Here's some bass at a friend's pond in his backyard. Trying to see how the video addition works on the blog so bear with me...

LR

Where it all began. In one word: Dad.

I was talking to a close friend about the blog and thinking what I could do to kick off the blog and he brought up the question, where did I get my passion for fishing? A few weeks ago I was talking to my dad about when I began fishing and he told me he began bringing me to the pond in a local park when I was 2 years old, so for the better part of 25 years I've been involved with fishing. Now some may say that I wasn't really fishing when I was that young, but it doesn't matter, I was around the water and those years were formative for my life to come. From as far back as I can remember my Dad telling me, fishing isn't all about catching, if you go out to catch as many as you can, you make a job out of it. That has stuck with me and I carry that to this day. I can go out fishing with a goal to catch fish, if I don't get a bite I may be a bit perturbed by it, but that is a passing feeling. I think this mindset is the key to making the best out of a fishing trip. Some of my most fond memories are on the water with my dad, or shooting the breeze with an old neighbor who fished the same waters as us.

From the age of 2 to 24 I fished cane pole to spincast (good ole Zebco!) to spinning to bait cast. I was introduced to fly fishing when I moved from Louisiana to Northern Arkansas for grad school, fishing the Spring River. As a Jimmy Buffett put it "When that bug bites you, you live with its sting". That sums it up, from the first time hooking into a rainbow there, I was hooked.

I began fly fishing with a big box store combo (still use the reel) and I was horrible. I mean horrible. But with time I improved, watching youtube videos, watching people on the river, figuring out how I cast best to get the fly to the spot I wanted. And the key is I spent as much time on the water as possible, either the river or casting to bluegills at the nearby lake. Well as many beginning fly fishers do, I began to lose flies and I quickly grew tired of forking over money for flies. Besides, I was bitten remember? Why not go whole hog into this sport? That's where I learned another thing, tying flies takes a lot of patience and persistence.

Much like when I began fly fishing, fly tying was the same song and dance. Reading, watching videos, watching others tie in person, bleeding a bit, I became a better tyer. And that brings me to present day, I've picked up a few tricks along the way, am still bitten by the bug and there seems to be no cure except more fishing.

Now I would like to disclaim that I am by no means an expert on fly fishing and fly tying but I do know a few things. This blog will be my way of disseminating my knowledge to others and show my spin on things. So if you enjoy what you're seeing on this blog, let me know in the comments below, share this with your friends and let's make this a lasting blog!

Tight Lines,

LR

Musings

I have found in fly-fishing a peace, a challenge to oneself and a pure way to connect to nature, it cleanses the soul and makes one whole again.

I thought this sitting behind the vise, staring at a bare hook. It’s as if each turn of the thread is a line in a poem, a statement of what is. This seems a bit preachy now but it applies. Sitting here, vise empty, bobbin loaded with a random thread and a pile of materials, I feel like a painter staring at a blank canvas. As I began to turn the thread, adding materials, drawing from this pattern or that, using this technique or special turn, something materialized on the once bare hook that had never seen the light of day, a fly purely from my imagination.

Now in the fly-fishing and tying community there’s a pattern of tying flies following a ‘recipe’. I get it; there are patterns that work and I’ve followed them. But personally, I believe in variations on a theme. I’m only speaking for myself, I tie my flies as close to realistic as possible, but sometimes you have to tie something that will just piss the fish off into biting.

LR

What this blog is meant to be...

This blog is meant to be an outlet for my musings on fly fishing, fly tying and maybe on occasion some other topics, but nothing ever too serious. Being new to the blog world, it will take me some time to get this running smoothly, but I hope to post on a regular basis a mixture of writings, photos, and videos focused around what we love: fly fishing. Along with the above I hope to include some tying videos and step by step instruction on fly tying and my way of doing things at the vise. One of the other aspects of this blog will be gear reviews, I know there's a lot of gear reviewers out there, but I think I can lend a good opinion on gear from tying to fishing and including some of the clothing. Hopefully in the future this blog will gain some notoriety and we can get more gear in to test and put through the paces, but for now I will give my reviews of what I've got.  So welcome to the blog, bookmark this and let me know what I could do to improve the blog. 

Tight Lines,
LR