Kickstarter: Hitch 'N' Fish

While tournament angling ain't my thing, when I got an email about a Kickstarter project called Hitch 'N' Fish, I felt compelled to post...if for no other reason that it seems like it will be entertaining (if funded).



From the Kickstarter post:

The Trip
On June 8th, we will begin our fishing journey in northern Minnesota. The trip will span two months and involve traveling over 6,000 miles, while we partake in fishing tournaments and challenges along the way. From Minnesota we will head to the deep south, then head west towards the rocky mountains. From there we will head north until we hit Montana and eventually come full circle back to Minnesota. The four crew members of Hitch’N’Fish will be traveling in a 2000 GMC Tahoe and trailering a 16 foot basstracker. We will be sleeping in tents in some of the most remote areas across the country. The trip will emulate what we think represents: A Real American Story!!! 

The Documentary
We will be documenting every part of our journey. Think about it. Traveling across the country fishing in small town tournaments will illuminate a different side of this country. We plan to document every leg of this trip from the time we wake up until we hit the hay at night. We will be journaling the entire trip while we encounter and meet extraordinary people that are from different parts of this country. The footage will be condensed into one riveting documentary.

So if you're interested in supporting, check out this link HERE.  At the moment, they're about $20K short with 15 days to go.  Difficult, yes.  Impossible...well...what do they say about fishing?  It only takes one BIG fish to turn your day around...

Kype Fishing Magazine: Volume 4 / Issue 2

Issue Two Highlights:

Unconventional Spey Techniques
Flippin-Switch Rods
Punk Rock Fly Fishing
Jungle Fever
Kype Vise, Modified Caddis
Longevity for Nymphs
The Yukon Experience

Tenkara Summit 2013 - Day One's Events

The first official day of the 2013 Tenkara Summit had a little bit of everything...

Welcome to the 2013 Tenkara Summit

Lots of people...

A view of the vendor fair floor

Fly tying...

Loften Deprez tying kebari for an onlooker

Book signing...

Misako Ishimura and Kevin Kelleher (not pictured) signing copies of "Tenkara"

Gear hawking...

The Zimmerbuilt table...it was very brisk all day long

Knot making...

Lance Milks showing how to make that tricky Level Line to Lillian knot

Raffle items...

Lots of items donated by Mossy Creek Fly Fishing & Tenkara USA

Casting demos...

Daniel Galhardo showing casting fundamentals

Bamboo rods...

Some vintage bamboo tenkara rods saw the casting pool as well

Baby pools...

For Tanago rods only...

DVD previews...

Daniel Galhardo previews the upcoming Tenkara DVD

Technique presentations...

Tom Sadler gave an incredibly entertaining presentation

Stream disclosures...

Brian Trow of Mossy Creek Fly Fishing points us all in the right direction

And Skype-ing with anglers from Japan...

Quite possibly the highlight of the day, talking live to Tenkara anglers halfway around the world!

Got all that?

Good, because there was a bluegrass band too.

Shenandoah Alley plays for the after-Summit bar crowd

And evidently, a lot of blurry cell phone pictures!

Tenkara Summit 2013 - Fishing The Day Before

Phew...

Exhausted, bruised, and smiling, it's tough to get back into the work week after a most excellent long weekend at the 2013 Tenkara Summit in Harrisonburg, Virginia.  Over the next two days, I'm going to recap some of what went on...because it seems like a lot got crammed in over a short period of time.

I made the trek down to Virginia from Philadelphia immediately after work last Thursday night.  It took about four and a half hours to get down there, but I finally arrived around 11:30 PM, just in time to check into the hotel and get a good night's sleep for a day of Friday fishing before the Summit was to start on Saturday.

I figured I'd split Friday up into two parts, as I wanted to hit at least a few different fishing spots.  Using the advice given by Tom Sadler in his Middle River Dispatch blog, I figured I'd give the Rapidan River a go in the AM, and Skidmore Fork in the afternoon.   Unfortunately (and I didn't realize this until I was halfway there), the link he provides that gives the Google Maps GPS directions for the Rapidan were really that for the St. Mary's River...so I fished the St. Mary's instead.

Now the St. Mary's was gorgeous.  Picturesque even.  A little bit off the beaten path with not much of a trail in and around.  It truly was in the "Wilderness."  Albeit a damn beautiful wilderness.

Although it doesn't look it from the pictures above, the water was really high and really fast and pretty hard to wade.  The one pic with all the rocks wasn't even from the main flow, but a smaller break off.  Turns out high water was to be the trademark of the trip as the Harrisonburg area suffered through about a week of rain prior to the Summit wekeend.  Although I had a couple of swipes and flashes of brookies stinging my kebari, I didn't catch any fish.  Oh well.  After about 3 hours decided to leave after I took a spill on some rocks and banged up my left wrist.  I was okay, but figured it was a sign to get lunch.

After lunch, I headed over to Skidmore Fork to try some tenkara in a different locale.  Luckily, Tom's map worked this time.  :)

Even though the water was pretty high and fast here too, I found a little bit more "soft" waters in and around rocks and downed trees that yielded fish.  I didn't catch bucketfuls, but I did manage a few wild brook trout, expanding my wild Eastern brook count to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and now Virginia.  (Who's next?!)

The best part of the trip to Skidmore was that I happened to run into a lot of different folks in my meanderings.  About five minutes after dropping in I waved hello to Chris Stewart as he appeared from the brush and crossed the stream above me.  As I walked in the woods I passed Chris Zimmer (Zimmerbuilt) and bumped into and chatted with TJ Ferreira and John Geer from Tenkara USA who were watching Misako Ishimura fishing in the current.  Finally, on the way back to the parking area, I was greeted by Daniel Galhardo, TJ (again), and Anthony Naples, sharing about a half hour conversation before sending out the search party for the rest of their group.

Exhausted, I headed back to the hotel to grab a bite to eat, shower up, and get some rest.  However once I got there I got a text from Lou (Fly & Fin) that he was down at the bar...so of course being thirsty I wandered down and met up with him, Bart (The Jersey Angler), and their friend Rich.  A better bunch of guys I've never met.  They had evidently dominated Beaver Creek earlier in the day.  As the night progressed, the folks from Skidmore also seemed to show up one at a time as well.  I also met Justin Ide, a talented photographer that took some great pictures to chronicle the event.

Some other things may have happened after the bar closed, but after a few sips from a Mason jar it was all a blur... #shineresponsibly.

Tomorrow, Day One of the actual Summit...

A Rare Family Fishing Outing

I'm a fishing dork nut.  

Lilly is lukewarm on the topic of going fishing.  We've done it a few times, but it's clearly not her favorite thing to do.  As a "fishing dad", I'm okay with that.  If she prefers karate to casting, cool by me.

My wife K.C. will sometimes play along, but refuses to touch fish and generally doesn't like things - like bugs - that come along with being outdoors.

So was I pleasantly surprised when I asked Lilly on Saturday if she wanted to go down to the pond and try to catch some fish?...you bet.  And was I startled when my wife said she'd come along too? (More so to play with her fancy camera than fish...but whatever)  Holy crap yes!

We lasted a little over an hour...which is pretty good in my book.  The weather was nice.  We caught fish.  We took pictures.  All was good.  We left happy.  Will we go again?  Beats me, but at least I got Lilly to put down her Nintendo 3DS for more than 5 minutes...and was able to coax some smiles out in the process.

(All pictures taken by the wife)

Slideshow: Tenkara USA Fly Collection

I don't usually re-post stuff from Tenkara USA's blog.  I mean all of us cult-like enthusiastic Tenkaramaniacs already consume pretty much anything Daniel Galhardo posts these days...plus many of my social-media inclined cohorts do a fine job of spreading his work.  That said, this slide show of Tenkara flies is far too rad to ignore, possibly interesting enough that you non-Tenkara heathens would still enjoy it...and of most importantly, easily embeddable.

Who says all Tenkara flies need to be reverse hackle kebari?


See original post HERE over at Tenkara USA

Air Brownliner?

Hey all you dirty carpers...time to step up your footwear game...

"To coincide with 'Koinobori' (Children's Day) this weekend, Reebok are releasing a carp-inspired Insta Pump Fury. The Japanese national day of celebration happens on May 5 each year when families celebrate the health and happiness of their sons by flying carp-shaped streamers from their houses. The silhouette comes strewn with references to the day, including scales printed across the silky mesh underlays, carp fish printed on the insoles and swing charms of black and red fish hanging from the heels. The Reebok Insta Pump Fury 'Carp' will release this Saturday the 4th at select retailers including Tokyo's atmos."  

(h/t Sneaker Freaker)

...or at least your kids' footwear game...