Saturday, March 31, 2012

A Sweet Carping Video From Korea

A well put together film showcasing carp in a more sophisticated manner normally reserved for more elegant fish.  This video actually makes fly fishing for carp look respectable.  I like the idea of putting the reel in the water as the fish runs.  Too bad if I did that here my reel would probably melt from all the toxins in the water. 

Friday, March 30, 2012

The Title Still Remains- Worst Guide Ever

Rubber Legged Hare's Ear Lately Has Been The Go-To Fly
Four Pounder
Waking up this morning was rough.  After yesterday's fall my left ass cheek felt like I spent the night in jail.  actually my whole body ached as if I survived a gang fight.  To add to that I woke with a sore throat.  Great I must be getting sick.  I couldn't worry about that now, I had to meet Alex on the water by 9.  I downed some chloraseptic and heading out the door.

I arrived at the parking lot and Alex was already waiting for me.  After greeting on another we began rigging up and headed to the water.  Up on the high vantage point we saw many cruising along the bank.  Alex wanted to show him how I catch these things so I moved down.  Alex remained above and spotted for me.  After a few cast I knew that there were a handful along that bank and told him just to come down and fish alongside me.  I continued to bang the fly in between some tules and in no time I was hooked up.  At first I though I hooked up on some submerged vegetation until my line began to move and the rod began to shake.  Fish on.  I managed to reel him in pretty easily.  It bogaed at 4 pounds.  The fish seemed to remain, at least for a bit, after the catch.  But within a few minutes they disappeared.

Alex Turning Into The Incredible Hulk
Alex was now screwed, the fish had scattered.  We moved in search of them.  I reeled in and began spotting for Alex.  I was determined to get at least one of my friend on these fish. It was not to happen though.  I am the WORST FUCKING GUIDE EVER.  Note to all my fishing buddies DO NOT fish carp with me, it will guarantee a skunk for you.   We tried everything at one point the wind began picking up and we could not see any fish.  We moved to the other side of the river and began seeing them again along the bank.  Alex tried to get one to bite but none were willing.  They were everywhere.  I had never stayed out there so long.  I was determined to get one of my buddies on a fish there.  Yeah right.  When you're the worst guide ever, stuff like that doesn't happen. We fished til about 2 before giving up and heading to lunch.  I told Alex to come out tomorrow morning and fish by himself, he'd probably catch 30.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Forget The Trout, Let's Talk About the Food

Sounds Like Some Hippy Hipster Shit
Fished yet another piece of water that I have long known about but have neglected to fish.  Chul and Tuck have fished this stretch of water previously and have slayed trout, some of rather respectable size (for Southern California).  Tuck brought his roommate Tyson to join our adventure.  We met up about 1.  Chul was the first to arrive, he unloaded his truck and began packing his gear into the Rover.  He had brought beers in a small lightweight insulated box.  Looking at his ice cooler, I told him to get that shit out of here and showed him the Engel.  Having only known him for a short time, I'm not at a point where I feel comfortable insulting Chul without him taking offense, so I let the choice of beers, Coors Light, slide.  In years past on the other hand, Joel, one of my oldest fishing buddies, did not get the same respect.  He quickly learned after much chastisement, if your going to bring beer, only premium beer allowed in the Engel.  Tuck and Tyson were not long after Chul to arrive, they packed up and we headed out.

We reached the water after 2pm or so and started to hike downstream to a section Chul thought would have bigger fish.   The trail was pulling us away from the river so we climbed down a section to get near the river.  Once near the water we could see snouts rising, sipping on the surface.  And we split out a bit to check out other pieces of water.  Chul and I moved further downstream while Tuck and Tyson rigged up.  I hit the first pool and on the first cast I had a rise on my dry.  As I raised the rod, I missed it as I had too much slack on my leader.  This would be an ongoing theme of the day. 

Eventually I was able to start landing some trout.  The first fish, I set the hook so hard I lifted the dink out of the water and flung him about 6 yards behind me.  At least for me, no fish were big but what they lacked in size the fish made up for on beauty.  Coloration on these trout never ceases to amaze me, I love the blue parr marks blended in with the red stripe.  Many of the trout seemed to be very dark, almost a grey similar to that of the fish from the West Fork of The San Gabriel.  I don't know why that is, I can only imagine it has to do with the overhead canopied trees has something to do with it.

I managed to eat it again, slipping this time trying to climb over some rocks on the water.  Falling on my fly rod side, I was lucky to have fallen in the deep water.  Had I fallen on terra firma I would most likely have broken my rod.  I was drenched from chest to toe.  I did notice that my Simms vest has no drain holes for such an event.  As a result my vest was double the size now.  I quickly squeezed all the liquid out and tried to dry off.  This is the second time I have fallen trout fishing.  It may be a sign. 
Since we would be driving back toward Arcadia, I suggested we have dinner at Din Tai Fung, for some Xiaolongbao or steamed pork dumplings.  In 1993 the New York Times ranked it as one of the top 10 restaurants in the world.  I let the boys know before we left that since we'll be in the neighborhood, we are going there after we fished.  It's been years since I 've been, either in the original Taipei location or to this particular location.  But when I found out that Chul was going to have us fish near it, we were going no matter if they wanted to or not.  They were in for a treat.
We waited about 15 minutes before minutes before being seated. I asked if its okay if I ordered for everyone. They have no problem with that.  I ordered Hot and Sour soup, 2 orders of crab and pork dumplings, 4 orders of the original and famous pork dumplings, pork and vegetable wonton with spicy sauce from the recommendation from our waitress, and shrimp fried rice.
After teaching the boys the proper procedure to eating one of these dumplings so they don't get third degree burns in their mouth, we dug in and finished the day with a nice meal. 

Shootin' Fish In A Barrel

Carp Were Everywhere
This 6lber Looks Like David Schwimmer
Having rained last Sunday, I was worried the carp waters would be off.  I was partially right.  Most of the water was way too muddy and high to fish, all but one section. For whatever reason this section is shallow and clear.  Today was another ridiculous carp day.  Just like the other day the fish are stacked like salmon.  It took me a while to figure out what was going on but once I did the fishing was off the hook.  Speaking of off the hook I lost at least 10 today that went unglued.  Most were from a poor hook set but one, very good fish, was lost by a poorly tied know.

I lost the first fish on my third cast of the day, he took a size 10 olive zebra midge.  I moved to a shallower portion of the river and literally saw 200 carp.  Jumping, splashing, wrestling, mating, cruising, whatever they were doing it, they were everywhere.  They were splashing the banks hard.  You'd see their gold sides flash out of the water every so often.  Then a large tail. It was insane.  None of them were all that spooky.  Even when I hooked or fought a fish the fish remained at the same place.  I managed to land three one 6lbs, 4.5lbs, and the last 4lbs.  Not bad for a couple hours fishing.  I lost about a dozen just by not strip setting properly.  I was reverting to trout hooking and the fly would go unglued.

It was strange, no fish really spooked.  They stood their ground.  In fact some fish would charge and bump the fish I had hooked up on.  I'm not sure if they are protecting their nests or what.  You see carp with their nose into the bank, stacked up touching side by side with one another.  It was insane. Again you'd see cruisers packed up together 10 or more like a bait ball.  I do not quite understand these fish but I can tell you that today was a great day to be out.

I started with what lately has been the go-to fly, a Prince Harry Legless Aggravator.  No carp were interested. Since it's been brighter than most of my outing this year, I switched to BH Rubber-Legged Hare's Ear.  Armed with this fly, it was literally shooting fish in of a barrel (for those foreign readers who don't understand English idioms- it was ridiculously easy).

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Oh, The Indignity!

I just received an email with some pictures from my sister when she and her family visited last Christmas.
It was my niece's first time to Disneyland, so Kaiser had to suffer the indignity of being a pet.  I hate Disneyland and I'm sure Kaiser now feels the same but Juliette seems to like it and I guess that is all that matters.  She also likes embarrassing my dog apparently.
Not only did she make my dog wear the girl version of the mouse ears she didn't even share her cream puff with him.  (Actually she wanted to but I was having none of that).  Poor Kaiser.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

On Order From France

For the longest time I have wanted this book Les fusils de chasse de Regis Darne by Jean-Claude Mournetas.  I have known about it for over 6 years now.  Unfortunately it has never, at least not to my knowledge, been stocked on this side of the pond.  There are many reasons for this,of course, one Darnes are not too popular or even common Stateside, and two, this book is only available in French.  Although I haven't a clue how to read French; I wanted this book solely for the photos.  I'm weird like that and notorious for buying books in languages I can't read.

Years ago I found this Darne book and wanted so badly to buy it but only bookstores in France sold it.  None of the websites had were bilingual.  Recently I began my search for this book again and noticed that a seller on Abe Books was selling it in Quebec.  I got all excited and order it.  A day later I received an email from Abe stating that the seller no longer had it in stock.  Bummed, I started surfing for it again.  I found a site that actually was bilingual, well sort of.  It was half way translated to English.  When I was placing my order, most of it was in French though.  Most of the ordering process was pretty self explanatory and straightforward but for all I know I could have order some gay porn without even knowing it.  We'll see when I finally receive it.

While looking for the Darne book I found Le Laguiole Eloge du Coutea by Daniel Crozes.  I actually was able to order this book from Amazon so it was much easier to order.  I didn't need to pull out the translator.   The seller though was still in France. I recieved an email the other day stating that is was shipped and expected to make it to my door by the 3rd of May.  So I'll be waiting patiently for it to arrive.
From these pages I pulled from the website it looks like a good one.

Both should make some nice coffee table books even though I wouldn't have a single clue as to what the heck the text is talking about. Maybe I should start learning French among other languages.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Finished! Cliff's Bugger Beast

I've finished my Cliff's Bugger Beast Bass Fly Box.  Its not exactly perfect and it's no Paul Puckett but I guess I can live with it.  I may do some touch up later.  It's been years since I've done any "art" and this project was quite fun.  I wonder if these sharpies will stay on my small C&F fly boxes.  If it does I may start drawing on all my trout boxes and as an added benefit I'll be drawing a subject I care more about.
Since I've never been comfortable with rendering in "pen and ink," I scanned the box and practiced my cross hatching technique on paper.  It still needed some work but I got impatient and decided to just go for it.  I think I like my practice paper version better.  Oh well.  Thank you Paul Puckett for all the advice!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Cliff's Bugger Beast Bass Box Project

A little preview of something I'm working on for my BIG Fly Bass Box.  We'll see how it turns out.  I was inspired by Jeff Currier and Paul Puckett to add a little pizzazz to my fly box.  Now all I need to do is get some permanent markers.  Hopefully it doesn't come out like shit otherwise I'll have to just cover it with decals like it is on the other side.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen?

I was surfing the web and found this photo.  I originally thought that it was Ewan McGregor actually fishing with an Arab.  After reading the article its a movie still from Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a small movie that apparently out now in select theaters.  And I thought I looked foolish in all my fishing gear...It would be quite the experience if I were to run into someone on steam looking like that in all Arab garb, it would make quite the story.  Maybe even better than some of my friends' such as walking in on a nude photo shot, or the time one of them accidentally snucked up on an old timer taking a dump, or the time one walked upon a "love nest" between a couple of lover birds, or the time one went to the stream, saw a boot near the water, went down to pick it up to throw it away and it was attached to someone...who wasn't alive with two bullet holes in the head (welcome to L.A.).  Ok maybe it wouldn't be that interesting.

Trailer for the movie:

I typically dislike celebrities.  I think most are douches and that is what I initially thought of Ewan McGregor when he arrived in the Hollywood scene.  But when I saw his documentary, Long Way Round, about his road trip with best friend and fellow actor Charley Boorman, I changed my mind and became a fan of his even though his Star Wars were the lamest movies ever.  I guess that wasn't entirely his fault though.  In the film, Ewan and Charley ride BMW motorcycles eastward from London to NYC, camping, off roading and sight seeing along the way.  It was quite the adventure and fun to watch.  So much so I ended up buying the DVD.  They did another film years later, Long Way Down, where the start from Scotland and drive down to South Africa which I didn't feel was as good.  It seemed some scenes were not as natural and even some jokes were somehow preconcieved.

Will I watch Salmon Fishing in the Yemen?  Probably not, at least not in the theaters as I never go to them anymore unless of course it's on a date.  Since this is a romantic comedy it may actually be a good date movie, at least you'll be able to see some beautiful scenes of Scotland with Spey rod action(hopefully the actors learned how to cast properly or at least had stunt doubles).  I would probably end up renting it when it comes out on DVD.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Rod Building

Its been at least 6 or 7 years since I built a rod.  Actually its probably been longer than that but I have to get back on the saddle again.  First I have a Sage DS2 5wt that has never been completed.  I never completed it because this was the rod that was offered when I took the rod building class at Marriott's years ago.  Since I already had the factory rod in a 4 piece I never finished the project.  Chul offered to buy it the other day, I had told him I forgotten how to wrap it so I'd probably never finish it, even so I looked for it.  With the rod cloth covered in dust from sitting in the corner for years, I was surprised when I took it out that the rod was basically finished and all that was needed was to epoxy the wraps and the reel seat. 
At that time I chose blue wraps with some grey trim on some of the outer wraps.  Once the epoxy cures on the wraps, the color will darken at least 4 or 5 times.  I imagine it will look close to black next to the brown graphite of the DS2.  If I were to redo this rod, and there is no way I would as I've basically forgotten how, I would have chose a different color.  I'm not sure how this color will end up looking like.  Hopefully it looks good because I ain't changing it, so Chul you'll just have to live with it.  Also if I had to redo it again I would have chose a different handle.  I was offered the one shown in the photo and a western grip.  Since the factory DS2 that I already had a western grip, I chose the other, which I believe, is a modified wells grip.  I think at the time I wanted it to be different from what was coming out of the factory.
If I had to redo it I would have chose this wrap for it.  I believe it is tan which darkens quite nicely when you apply epoxy to it.  I think this color is much more suitable for the brown blank.  This is my Sage VPS light 389-3 B which I absolutely love.  One of the best casting rods I own.  I chose to build this one as I did not like what wraps and components that Sage was using, so I ordered a blank and built it myself.
This is the reel seat that will be added to Chul's DS2.  Its the same as the one Sage used on their factory DS2 models.

I also have a Sage RPLXI-B 8wt that I busted the tip while surf fishing at the river jetty.  Sage sent me the replacement section years ago and I had wrapped it but had never finished it.  Its been sitting in my tying room for the last 8 years or so.  Since I'm finishing the DS2 I've finally decided to finally finish this rod while I'm at it.  Unfortunately not all the wraps have stayed on.  I have to redo at least three of them.  Having not done one in so long, I'm not sure if I even remember how, especially since this is a two color wrap.
I better start looking at my notes and checking youtube because I haven't a clue.  I've completely forgotten.
This is the other sections from the busted RPLXi rod.  It is the same blue wraps I used on the DS2.  You can see how considerably darker it is now.  It may actually look nice on the brown blank.  We'll see.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Return To Mission Viejo Lake Fly Fishing

Called Up From the Bench, Ghetto Steelhead, Missed hits, Monster Bluegill and Ass Rapings

Monster 2 Pound Bluegill (*Edit* This is actually a Redear not a Bluegill as previously thought)
Chul Gets the Skunk Off the Boat Early
With rain forecasted this weekend, Chul and I hit Mission Viejo Lake one more time.  After the last visit and armed with a little more knowledge, I was amped up to head out there.  Our original intention was to fish it yesterday but since it was a trout plant day, the lake was closed to fishing.

So we came today.  I am still convinced I can get one of those lunker bass that live here.  With that thought in mind I called up from the bench some old rods that have been collecting dust in the corner.  I brought my Sage RPLXI 9wt that has been fished so rarely that the cork handle is still clean.  I also brought, since breaking my favorite T&T 5wt, my Sage XP 5wt that I built years ago.  My game plan was to fish the big rod with my big articulated trout fly until I either caught a fish or became tired of casting the big rod.

"Ghetto Steelhead"
Chul was the first to hook up with a basszilla fly on his Sage 6wt.  To his surprise, it turned out to be a stocker trout.  It hit his fly hard and gave him many head shakes.  These are Nebraska Tailwaters and Chul affectionately refers to them as ghetto steelhead.  I was surprised how well it fought and how nicely formed the fins were.  Coloration was nice too.  These are not your typical DFG stockers that lie down and die when you hook them.  The fish was probably 18 inches or more and was rather fat and healthy.  It was a nice fish for a stocker.

I fished my big rod for two hours or so and managed to get bumped but I was too late to set the hook.  I think there was just too much line in the water and I couldn't get enough pressure on the fish.  Eventually I grew weary of the 9wt and moved on to my 5wt.  After casting the big rod the 5 felt like a feather.  I could cast that rod all day without tiring.

We made into one cove where we were being thrown around like a rag doll by the wind.   With a purple wooly bugger I threw toward the middle of the cove and managed to get a fish.  I retrieved him toward the boat and noticed it to be a juvenile bass.  It popped off just before I tried to lip it.   I continued to cast in the middle of the cove and my line just stopped.  Initially I thought I sagged some submerged structure but then the line began moving.  The fish ran from the front of the boat and circled to the back going clockwise from the 12 o'clock position to the 8 o'clock position.  I was shocked to see it was a huge bluegill.  Due to its size, Chul initially thought it was a crappie when it was in the water.  I could not see it from my position but when I finally landed it, I was shocked.  This is the biggest bluegill I've ever seen live.  I put him on the boga and he measured at 2 pounds.

I Roll Bandido-Style In Search of Big George
While fishing this cove a fisherman on the docks was telling us abut how he caught his trout and strung it up on his canoe, Big George, a 20 pound bass and his almost as large partner (the ones Chul and I saw last time) came up and hit his strung up trout.  I told him that is where Big George lives, we saw him last time.  His trout was at least 2 pounds.  Maybe I need to start casting even larger flies.  Maybe I should rig up some of those Marlin tube flies in a rainbow trout pattern.  We continued to fish here, though the wind was pushing the boat around.  I casted out and noticed my fly line was knotted up.  As I was fixing it my fly was hit hard.  Real hard.  I missed him as my hands were occupied and had no time to react.

Eventually we left this cove to head off to the other side of the lake.  There Chul managed a juvenile bass similar to the one I lost at the boat.  Here we were somewhat protected from the wind and casting and trolling the boat was much more manageable.  The fishing seemed to die after we left this cove.  We left at 5pm and called it a day.  It was not bad for a few hours of fishing. 
Chul with a Juvenile Bass

This Must Be What It Feels Like to be Ass Raped


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Worst Guide Ever

Who do these carp think they are-salmon?
Chul and I had the intention of returning to Mission Viejo Lake today but due to today's trout plant the lake is closed to fishing.  I don't care for stocked trout and so I'm a lttle bummed that we couldn't go after those monster bass.  So we'll just have to wait until tomorrow.  We decided instead, since we both had a itch to fish, to try our luck at the local carp populations. 

Our plan was to meet at 1pm but I arrived a little early and instead of waiting for Chul at the parking lot I decide to check out the waters as I waited for him to get off work.  I wanted to see if the waters were even fishable.  I was uncertain how well the fishing was going to be due to all the rain we had this weekend.  I thought it might be pretty useless but I was quite surprised to see at least one section fishable, clear and shallow.  Conditions were perfect- sunny and with no wind.

I thought to myself, this is the day Chul we get his first carp, Tuck better get his beer ready. I fished until Chul showed. The fish were rather tight lipped and fish were unimpressed by even the most perfect presentation. Eventually I felt the line go tight and at first I thought I hooked up on some vegetation, but then it started to fight and I was on a carp.    Since I was fishing my early model Abel Pt.5 with no outgoing click, I was unable to enjoy listening to the reels scream as the fish ran. I still don't understand Steve Abel's rationale for not adding the outgoing click. I've yet to hear another fly  fisherman say the same thing. I once asked him at a fishing show and he told me he wanted to hear the line going out of the guides. Who the fuck cares about hearing the line going out of the guides? 
The 4lb carp gave one hell of a fight when it finally decide it wanted to fight.  I landed him and moved on to the other fish stacked up in the hole.  I saw Chul make his way down to the water and at that moment I felt the line go tight just for a second and came unglued. 

Chul finally made it on the water and told him where to fish.  He could see some near the bridge and he started to fish there.  I stayed at the same spot.  In time I managed another.  The same thing again, I thought I had hooked up some vegetation and all the sudden the line began to run.  Again it took some coaxing but the fish became feisty.   I managed to land him and it turned out to be a nice chunky 5 lber.   At this time I gave Chul a Prince Harry Aggravator and started to help him out.  The wind started to pick up now.  I tried to get Chul on some fish but conditions began to change and the fish were starting move away for this prime area. 

I ended up losing another and also what appeared to be a baby bass.  Chul fished under the bridge as I moved to an elevated position to see if I could spot him some fish.  He managed to hooked up on a juvenile bass that came off the hook just in front of him. 

By this time it appeared the fish had moved on and so we followed.  There were casting opportunities but none would take.  I could see from my elevated position that there were some huge fish.  None though would honor either of us.  We made it down stream abit before we realized that this piece of water sucks now.  Chul suggested we move back to where we started.  It was a good plan.

Chul fished again under the bridge.  I moved to some extremely skinny water upstream and to my surprise it held fish.  A lot of fish.  Big fish.  I tried casting to them but none were eating.  It looked like a Salmon river stacked up.  I was shocked.  After I realized that they were going to take a fly I went back to Chul who let me know he had one and it went unbuttoned.  Ahh that hurts.  He hadn't strip set the hook, he set it like a trout and it may not have penetrated enough to stick.

Eventually we called it a day.  I tried to comfort Chul that it took me something like 10 or so tries before I landed my first carp.  So I understand his frustration.  The problem,today, is the conditions changed right when he arrived.  One of these days,its bound to happen.  He's better off not fishing with me as I'm apparently the WORST GUIDE EVER and I'm probably just bad luck to him.  Well, at least for Tuck, he doesn't have to owe him a beer...yet.

Afterwards it was time for ramen which for Chul probably was the best part of the day.  Even though I had a good day, I am a little pissed though that my contour did not capture my two fish on film.  I know for a fact it was ON when I hooked up.  For whatever reason the camera did not capture any of them.  I'm pissed.  Maybe the card was too full and shut off automatically, who knows.  Maybe because its made in China and therefore its a POS.  Lame.  Oh well.  Tomorrow Chul and I are after big bass at Mission Viejo Lake.  Hopefully we land some.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

1001 Wristwatches

I just got back from Barnes and Noble looking for Georgia Pellegrini's book, which they don't stock, and found this little gem instead, 1001 Wristwatches: From 1925 to the Present by Martin Hausermann, in the bargain aisle. It was only $7.98!  That's cheaper than any of the watch magazines on the newstands.

The book is broken down into Men's watches, Chronographs, Aviator watches, Diver's watches, GMT and World Time Watches, Watches with Alarm features, Tourbillon Watches, Calendar watches, and Repeater watches.  My favorite companies, Glashutte Original and Sinn, are showcased, as well as the big name and not-so-big name Swiss, French and German makers.

It's printed on quality thick gloss paper with watch porn on every page.  The book is basically almost all watch porn with very little in the way of substance but nonetheless it's quite the find.

Typical- Just My Luck

I'm a person who never throws away magazines.  In fact my house is littered with magazines over 20 years old.  I just can't bring myself to do it.  Its like burning books to me.  It just seems wrong.  Because of this I decided not to renew any of my magazine subscriptions once they expired.  So no more Revolution (it's a watch magazine, not some leftist magazine), WatchTime, Time, Bon Appetit, Wild on the Fly, Double Gun Journal,  Pointing Dog Journal, National Geographic, Nat Geo Traveler, among others.

One in particular, Shooting Sportsman, I'm quite pissed I left go, at least for one issue.  I let my subscription pass about a year ago and now I find out in the Sept/Oct 2011issue, SS had one of their best covers ever.  It featured Georgia Pellegrini holding a side by side along side a Springer Spaniel carrying a pheasant.  Of course this issue comes after I end my subscription.  Typical.  The article can be read here.

This is the only the second time a female has graced the cover of SS.  The first caused quite a stir in the Fine Gun community.  Not so much because of the female but rather for showcasing an auto on the cover,  a  camoed auto no less.  The horror.  That is quite blasphemous for a magazine devoted to fine guns.  I still have that issue and will gladly trade for the newer one with Georgia.  I guess SS learned their lesson and made sure to have a double, a side by side no less, predominately showcased this time.

If you scour the forums of SS and Notssmbs you can find the threads with all the frustration, although they may be gone since I've not frequented these boards in many years.  SS had to make some real quick PR moves to quash the backlash.  Here is an article on the first cover.  I guess sometimes life can be pretty pointless and we find some of the most trivial things to get angry about.  It just shows we have too much free time on our hands.  But for the record, there should never be a camoed auto on the cover of Shooting Sportsman.  The ladies, on the other hand, there should be more.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Argentina-Sportsman's Paradise

I know someone who just returned from Argentina on a Goldern Dorado trip and it resparked my fascination with the place.  For more than a decade now Argentina has been on my mind. Ever since Wild On The Fly wrote an article about fishing Golden Dorados in the early 2000s, I have be dreaming about going. I almost made it too. At one time Argentina was having a promotion, an all inclusive trip including airfare from LAX to Buenos Aires for $2995. You had the option of fishing, I believe 3 days, in Central Argentina for Golden Dorado or fishing in the Patagonia for trout. I almost choose to go after Dorado but I could not find anyone who wanted to go with me. Instead I used that money and went back to Costa Rica with my friend Bryan Webb and his buddies in search of my tarpon.

I still wonder, what if I went to Argentina instead...That particular deal is no longer good and as this economy sucks and my disposable income not quite what it once was I am relegated to daydreaming. So I spend my time reading articles or watching videos.  It seems Argentina is making a strong case as the world's foremost sporting paradise and pushing it pretty hard.  Years ago they came out with Mel Krieger's Patagonia.  This is a beautifully filmed movie that showcases not only Krieger's talents but Patagonia's magnificant trout.  Obviously this film is an hour long commercial for Argentina fishing but I don't care.  I would rather watch this advertisement any day to any other stupid ad that pops up before you try to watch a youtube video.  Its fun to live vicariously through the film as you watch Mel throw some amazing loops to huge trout.  The film showcases the best Patagonia has to offer, including Sea Run browns down south at Tierra Del Feugo among other locations that hold giant size trout.  RIP Mel.

I believe the hunting version came out just last year, I purchased it once I heard about it.  Again the Argentina tourist board were smart enough to hire an authority in his field, Craig Boddington, as they were to hire Mel Krieger, to come and film the excellent opportunities to hunt this large South American nation.  As with the fishing version, Big Game Argentina with Craig Boddington is beautifully put together and showcases the awesome hunting opportunites available throughout the vast landscape of Argentina.  Craig hunts it all from stags, to boar, to mouflon, to waterfowl and doves among others.  If you ever thought about traveling to Argentina to hunt or fish you should check out either one of these DVDS.  If you have no interest in doing either the movies are still worth a look.

The Perfect Complement

Merkel 47e and 147SL with Glashutte Original Senator Chronograph and Navigator Automatic
Close up of the Glashutte Original Senator Chronograph
Glashutte Original watches and Merkel fine guns are probably my favorite watch and fine gun companies. They are a perfect complement to one another as they have very similiar stories. Both are from East Germany from storied cities. Glashutte is the watch making capital of Germany, Suhl the gun making capital of Germany. Both have been around over 100 years. Both survived the GDR era and were combined with other companies in order to survive. Glashutte was fused from various independent watchmakers, and Merkel was combined with JP Sauer, Simson, among others.  Both are precision instruments using both old world and new world techniques and machinery. Both represent some of Germany engineering and creativity.