Swingin the Blues, Ticks and FFR

On the way over to FFR Justin and I swung through Steamboat to hook up with John St John at Hog Island and some of the boys from Gore Creek to spend the day on the Blue.

The Blue has always been on my hit list for Colorado rivers so when the opportunity popped up to swing a fly we took it.

First off I have to say that the put in is completely redonkulous.


Meat was on the menu as far as the fly selection and there were a couple of nice pay offs.

The highlight for the drive into Denver had to be the nice little hitch hiker Justin picked up somewhere along the way. There are only two things that terrify Justin, rattlesnakes and ticks and after watching his reaction to the tick I was wishing we had seen a rattle snake. Naturally the first thing that comes to mind is lime disease and I was always told that you want to fry the little suckers out of you as soon as possible. Our best guess is that he picked the little guy up while he was taking a piss in the tall grass at the end of our float. In his panic he broke out the crackberry to Google tick removal and when he read somewhere that you do not want to try and burn them out he wouldn’t let me near it, so we decided to let the parasite ride shotgun till we could prep ourselves for the surgical procedure that would take place later that evening. With our new companion attached to Justin’s calf we headed out for the 3 hour drive into Denver. Apparently the secret to removing a tick is to grab them by the ass with a pair of tweezers and gently apply pressure as you pull them from the skin and then hold them there for two or three minutes and they will unlatch their jaws and wah lah.

The plan was to document this all on film but unfortunately we were too caught up in the moment so I will just have to let you all know that the tweezer pull is the real deal and Justin still has his leg.

The whole AEG crew made it out to the big show in Denver. While it looked like the numbers were down at the show the numbers looked like they were up at the Drake Fest and Tom found a killer dive bar to host the event this year. Probably helped a little that there was more room, free beer and noticeable ventilation. The films were great and it was good to catch up with friends and fellow film makers. Each year the bar gets bumped up a little higher and it is great to see who the new guys are that have been quietly making some kick ass film.

AEG debuted a short clip from the first half of our new film that will be finished later this spring. We will be heading out towards the end of next week for the final 6 weeks of filming. God willing we will survive the next month and a half.

Until that time we give you METALHEAD

BLOW FEST 08'

Our first couple day in the keys were manageable with constant winds around 15mph. We ended up getting a few smaller sized bones to the boat and had hopes that the hurricanes would spare us. It only got worse from here. For the rest of our stay there were small craft advisories posted and the winds were upwards of 30mph gusts. Just as any crazed fishing fanatic would do we still headed out each day and continued to get our asses kicked by the wind/water. All we could do was try to stake our in the lee of any small islands and wait for fish to move through, visibility was tough and made sight fishing nearly impossible. I guess that's the risk you take during Hurricane Season. We'll get em' next time...

Flies...Check, Rods...Check, Skiff...Check

I'm gearing up for another trip down to the keys and making sure nothing is left behind. This time we're going after big ocean side bones, permit, and tarpon. I've been planning this trip with a couple of buddies for almost 2 months now, tying in my spare time, and stock piling flies for the trip. My boxes are almost full! We're bringing down a few skiffs, a couple cameras, and a serious hankering for some sight fishing on the flats. This time of year can be legendary for bones with some double digit fish possible. The permit and baby poon fishing should be going off as well. We have some big tides in our favor and with some cooperation from the weather we should get some good fish to hand and on film!
I'll report back in the next couple weeks...

How big a number is 200,000?

It’s a pretty damn big number unless maybe you’re Wilt Chamberlin.
In only 9 months tv.aegmedia has racked up over 200,000 watched videos.
What started out as a beta site for uploading submissions for the Fly Fishing Film Tour and a site to house AEG clips the TV.AEG web site is morphing into a pretty sweet collection of fly fishing films, clips and teasers from fly fishing Joe’s across the globe. Clips have been uploaded from all over the world including Finland, France, Scandinavia Russia and South America to name but a few. While the site is pretty much still in the experimental phase we have some pretty good ideas for how to make the site a pretty sweet little hang out.
There are currently over 80 vids for your viewing pleasure on the site with new clips coming in every week.
If you have something you want to upload just sign up for a logon at the site and follow the steps. If you just want to watch the vids you can visit the site without signing in, although you wont be able to rate the videos which currently at this point means absolutely squat.

Canadian Fish Chicks

Its getting rougher for American North Westerners to run up to B.C. humping after those perfect silver Steelhead legally. A future possibility looms with that in a few years the number of days U.S. citizens can fish in B.C. will be limited to 8 (under a lottery). This will drive Owens to an early dry grave. After much debate and a bit of whiskey we have decided to try and marry off Owens to any legal Canadian resident fish chick to save his life.

Owens is single and for the most part, disease free. He likes long walks on the beach and Apple computer products. When not fishing or editing, Owens enjoys baking, fine wines, and knitting. The whole "send picture of boat" is applicable here. Gear chuckin girls apply around back.

Bum Report

At this moment:

Owens
Bed- Jay's couch
Status- Broke, Dreaming of steelhead and square meal
Nickname of the Month-Wishiwouldofblowens

Justin
Bed-Pete's couch
Status- Broke, Dreaming of steelhead and his girly guiding up in Alaska
Nickname of the Month-Justin VonJustin-avich

Brian
Bed- His own bed in Florida
Status- Semi broke/gonna be broker preparing for a Tarpon short that we all wish we could be there for.
Nickname of the the Month-B.J.

Thad
Bed- Pretty sure he doesn't sleep
Status- Breaking tail to find avenues to repair broke status for everyone and most likely listening to 80s music.
Nickname of the Month-Thug

Jay
Bed- Close to sleeping with the fishes which sounds kinda good and kinda bad (never start smoking kids)
Status- Broke and typing for food donations.
Nickname of the Month- No one ever gives me nicknames. Any ideas?

Brothers of the Flung Fly,

I was just thinking about the Fly Fishing Film Tour. Driving 1000s of miles, meeting 1000s of faces, drinking 100s of local refreshing beverages, and catching 10s of fishes(uhhh) got me ta thinkin. What was the biggest tour stop in 2008? With the finger agility of locksmith and a bit of hunt and peck typing I finally figured the figures. What do you think the biggest stop was?

Howsabout the closest guesser gets the new Fish Bum 1 Mongolia DVD in the mail?