Awesome Jacket

A premium shell –like our 8x Jacket– keeps foul weather from halting great fishing.

Eaten by the River

The worst thing that could possibly happen to a fly fisherman while fishing is getting eaten by the river. Granted this happens to me just about every time that I go fishing, but not every time I fall in is getting eaten per say. When I get eaten by the river, I mean getting swept down stream and filling up your waders with water, possibly losing some if not all of your equipment. That is a rare occassion. When it happens to me, it usually is the coldest time of the year. The Los Pinos...aka the Pine to the locals, was the first river to "eat" me. In fact, it was the first time that I ever fished it. My boss Brian had just caught a beautiful 20 in. rainbow. Which for the Pine is an excellent fish.

The Missionary Ridge fire had taken its toll on the fishery nad burned more than 30 miles in a straight line from my house to Vallecito Reservoir. The debris and ash from the fires in 2002 pretty much destroyed everything including the fish and aquatic life. But it is making a comeback.

On my way to photograph his fish, I had chosen a spot to wade across that was not too treacherous. So I thought. I had waded about half way across and the strength of the river was too much for me to handle. The Pine is not like the Animas. The Animas is made up of larger rocks and boulders. The pine is made up of smaller gravel and sand. Therefore there is no place to wedge your feet between the rocks. and the current flows strong. In my own ignorance I completely turned around and faced upstream and the river swept my feet out from under me and completely engulfed me. I was taken about 30 yards down stream where I clung to a rock still grasping my flyrod and my pack. I regained my self and was able to wade out of the river with completely full of water and really freaking cold. This all took place in April. In the High country, it stays cold for a while and gets cold even quicker as the sun dissapears behind peaks. Needless to say, I didn't get to photograph his fish because my camera had now become water logged.

I sat naked on the shore so as to not keep my soaked clothes against my body and to help dry off some. NEVER wear jeans under your waders no matter how long you think you will be fishing. I will never forget that day.

To top it all off, I was skunked.

Portugal 2006: World Flyfishing Championships

CONGRATULATIONS team USA. 2nd time in the top 10. Shout out also goes to Lance Egan with a 24th place out of 110 and to George Daniel with a 5th place finish. Finland 2007 is next June.

Bluegill is the New first defense to Eco Terrorism

Bluegills first defense to detect toxins in water, and prevent massive attacks