The first one was pompous, this one is just arrogant

Well, there it is the final revision before the publisher gets the ad. I just drove it over and put it in one of teh guys trucks since it is 2am and knocking at this hour just isn't cool- even if you are awake.
The past few years I have taken on an attitude of "why bother doing something if it isn't your best". Not in every facet of my life but a few. This trailer is the one of them. Why a trailer? Why put so much effort into a "thing". It represents my dream I guess...
To make a lot of money?
No. the bottomline is to be able to have the only two decisions I have to make in the morning is where am I fishing and is my family coming with me or will I just see them around lunch time. This scenario can only happen if they are in a nice place near a river. Right now I don't have a river worthy of fishing within a half hour.
I want to live in one of those resort areas somewhere. So in part I guess that requires a bit of money. And some sort of self employment prior, or easily managed during, that affords me the time to just hang with Lisa and the girls anyday I wanted.
Why put so much effort into the fishing stuff?
Because it is what I love most outside of my Family (capitalized for a Reason, or The Reason... The Risen?). It is what I am supposed to do. I think if a person doesn't mute that voice in their heart, and they pursue that wildest dream, then and only then can we be ultimately sharpened into the person we were created to become. It seems as though it is only the deepest desires that can keep driving us through the fire of learning new things. And it is only the toughest stuff in life that we go through because of our heart... the rest of the stuff we just give up on...
-marriage for example.
Man it has its tough times. Luckily for me it's really just an annual weekend every year- not a particular event, this weekend just seems to appear once a year at random. I know my marriage is easy. Mostly because my wife is forgiving. Anyway, during the rough water if we humbly look at the situation and ourself (which IS ALSO your partner) then we become better people on the other side- and usually with the ability to love a bit deeper.

So by doing stuff (like this trailer) so "over-the-top" are you looking for fame and recognition along with a bit of coin?
Not so much.
But you want to do a fishing show- isn't that all about fame?
I think it is more about showing people that anything can be accomplished no matter where you start. Although, If I make enough money to be done working, I would still do the show. The message wouldn't be as powerful if I just won the lottery and began broadcasting. I may rise to some sort of weird celebrity status among the river walkers- and, again, I am just in that arena to make a point (i.e. you can wear waders that have more patches than Joseph's coat and catch just as many fish).
But you play the lottery almost consistently- do you think you have a gambling problem?
No. It would be a problem if I won the big Jackpot. I just play a buck on the powerball/megabucks. I am not looking for the insane 9 digits of cash, I am looking for $50k. And with the trailer business I am just looking for a bit more freedom... the kind that allows me to go to Avery's Gymnastics stuff.

The Finest Drift Boat Trailer in the World

Kind of a bold statement I guess, but really there isn't another one like this. I designed it and then tracked down a remarkable welder. He is pleased and so am I. This doesn't come cheap, however the versatility and style make up for it.

The emblem is on!

It is kinda silly to build a trailer this cool.

The Best Drift Boat Trailer in the World

I realize that is a very bold statement, but you should see the competition. There just isn't any trailer like this handbuilt piece.

Nymph No More

I tied up a couple new patterns with a softhackle approach while getting ready for a trip to the D for summer run steelhead late in the season. Little did I know of the swung fly and spey rod... until thsi trip. These are cool patterns none-the-less but I wonder when I will actually bust them out again. Spey is my new way... ALL DAY- dredging the bottom, even with these spectacular patterns is probably not going to happen any more.

NonConformist and the Nice Guy

After spending 3 days camping in spurts of 45 degree rain and 30 mile-an-hour wind, it is not hard to understand how the the two of us can get along. There is no one else I know of that will endure these kind of elements without whining even if there are double digit steelhead being brought to hand in less than 72 hours. Yeah, the splash in the blurry picture is a steelhead about to be released. Maybe if the wind weren't blowing so hard the camera wouldn't have been so shaky (even without the wind I was shivering from the hat-floater I did earlier in the day, so it still wouldn't have turned out perfect).

I just got back from a 3 day trip with a guide buddy of mine. Other guides twice our age say he is the best Steelhead fisherman in the state. My fishing career is real blessed to have reconnected with Rob. It took us a few hours to figure each other out again. We
havent hung out in 10 years, but, mix in a few fish, some politics and religion and we realized how the core ideals were still turning over better than my sink-tip. However, he is nice and even keeled, and in contrast i have a constant dribble of dry humor that is difficult to read, so some of our first conversations got stacked up
like my spey cast.

He called me out a few times for the bits of unnecessary non-conformity I try too hard to exhibit with the all too elitist act of fishing with a fly rod, and in return I call him out for ... well.. being so gall-darn nice and conformiing. Man he is a good guy and it is unfortunate that he has to hang with a bunch of guys (clients every weekend) who expect him to dress and act a certain way. I am sure he is looking forward to the day when he can just be on theriver only entertaining himself and his family.

Didn't do much with the still camera on the D

I seriously only brought home a dozen pics with the still camera, if
that. Rob was usually 50 yards from me fishing the other half ofeach run. I happened to swing a fly right as I got out of the boat and hooked this one so he was there to snap this.

I don't want to throw around a bunch of pics of him due to his profile in the weird world of fly-fishing, but he caught some beautiful fish... a lot. Here is that perfect shot of a well treated fish.

Vladimir Markov

I just got done reading an old copy of Flyfishing & Tying Journal from Amato Publications. I am not sure if it is in print anymore but it would be sad if it weren't. They had a scud & shrimp tying contest and had printed the patterns of the winners in the back. This Markov is from Irkutsk, Russia which is on the Pacific Coast of Russia. The ultimate destination for me. Belize is cool for saltwater fishing, but I really enjoy anadromous fish and the huge trout that clean up after them.
Anyway, when I get over there I am looking up the Markov's. You can tell from their intricate patterns that they are truly inflicted with the essence of fishing with a fly. My kind of people.

Fishing Guide for Ambergris Caye

I just got back from a pretty uneventful fly-fishing excursion to Belize. Blame it on Hurricane Wilma. On the last day of our trip I decided to at least blind cast from our dock in the stirred-up, murky wake of the storm.
The natives thought I was insane and they kept coming up the dock to see what the heck I was thinking. I managed to hook only two but then a local Dive Master, Rocky, came out to the dock in the 40mph+ winds and asked me if I wanted to go out in a boat and catch some fish.





I figured I would go along... at this point in the week I was up for anything- even spin fishing. Rocky called his two buddies, Mario Ack (who owned the boat) and his brother Alex Ack.


They were great guys, we caught over 20 fish in a bit over an hour and headed back.



Then they filleted them out quickly and proceeded to make dinner for all of us at our condo.
It was the best meal we had all week and it was sad that we met them on the last day of our trip. To this day it is the only fish my wife ever enjoyed eating which probably had something to do with the fact that the fish were flopping around about 15 minutes before they were cooked. We had dinner for seven of us (including the "guides") for less than we had been paying all week, not to mention the boat ride and the fish I enjoyed reeling in as part of the package. I can't recommend these guys enough. I told Mario I would throw his cell number out on the internet so that someone else might look him up someday.

Fishing in Belize

The best advice I can give for fishing in Belize is to bring along an extra Penn Reel (or five). This is a third world country and getting good gear is very difficult for the resident guides. It costs twice as much money to buy the reel in Belize as it does in the US. So bring a few down and use them for bartering the guide services. Everyone wins! Even if you dont spin fish- they do... and it will go a long way with them. Throw 20 lb clear Maxima on it to sweeten the deal.