Watch This Video

This helps explain the sort of economics vs. environment bullshit that is spoon-fed to us by a lot of people who have microphone time in the media.

Recreational resources are more valuable than the commercial consumption of resources in so many cases. Striped bass is one of those cases.

Striped Bass Gamefish from Taylor Vavra on Vimeo.


It's time to end the 'short-term gain' myopia that plagues our society. It's time to start thinking about long-term consequences of our actions...and regulators inactions, too.

Do some forward-thinking and apply this to Atlantic salmon farming. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is an accomplice in the potential decimation of wild anadromous fish by the aquaculture industry.

Go to StripersForever.org for more information.

The Most Epic All-Encompassing Post of All Time

Time/Date: 1600, 29-Nov-11
Location: Fredericton, NB

Epic Topic #1 - Mooseknucle Lanyards

As mentioned before, I've been (periodically) writing some dispatches for Jeremy on the Mooseknuckle Lanyard blog. Well, I can say that all that hard work & perseverance has paid off...with my very own lanyard!!!

I was pretty excited to see the lanyard in my mailbox.

So excited, in fact, that I forgot that what I was really hoping to show up in my mailbox (i.e., a payment for an invoice & out-of-pocket expenses worth a lot of f**king money) didn't show up today. After three hours in the kitchen, I took the lanyard off and realized the cheque didn't show up.

But YAY! Lanyard!

I'll be rocking the lanyard on my upcoming trip to Guatemala!

Epic Topic #2 - My upcoming trip to Guatemala!

I leave in 12 days.

Not that I'm counting or anything.

I'll write more on this in the coming days, but for now, watch this. And just picture my smiling face holding one of those bad boys by the bill after catching it on a big, eff-off, 9" girly-pink popper on my fly rod.

Note, however, I will be wearing a shirt while doing this, as my fair Canadian features usually take a solid 3 months to become accustomed to sunlight, and I will not be attempting some sort of shaka/rock-star-horns-of-the-devil hand signal while holding the sailfish.

There might...might...still be a spot or two available on the trip, if you're so inclined. Get the details here.

Epic Topic #3 - Big Sugar

I got to see Big Sugar again!

They played Thursday night at the Market in Fredericton, with another Canadian act of the 90's, Wide Mouth Mason, opening for them.

It was good. Read Crash's blog about them here. He also snapped some video of the show, too; it's in that post.

As a few readers might know, Gordie Johnson is one of my four favourite musicians, Canadian or otherwise. The Grady show back in the fall of Ought-Nine was pretty epic, but I am super-pumped Big Sugar is back together & touring.

Random Big Sugar notes:

• My first Big Sugar album was 500 Pounds. I got in 1993.
• I first saw Big Sugar at the Social Club in '94 (I think). I paid $5. I was also...um...not of legal age.
• When Big Sugar played Fredericton's Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival in 2002 (?), I did not attend. However, I had a perfect listening experience sitting on my porch...4 blocks away...
• When Gordie was touring with Grady & played the pub at Zees, I was tasked to provide hospitality for them, as they were using Lava Vodka Lounge as a green room. The band autographed their Good As Dead CD for me in return. That's on my wall above my desk.
• Gordie is the only human I know who would exchange Heineken beer for Moosehead Lager (aka locally as 'Moose Green'). Moose Green is the swill we export to other places, keeping the tasty Moosehead Pale Ale ('Moose Red') & Moosehead Light for ourselves.
• Big Sugar sells earplugs at their merch table. They know they play loud, and acknowledge it accordingly.
• The band reunited to play the 2010 edition of Harvest; it was that performance that resulted in them recording new music & touring together as Big Sugar once again.

Epic.

Epic Topic #4 - Shitting Bricks

Twitter followers might have seen the following last night:

'This' in the tweet refers to this:

Yeah, that's right. I lost ("misplaced") my new Hardy reel and also very nearly had a coronary about it, as I thought it might have been in the back seat of my truck and thus lifted by some miserable prick.

It wasn't. It was in my top-secret filing cabinet drawer, with four other fly reels. Imagine.

Epic Topic #5 - Reggae music

My lovely gf & I caught a reggae show on one of the nights of our trip to Mexico. Being lame resort & such, the band stopped playing at about 11PM. By the end of the encore, I was waving Yanqui Dolla at the resort's MC to have them keep playing.

I like reggae, though I'm not that knowledgeable about it outside of the Marley's. I like this track, though.

More on this whole reggae thing in the future.

Epic Topic #6 - Cooking

I've been cooking like a pimp...if pimps were known to cook.

In the past couple weeks, I've mixed & mashed together:

• white chocolate chip & macadamia nut cookies
• chorizo & lamb chilli
• Jamaican jerk chicken tacos
• chocolate chip cookies
• Singapore curry noodles & chicken
• oven-baked flatbread sandwiches
• creamy sweet potato soup
• Mexican style agua de fruitas

Plus, I can heat up apple cider...like a pimp!

Traveling for a lot of the year meant laziness took over when it came to cooking; we usually ate out or got take out. A lot. But at $30-60 a dinner, a new fiscal responsibility has taken over.

Cooking saves money. Especially when cooking in bulk, i.e. about 4lbs of Singapore curry noodles (cost to me: about $11. Cost at restaurant for ~4lbs of Singapore curry noodles: $68).

Listening to reggae while cooking: awesomeness. Try it.

Epic Topic #7 - Purging

I'm in the midst of another purge of clutter. This will be the topic of yet another upcoming post, but for now, I highly recommend you read Dave Bruno's The 100 Thing Challenge. You can help keep the clutter down by getting it on Kindle...like I did (Kindle app for iPod Touch, to be precise). Dave's blog is here.

That's all for now.

Recycled Fish: Take the pledge!

Time/Date: 1130, 22-Nov-11

Location: Fredericton, NB

I am very pleased to announce I'm joining the team to help spread the gospel of Recycled Fish.

Through this site (and soon through WaterworksGuiding.com as well as Fredericton Outfitters & Anglers), I'll be sharing tips from Recycled Fish to help readers become stewards of our environment and live more sustainable lives.

To be blunt, a person can be a 100% catch & release fisherman, but if they live an unsustainable lifestyle, catch & release doesn't make a lick of difference.

"Our Lifestyle Runs Downstream"

Recycled Fish is different from other conservation groups. This isn't a group where a person pays their annual membership, gets a sticker for their truck window & maybe goes to a $100/plate dinner/auction once a year to feel good about themselves. Recycled Fish makes you think about how your lifestyle affects the natural environment, and provides tips & techniques to help you lessen your impact on it. 

Best part is, many tips, techniques and ideas pertaining to sustainability can save you money. Burn less gas, use less electricity = burn less money.

I'll be sharing some of the Stewardship Tips from Recycled Fish each week.

A lifestyle of stewardship means a healthier place to live. It saves money, it feels good and feels right, and it is the missing ingredient in consistently catching more and bigger fish.

"S.A.F.E. Angling"

Another project is S.A.F.E. Angling - Sustaining Angling, Fish, Ecosystems. The project is designed to get anglers the best information on how to be a steward on the water. It equips you with the practices and products you need to be a steward on the water and to practice eco-friendly fishing. Read more about it here.

TAKE THE PLEDGE!

Take Recycled Fish's Sportsman's Stewardship Pledge and start making some small but significant & positive changes to your lifestyle to make a difference.

• I pledge to live a Lifestyle of Stewardship on and off the water. Living as a steward means making choices throughout my daily life that benefit lakes, streams and seas - and the fish that swim in them - because my Lifestyle Runs Downstream.
• I will learn the fish and game laws where I hunt or fish and always abide by them.
• I will practice Catch & Release and Selective Harvest faithfully and responsibly.
• I will "police my resource" by turning in poachers and reporting polluters.
• I will make up for "the other guy" by cleaning up litter wherever my adventures take me.
• I will boat safely and responsibly, never trespass, and treat other enthusiasts respectfully
• I will provide my time, money, or other resources to support stewardship efforts.
• I will take steps to see that my home, lawn, vehicle, workplace and everyday lifestyle are as fish-friendly as I can make them by reducing my water, energy, material and chemical footprint.
• I will encourage others to take on this ethic and will connect others with the outdoors to grow the stewardship community.
• I choose to serve as a role model in protecting what remains and recovering what’s been lost of our wild and natural places.
• I am a Steward.

For more information on Recycled Fish, please visit their website. 

Follow Recycled Fish on Twitter and Facebook.

Miss me?

Time/Date: 1135 AST, 16-Nov-11
Location: Home!

To summarize:

Fishing, drinking, sleeping, eating, attending friends' wedding, feeding crocodiles, napping, reading.

My first experience at an all-inclusive resort was fairly brilliant. It rejuvenates the mind & body...to a point.

Then it definitely weakens the mind, body and soul once you pass that point. I didn't quite get there, but self-imposed detox starts today anyway.

One thing I will make clear: traveling to a resort in Mexico is NOT traveling to Mexico. What I did in March was travel to Mexico, in all its glory, guns and goats and all.

Both trips had their positives and negatives. Were I to choose one over the other...I'd take the resort over the guns & goats.

Here are a few pics.

Bridge of our blue water fishing charter

I made a friend. His name was Ed. We went fishing for baby tarpon together.

My first (baby) tarpon

Another baby tarpon...and proudly sporting my Fredericton Outfitters fishing shirt!

The gf & I weren't messing around with our 1.5L Bubba keg drinkin' mugs :)

Here's some music to celebrate my return to blogging & my semi-retired country gentleman lifestyle.

On vacation

Time/Date: 2045, 06-Nov-11

Location: soon to be elsewhere...

My field season is done, and my beautiful girlfriend & I are going to a friend's wedding down south for a week.

It's been a long (LONG!) field season, but its provided me with a lot of opportunities to travel & fish (and make a little bit of money). But now I'm on the shelf until after New Years', so I'm looking forward to being around home for two months.

(Not including the trip tomorrow and that trip to Guatemala for sailfish in December)

But yeah. Excited to be at home for a bit!

(BTW, not taking my laptop on this trip)

********

I did some tying for the trip, because this won't be a week-long, lay on the beach trip for me. I've never done an all-inclusive when I was in my booze-swilling prime (that ended in 2010) and I'm not a lay on the beach person (I get fidgety after 20 minutes), so there might be some fly rod wanderings taking place.

Gotchas!

I'll be back in 9-10 days...hopefully with some additions to my Species Journal to share.

Here's the new track from the Black Keys. Enjoy.