12 Jan 2018
I am 0 for 18
First my apologies for not doing this sooner, but I finally went out fishing last week. The temperature was great, however, the weather not so much. I stopped by a friend’s house to let them borrow my Okuma Cerros bait casting reel. I’m not gonna need it for a few days (more like weeks) and he wanted to mess with it. It started sprinkling when I left his house and fortunately, it didn’t stop from there.
I got up to the river, equipped with my streamer (seriously, I need to try harder to catch something) and headed downstream…… down stream…….. well down the river (not sure how that is to be typed out). Amazingly, it was not very crowded, this may have had something to do with the gully washer that was heading my way. I fished in this spot for a short time and got bit once. I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m not sure he got it well enough to hook anyhow, the line was tight. It felt good and allowed me enough motivation to head up the river.
I fished there for about another half an hour, with zero hits. I was getting dizzy from the water (this is typical) but with the water moving around 450 CFS, in spots I could wade, but not worth risking with the spinning. I realized that my bottom shirt was soaked (yes I did leave my rain coat at home) and figured that my goal had been met, I’m really not sure why I bothered with waders as wet as I was. I decided it was time to get ready for the Open House.
As the cold weather is back, my fishing rod is put up, it just hurts too much in this cold anymore. Funny, the other day I was fired up to go, opened the door, almost took a step outside before I said, nope, it’s too cold. Yeah, I know, I am getting soft, but it is what it is. Anyway, I have got a few rods ready for the Open House and a few rods for display only. This is the first show that I have ever done and I have no idea what to expect. If you get a chance to stop by Watson’s Marine on February 1, 2, or 3, stop by my booth and introduce yourself. The banner will have TFR Custom Rods, the website will be in smaller print. I’d like to meet the 3 people that read this journal or check on the website. And as expected I will have nothing to give away and if you are reading this, you know that I have little to no advice to give, except perhaps what not to do. But stop by and say hey.
I hope 2018 is extremely good to you and everyone has a great week, God bless.
01 Jan 2018
Happy New Year
I meant to give a review of 2017, but honestly, my memory is not serving me real well anymore so I will just start with that. 2017 was a great year, the catching was up and down and it seems as the years roll by, my fishing time is taking up fewer days. However, I did catch a personal best trout and personal best striper in 2017. I also hooked a striper or hybrid on a fly rod, but did not get it into the boat. This was a good accomplishment for me and has gotten me focused on landing one in 2018.
2017 had my son graduate college and get a job and saw my daughter start college. I couldn’t be prouder of a young man or young lady than I am those two and I give God all the glory for the good that is in them. 2017 we were blessed and it was a great year and we look forward to 2018 keeping up or even better.
Today I got up and let the dog out of her crate and thought, hmmm, I’m not sure about going fishing today. I checked the temperature and thought, 2 years ago I would have been excited because at these conditions, it’s not real crowded. However, I do have to go to work tomorrow and I’m not sure I would be able to get up if I went out today. I know it sounds like I am getting soft and the truth is I am. I just didn’t want to risk it.
That is why I am glad I have this rod building. I am going to be doing a show at the first of February at Watson’s Marine Open House. I’ve not done a show before and I typically only build a rod at request, that is the whole idea behind a custom rod. It is what the customer wants, custom to them. These are more handcrafted as they are built without anyone requesting. I certainly don’t want to get into production of many rods, but this is has been a pretty good thing for me to stockpile a few for the show.
So today will be consist of rod building, watching a little bit of football, and for all the psychos out there, Psych is now on Amazon Prime. This will be played while I am working so that I can listen to the ignorance that makes me laugh like no other show. I hope everyone had a great 2017 and will have a fantastic 2018. God bless and may your year start off right.
