If you're new here and would like to see more of what I'm saying, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or have a look at my papers and presentations page for downloads of stuff that you can share or "borrow heavily from". You also might find my guidelines for posting comments interesting, especially if you're a government employee. Thanks for visiting and happy hacking!

OK, so I bought an Outcast Fish Cat 10 IR pontoon boat last week.  The killer was that I was still too sick on Saturday to take it out, so it’s been sitting fully assembled in my living room for over a week now.

But I need a name for this beast so that I can christen it with champagne.  I’m opening name suggestions up to the Internet as a whole.

Some frontrunners for names so far:

• USS Insecure
• HMS Bug Bounty
• Boyancy Compliance
• The FISMA Floater
• Cross-Lake Scripting

Bookmark to:

Review of the latest Trout Bum Diaries over at The Global Flyfisher.  I like these guys, like their style, and I can’t wait to get my own copy. =)

Bookmark to:

It’s just west of Clifton, Va and more of a drive than I thought it would be, but a couple of weeks ago I hit Bull Run (yes, that Bull Run) at Hemlock Overlook. It’s a nice half-mile walk down to the creek, and it’s very well populated with bluegill, smallmouth, largemouth, and monster carp.

I saw the biggest carp of my life at Hemlock Overlook. It was about 40 lbs and was slowly screening food off the undercut bank 10 feet away from me.

Bookmark to:

This is a joint DVD review I did with Martin Joergensen of The Global Flyfisher on The Trout Bum Diaries Volume I: Patagonia.  I likened the DVD to “fish porn”. =)

Bookmark to:

Attached are some pictures from the C&O Canal in Maryland.  It’s a nice warmwater fishery and although I have yet to catch the huge bass that live in it, I have seen them up-close on 2 occasions–they made my heart stop, they were so big.

Where the Bluegills Live

Looking Down the Canal

Baby Bassie

Bookmark to:

I may be still somewhat sick, but I’m not dead yet.  I took an evening this week, severely medicated myself, and fished the Great, Green, Greasy Potomac River.

The water was about a foot high and a little discolored.  Not too bad, but give it a week and maybe it will be really good.  In the knee-deep water, I could see plenty of baitfish but no crawfish.  They estivate during the winter, and I guess it’s still a little too early for them.  No matter, an estimated 75% of a smallmouth’s diet is crayfish, so I figured they wouldn’t mind if I dropped one on top of them, they would still bite it out of reflex.  I tied on a Skip’s Dad and cast out into the current.

I fished the bottom of Langley Island next to where Turkey Run trickles into the Potomac.  I always liken smallmouth fishing to steelhead fishing.  When you’re standing in waist-deep water and casting into a little bit deeper current that’s about walking speed, that’s where you’ll find both the steelhead and the smallmouth.

I landed a couple of nice redbreasted sunfish and lost about a dozen fish, I think at least one was an average-size smallmouth.  I had to “super-size” the weight on the fly because I just didn’t think I was getting down deep enough.

I quit when it started to get dark (the park police are stupidly anal about locking you in after dark, but stupidly lackadaisical about letting you wade in the river), I broke off my fly in a tree, and my reel seat came unglued and slid off the back of the blank.  I shrugged, figured it was a sign that I’ve had enough fishing for a day, and slogged my way back up the hill to the car.

Not bad for my first time out to this spot of the river this year.

Bookmark to:

I’ve been lacking on the Friday Flyfish pictures–it’s been too cold to even think about fish! I’ll start adding more from a sunnier time and place.

Bookmark to: