Boat Bass Bike Beats

Time/Date: 1320, 01-Dec-11
Location: Fredericton, NB

Anyone & everyone who is reading this should take 20 minutes & totally clean their email inbox. Delete all the unnecessary, and archive the necessary.

Or just go & declare email bankruptcy, and delete all of them.

JFDI. You'll thank me for it later.

Onto the good stuff.

Boat

I can't remember if (or how in depth) I mentioned my boat.

Right before I went to Idaho for work, a friend sent me a text saying he was selling his boat & looking to upgrade. I replied back, "how much?" My next text message was "Sold!"

The boat is a Grumman 1752 aluminum hull with a Evinrude 50hp two-stroke motor.

And I can't be happier (though I still dream of someday owning this).

Not only did I purchase the boat via text message, I also paid for it via email Interac transfers while in Idaho.

Ain't technology wonderful.

Of course, due to various travel & changing of the seasons, I only got out once in it before we winterized it. But it's ready to rock for next spring!

Bass

Of course, now being a boat owner, the logical next step would be to fish more from a boat. To facilitate that (i.e., having even more of an excuse to fish), I decided I'm going to enter a few of the local bass tournaments next year.

But I'm doing them with the fly rod.

Kicker is, rods must be less than 8' in length for tournament angling.

My 6wt Redington Predator setup, at 7'10" fits the bill nicely, and I've had considerable good fortune fishing with it already. But I wanted another bass-specific fly rig, preferably in the 7/8wt range for tossing bigger bugs and such.

To top it off, Cameron Mortenson of The Fiberglass Manifesto and his unholy army of glass geeks might have been able to brainwash me a bit on the smooth casting actions and fun fish-fighting capabilities of fiberglass rods.

So I posed Cameron the question: recommend a decent 7/8wt fiberglass rod that is under 8' in length.

He came back pretty quick with Cabela's CGR. At 7'6", it does the trick, and at $99, it does said trick quite affordably. Conveniently enough, I was in Idaho & heading back to Boise, where there is a Cabela's located pretty close by to my hotel.

Cabela's CGR. 7'6", 8wt, 3pc. My bass-buggin' rig.

I'm all about supporting your local fly shop. As much as humanly possible. But sometimes you have to bend your own rules. Especially when it comes to a 7/8wt fiberglass rod, under 8' in length, and under $100. Besides, where do you think the reel, backing, line & bass-bug fly tying materials are going to come from?

On top of that, when Chris at Fredericton Outfitters starts carrying the Sage line up this winter, do you think I'll be able to resist this?

So support your local fly shop. 97% of the time, at least.

I did get the CGR out once before things shut down for the year (same day I took the boat out for my one & only ride as a boat owner). The unholy army of glass geeks were right: it does cast smooth...once  I figured out the action & how to cast it...

Thanks, Cameron! And sorry, Chris...I won't ever do that again.

More Bass

I ordered a couple fly fishing for bass books. They should be here soon (edit: I just rec'd a call; one of them is at my local independent book seller awaiting pick up now!!)

Once I dive into them a bit, I'll share what they are & whether or not they're worth your hard-earned time & money.

Ummm....Support your local independent bookstores!

Bike

In my quest to be a cheapskate, burn less gass & save money live a more sustainable lifestyle & lessen my impact, I'm gonna try to become a bike commuter.

(Note: I'm not sure what I'll be commuting to, however. I don't work locally. I'll figure something out.)

I got in touch with Kent, local twitteratti and guru of all things pedal-driven. Never settling for something easy & always looking for something I can leave incomplete (fly tying app? learning photo editing software? building a homemade wind turbine?), I wanted to build my own bike and perhaps learn some (semi-)practical knowledge of bike maintenance.

Kent set me up with a frame, seat, fork, derailleurs, cranks, and a bunch of other thingies I don't know the name of, as well as a shopping list of other do-dads. The two local bike shops, Radical Edge & Savage's, filled out the rest of the stuff on the list. And Kent is gonna learn me how to wrench a bike this weekend.

(Note: I can't say enough about how awesome & helpful the dudes at Savage's were. Go there for all things bike. Seriously.)

Kent's asking price: fly fishing gear & local knowledge.

Mat receives: bike & bike maintenance knowledge.

For the second time this post: "Sold!"

I'll post some pics of the bike build we're doing this weekend in an upcoming post.

Ummm....Support your local bike shop!

(Sense a theme yet? This wasn't planned. Seriously)

Random Cool Thing #1

Using Google Maps to outline the route on an envelope.

Random Cool Thing #2

This piece of graffiti.

Beats

More reggae. Enjoy.

(click here if you can't see the video below)