairs of Rockports as a result of the trip, I had to put off the purchase of any fishing gear until I got back home this evening. It's a good thing I did since Sierra Trading Post has deposited a new coupon in my e-mail box. I would be remiss if I did not share it with you. Free shipping on orders of $75 or more!


And just to help out - here is a link to all of STP's high quality Lamson fly reels at great prices in one handy location, namely our product showcase! Just be sure to come back here and use the coupon banner to take advantage of the free shipping.

A topic sure to stir up the message boards

From the UK's TimesOnline website comes an article that would be sure to stir things up on either golf or fishing message boards.

Forget golf: excitement is a wild trout

"I met a golfer a couple of weeks ago who said he couldn’t understand the appeal of fishing. All that sitting around, waiting for something to happen. Where was the excitement and challenge in that? He’d be bored stiff, he said. Imagine it – this from a golfer. Makes you laugh, really. "

Discuss amongst yourselves...