This Is A Story....

Oh my god it's Sunfish Zilla!!! Yes, my pictures are OUT OF CONTROL! Yes, well this is the story of a fun fishing trip with my pal David and my new fly rod that I built last week. The above sunfish is just one of the pretty fish I was surprised to catch that was NOT a stocked trout.

We'd taken a ride up to the Little Patuxant River to a spot that I'd fished years ago with my brother. I was beginning to think they'd moved the river after we'd driven around for an extra hour trying to find "the spot". I tried to keep my fishing buddy calm buy using reassuring phrases like "This feels right" and the like (some of you will remember the great Christmas Decoration Quest of '08 where I kept repeting "this feels right" and "oh yeah, I remember this"). We finally found the joint and we took a nice hike down to the river where I promptly hooked up with a small small mouth bass. (that's a mouthful!)

I caught a few more but they're not in focus (I could be lying too) and had tons of short strikes. I've got to tie up some flies with hooks that are set back further to get those timid fish!

It was a great night to get out and even with the murky water we caught fish. Honestly as long as it wasn't raining I was pretty happy. It's rained every day here in DC it seems for the last month. The water was 72 degrees and perfect and the air was right around 80.

Here's a shot of my new sweet/awesome/killer 4wt flyrod that I'd finished a few nights before:

And here it is after a few fish and a few hundred casts:

Yes, Mater-caster that I am, I managed to snap that sucker right at a joint. I was pretty bummed but I built the whole doomed rocket ship for around $25. Doomed I say because the cat chomped on a section of it early in the building stage (this is why he went to live with the colony of hippies) and I'd cut a few inches off to try to correct the issue. Clearly this cat-chomping-damage went further into the graphite than I'd imagined.

I had a Snickers bar in my vest and some Gatorade so I was OK.

All in all a good trip. Some successes and some failures but I'd do it all over again! Hey, spread love and wear your helmet - you never know when you're going to fumble that tomato-knife and tear up your middle finger! -micah

Tonight from washington

You know, I love DC. I love downtown most of all. It's jsut got everthing it's neighbors don't have. Just yesterday evening on my way home for "Date Night" I was riding along and there was a killer farmers market happening. I'd seen this one before but never stopped and checked it out. I thought I'd pop in there and see if I could get some flowers. I sure did and MORE!

I managed to score some fresh cheese (the funky wet kind that I don't like but the GF loves) and even YARN! Yes, I found yarn in DC on the side of the road! It's a special gift for someone - don't worry, I'm not letting my stash get out of control again. Ah, if only I had time to knit.... The flowers were great and they had some fragile looking stems that didn't look like they'd lend to biking very well so I went with heartier wildflowers. I will ahve to make it a thursday night tradition this summer. I have GOT to get a basket for my fixed gear.

Anyway, it's summer, take a different route home and see something new! oh and spread love and wear your feta cheese helmet. -micah

My God, How did I get here?

Yes, sometimes I get lost. This is nothing new. I've been getting lost for years. In fact I think it's something you inherit from your parents; my father gets lost a LOT. Getting lost can be a pretty good thing sometimes. If you never stray from your usual path you never get to see anything new.

I got lost last night trying to find a gas station (my usual stop had been shuttered after people's cars starting freezing up!) and turns out that gas was "....down there and make a right." I went left. Fortunately I had enough to drive a fair spell without getting into trouble. This was all BEFORE I went fishing. Things started to go down hill, er, right on the other side of this hill:
The skies opened up and we got our 6:30 thunderstorm right on schedule. Isn't living in Florida great? Wait a second....

So the guys at Backwater Angler stayed open for me so I could grab some leaders and I bought a dozen flies (I feel awful about it, believe me) and I made it to the river in the full rain. I wasn't going to let that stop me from trying out my new reel with my trusty old Sage - the first fly rod I ever built! I picked up a Redington SVII for under $50 on line and it's a pretty sweet little reel. Someday I'll catch a fish and let you know how the drag works.

So it rained and was wet and foggy and the river cooled off and shut down.

I got pretty wet as you can see:

It was just too hot and muggy for waders. I'm probably done with them for the summer.

The scenery was great and most people (except for 2 geezers who jumped right into a pool I was fishing) headed home. I had fun casting to tight lipped fish for a few hours.

All in all - I'm glad I made the trip. 1.5 hours up (over 90 miles including my gas journey) and 2 hours back in the worst rain I've driven in in AGES - well worth it. Getting out of the city weekly is good medicine.

Hey, spread love and get yourself a new helmet - I don't know about you but mine has past the "musty" stage and gone into the "cheese smell" phase. -micah

Turkey Lurkey Lee

So I came home yesterday and found my garbage can's mingling with the other 20 or 30 in the alley behind the house. I had been procrastinating when it came to painting the house number on there but after picking the best of the litter, I marched right upstairs and got out some paint. I tossed some numbers on one can and thought "that's not really any fun."

So I got a beer and some masking tape.....

Now I'll know which one is mine.

I've been super busy and so much so that nothing sticks out. I'm jsut tired! Working hard for the midweek fishing trip. Will have pics for sure.

Spread love and wear your helmet- it won't stop you from getting the poison ivy on your face but you'll look hot in it! (it burns and itches!!!) Micah

Letting The Days Go By

One of my friends expressed his concern that I may be spending all my time sitting around the house knitting tea cosies and generally loosing touch with my man side. I assured him that everything was status SNAFU and that I was still amassing a stockpile of fly rods and power tools. Also, I still bike to the pub like in the good old days and, with the weather breaking lately, you can get the best seat in some of the finest (that's a loose rating system) pubs in town.

I snapped this shot the other day and just thought it was really awesome:

Matt, I am still getting crafty in the kitchen and this deep dish pizza is proof. It looks awesome but had a bit of "fried'ness" to the center crust. I'll keep at it.

The fishing locally is HOT and I expect a run up to the Big Gunpowder at least this weekend. If anyone wants to meet up I'll tell you the DeLorme grids and we'll go fishing. It's not as far away as you think, Ralphy, and Mark, and you can fish freezing cold water and the Rock Snot is well downstream now and there's bugs EVERYWHERE right now. I'm "working from home" a few days this week and expect to tie flies feverishly and will be stocking up on sulphur patters.

Spread love and pack a spare rod, you never know when you'll slip and bust one of those suckers! -micah

The Weather's Here, Wish You Were Beautiful

Yep, it's that time of year again...time for locking your office up and taking the long way home, leaving early and going fishing, maybe even just taking a leasurly spin at lunch! The weather sure is great this week and, even with work, I've been taking advantage of it. Tuesday night I took a longer route home along the river and down into Hains Point. It was absolutely the perfect biking weather!



The bike is looking good there in the sun and that seat sure is getting pollished up with all the riding!

Last night I was lucky and snuck out of work early. I hit the road and, after 2.5 hours of traffic, I was on the river! People were leaving when I got there but things were just heating up. Having not spent my winter tying flies like a propper fly-fisherman should, I had some issues matching the hatch. Those flies I was supposed to tie myself, and my father and my friend in NJ would have really come in handy! There were millions of #12 sulphers buzzing the water and the trout were flying 3 feet high to get them! I did jsut fine with a funky fly that I cut up with my nippers and fished will I couldn't see any longer. Here's a shot I took when I first started hiking up river. I am kicking myself for not bringing a flash - I'd have loved to have taken a few shots of the bugs mid-air.

It is well worth the lack of sleep. I'd do it again tonight if I could!

Hey, check this crazy front-porch-display!

I think that bike says it all. Oh yeah, and the sign too!

Spread love and wear your helmet...and maybe a headlamp too; it sure is dark in the woods at 10:00!!! -micah

Work is where you rest!

That's right, bike to work day was last friday and I hope you took part in it. Here in DC I've read there were over 8,000 people registered! That's AWESOME! Freedom plaza was jammed with happy people and LOTS of crazy bikes.

I actually rode with a group of folks from Lincoln Park on. They stopped and waited for me when I was waiting for the stoplight. It was pretty nice of them and they were all really great people.

In the pack there were two people sporting ExtraCycle cargo set-ups. One guy had the newer "whole frame" style with 2 custom seats for his 2 and 4 year olds. He seemed like a nice guy and told me all about it. Seems his father-in-law made the seats for him. They looked sweet.

He said the kids love it and I would too!!! i had a great time and a couple pals met up with me and we all stood around soaking it in. I could see this bike thing catching on if it didn't rain like it did this year!

On the home front, bread baking has been brought to a stand-still while I goofed off with making, breaking and fixin' stuff. Remember my bedroom windows in the new house that had no charm? (play along)

Well now they're extra awesome! (pay no attention to the fact that I screwed the shaded up this morning)

That's right, the GF said "do it" and, after 3 trips into home depot and no luck at the local hardware store - I tried- I got it done! I think it looks great. It looks better in person and a coat of paint will really shine things up. I will admit i had some funny joints but a bit of painters caulk (Matt, it's ok to use this stuff!) hid any mistakes I made.

Hey, I'm off to ride my bike home! Spread love and wear your helmet... and maybe some safety glasses when you're screwing with your air nailer! Micah