Things of Three

Three items/subjects/places/people worth checking out to make life as an angler and global citizen far more enjoyable:

1. Fish Tales Fly Shop, Calgary, AB
The positive side of getting weathered in at the project site in Nunavut last week is getting to meet Matlock (aka @findeep) for a quick fish on Alberta's Bow River and going for sushi with him & Cod (@chroniclesofcod) during a seven-hour layover. Best layover ever. Wet socks & all.

Matlock picked me up at the airport and we headed to his local fly shop so I could grab a license. The fact they had been closed for about an hour didn't really slow things down much; they unlocked the door and got me set up with both a license and the new issue of The Drake for my flight home.

Fish Tales is a great shop, loads of inventory and run by a seriously kick-ass nice dude. If you're in Calgary, it's worth a stop. And Cod guides outta there, too.

Check 'em out on the web here. For a Google Map, click here.

Supporting your local fly shop isn't a cliché. Try rolling into a BassPro or Canadian Tire to buy a license an hour after they're closed. Yeah, thought so...

2. The Shack Up Sessions
This is Ross Neilsen's new solo album, recorded inside the Robert Clay shack at The Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale Mississippi, just down the road from the famous crossroads of highway 49 and 61.

It's good. Really good.

Ross has been mentioned a few times here, and his music is on my regular rotation of playlists & albums. And for good reason: his songs are at times rocking and whisky-chugging, and always soulful and honest-to-goodness blues.

This album is a little less loud but still everything one could ask for in a blues album.

Ross also had a special message for the fly fishing crowd that reads this: "Keep yer poles bent."

You can preview and download the album here & on iTunes; for a physical copy shipped, click here.

Ross can be reached via his website, rossneilsen.com, and through Twitter, @rossneilsen.

And if this picture doesn't brighten your day, check your pulse.

Ross (right) & Karl's search for a bass player brought interesting characters.

3. William Joseph HemoCuts
One of my favourite fly fishing accessories. Probably one of the best sub-$20 items in the fly fishing industry, in my mind.

Pros: easy to grip, easy to open, pinch barbs up to 1/0 saltwater hooks, cutting blades are sharp, and they lock down tight when shut.

Cons: they don't make a big, eff-off size for toothy/salty critters.

Check 'em out here.