Happy Hump Day

I realized a moment ago today is the third anniversary of 411#3.

Send out the clowns.

Or, enjoy this track instead. Either way is fine with me.

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Big things are going to happen over at the other site this weekend. 

Trust me. 

Details will be here on Tuesday, after the long weekend.

You've been warned - I'm aiming to amaze with this change.

Keep it real.

-MT

Bass and boats and beats and other good stuff

It hasn't been intentional neglect of this website over the past few months. It's just there's so much to do & to see here.

It doesn't seem proper to hide away with a laptop, indoors, for the 2-4 hours it takes to research/write/edit a post. Especially since enjoying the climate of Vancouver Island was the main reason for us claiming Winter Refugee Status here.

That being said, it's been six weeks of living in our new apartment. It's time to develop an iota of self-discipline and a sensible personal schedule to ensure content is posted here in something resembling a semi-regular manner.

At least I haven't been idle: I've been planning, scheming, and taking notes for all sorts of topics and actually fishing a few times. 

Here's a preview of what's to come:

• Addicted to SMB - see photo at right.
• Must-have add-ons for the Diablo Paddlesports Chupacabra
• Paddling my new Jackson Kayak Cuda 14
• Trying (& failing) to develop a great smallmouth fly - Working title: save time/money, tie a Clouser Minnow
• (Slowly) becoming a fishing pier rat - more relaxing than you think
• Product reviews for some cool new stuff from Columbia Sportswear - emphasis on 'cool.'
• Evernote + Fly Fishing - it's a thing. Seriously.
• Music - expect a return of music at the bottom of most articles and posts.
• Essays - some of which will be posted after they've been rejected from magazines.
• Book reviews - and possibly not all fish-related. Oh, the horror, right?
• More music - get your speakers/headphones ready.
• Recipes - why the f**k not, right? A man's gotta eat...
• Fun and adventure - photos may be included.

In addition, be sure to check out my racket over at The Saltwater Fly Journal; there's a bit of a new look along with a new 'About' page, updated Links and the all-new SWFJ Bookstore.

And, as always, thanks for reading. Y'all are alright in my books.

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Ross Neilsen & company are getting ready to release their new album, Resurrection, later this month. Leading up to the launch date, Ross has been releasing one track from the new album each week.

This track is called Need You More, and I think it's pretty damn good. Check 'er out.

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Settling into island life, part two

I wake up each morning, make some coffee, and watch the sun rise over Coast Mountains, Quadra Island and Discovery Passage.

I like it here. A lot.

Last week I found out there's a public fishing pier ten minutes' walk away; that it's 600' long & I'd missed it for over three weeks is not lost on me: there's lots left to explore here.

So now I'm the proud owner of a couple Ugly Stiks, in both spinning & casting forms, and a box of heavier-than-most-trout metal jigs. Fun times.

I'm still in "Island Fishing Overload:" there's so many species and so many places, it's tough to nail down exactly what to fish for, and where. 

I'm still in (what I consider) a shoulder season of fishing, as in, tossing size 18 chironomids for 10" stocked cutthroat is all well & good, but there's 4lb smallmouth kicking around somewhere in this same lake and I aim to catch it...if only the bloody water temperatures would come up a bit... Oh well. All in good time, my bronze-backed friends.

Until the water warms, I can idle my days..evening...tides...away, chucking gear from the pier for rockfish...

Or casting small Rolled Muddlers from the beach for cutthroat.

Or swinging streamers for the ever-elusive steelhead.

Or slowly stripping #18 chironomids from the lacustrine depths while seated (or standing) in my Chupacabra.

Or...

Yeah, so you see what I mean: it's pretty awesome here.

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Settling Into Island Life

Our apartment is just a bit further north.

We're just about five weeks in since our arrival.

We moved into our permanent residence and turned in the keys to our kick-ass little seaside cottage at Alders Beach Resort last week. I can't say enough about how much I liked being at the cottage (I highly recommend it) but our new pad in Campbell River is arguably the nicest apartment I've ever lived in, and in a great location.

Now I just have to finish furnishing the apartment so I can get to that whole 'fishing' thing, considering it was a main, underlying reason for the move. I've only been out twice, with nothing to show for it other than a little more intel than what I had prior to arrival.

On the plus side, we've successfully avoided the remainder of winter on the East Coast, missing such fun as ~18 separate snowstorms with roughly 43' of snow accumulating (those, of course, are my estimates).

Sunny and 20°C here over the past few days, suckers...

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Though I haven't been fishing in water much, I have been fishing for intel by visiting lots of different fly shops & tackle shops in our wanderings in our new land.

Courtney at Nile Creek Fly Shop is a transplanted New Brunswicker as well, albeit he transplanted a lot longer than five weeks ago. He runs a great little shop in Bowser and was very welcoming & helpful. Nile Creek is also the go-to spot for stocking up on Clear Cure Goo for the central & northern parts of Van Isle...in case you're wondering...

The folks at Tyee Marine in Courtenay gave me a massive intel dump when I first arrived, and also saved me some money by explaining the inner workings of the provincial freshwater and federal saltwater licenses with their various stamps for salmon & steelhead.

If it weren't for them, I would've dropped a not-so insignificant pile o' cash on an annual, non-resident freshwater license and steelhead/salmon stamps that expired in three weeks. Instead, I held off with just the federal saltwater license for $22 until April 1st.

(shiiiiiiiittttt......that's today!?! I should be fishing!!)

Tyee Marine carries all sorts of fishing, boating, hunting product in addition to fly gear & tying materials. There's also a location in Campbell River, and the staff seem helpful and friendly. They're a stone's throw from our new apartment, so I'll be frequenting it once my tying 'office' has been furnished.

Campbell River is also home to River Sportsman, located on the banks of the river. It's big, with a decent tying material section. I've been in twice, but still haven't gotten a chance to chat with the fellas working, nor have I explored what's in stock. I'll remedy this in the near-future, I'm sure.

My lovely girlfriend and I did a day-trip to Victoria in our first week on the Island, where I rekindled my love of Fatburger, the Noodle Box, and Caffé Artigiano. These were some of my previous life's staples whilst living in Vancouver in '06-08. It was awesome, though I should note the Singapore Cashew Curry from the Noodle Box came back to the cottage for later meals, as I had stuffed my gourd with a delightful calorie-bomb from Fatburger shortly before. I don't want y'all thinking I'm a complete glutton.

We visited Robinson's Outdoors, located in downtown Victoria, which has a massive fly fishing section on their second floor. I'd argue this shop had the biggest tying material selection of all the shops I've visited, too. Robinson's also carries the Goo, stocked on a cool DIY rack one of the guys made from an unused sunglass rack.

On our way out of Victoria, I popped into Island Outfitters (weblink broken, FB page here), another general tackle-hunting-fly fishing shop (there's a few of those here on the Island). They had a decent tying material section, and seemed to have most of the well-known fly brands in stock.

I had a great chat with one of the guys working about the local fishing scene (including the seemingly epic smallmouth fishery), he commended me on my preference of Campbell River over Courtenay/Comox, and I left with a good impression of the shop.

We also took a day trip to VanCity, where we stopped into Pacific Angler. I had stopped in previously, in the summer of 2011 while passing through my old haunts on a work trip, but they had since moved to a new location further down to East Broadway. The new digs look pretty sweet, and seem a bit bigger than their previous location. As was the case in my first visit, the staff were friendly & helpful, and I left with a handful of cutthroat flies (my typical M.O. in most of the shops I visited).

Pacific Angler publishes a weekly fishing report, which is worth signing up for or checking out their FB page for if you're in the Lower Mainland & vicinity.

Though we didn't get a chance to pop in on this visit, I'll mention the Michael & Young Fly Shop, located on West Broadway anyway, as I had visited the shop previously, too. They had a great selection of product and a friendly staff manning the shop when I was in before.

And yes, while in Vancouver, we ate at Fatburger and had coffee from Caffé Artigiano. But I couldn't squeeze in a trip to the Noodle Box for takeout.

As you can see, all the tackle & fly shops I've visited so far on Van Isle (& VanCity) have left a pretty good first impressions on me. I've already narrowed it down to preferring a couple over some others, but that's not to say the others are by any means worse than the ones I'd rather visit on any given day. And, as always:

A driver never sleeps

A: Fredericton, NB - Thursday, 21-Feb

The plan, as it was conceived, seemed simple enough: wake up, load up the truck, tidy up the apartment, say last goodbyes, and start driving. I assumed we'd be on the road by 1400h.

At  2030h (Atlantic Time), we finally pulled out of town. It would have been logical to wait until morning, but there comes a time when you just have to go. We were delayed by a day already due to bad weather, and more bad weather was on the way.

The drive from Fredericton to the Quebec border was slow; heavy wind gusts with the kayak on top and occasional snow & ice-covered highways resulted in top speeds of 80km/h (~50mph, 'merican friends).

But we were on our way.

B: North Bay, ON - Friday/Saturday, 22/23-Feb

We pulled into North Bay at 1430h (Eastern Time) on Friday afternoon and quickly found a near-deserted Comfort Inn to rest our weary bones and order a pizza.

The front desk staff were friendly, helpful and courteous. They made sure we had a drive-up room so we could easily take the dog out as well as keep an eye on all of our worldly possessions in & on the truck. Sleep came easy that night.

Total travel time, Fredericton - North Bay: 18 hours. I made the same trip in the same truck (with a different dog & a lot less stuff) solo back in '06; it took me 14 hours...and a lot less gas. I did have an hour-long nap at a highway rest stop on this trip, however; thus making the title of this post an outright lie.

C: Thunder Bay, ON - Saturday/Sunday, 23/24-Feb

We set out on the big portion of the never-ending trek through Northern Ontario, or Nontario, as I like to call it. It doesn't seem like the Ontario of Toronto & vicinity, who give the rest of Ontario a bad name.

Nontario seemed a lot more inhabited than in Ought-Six; I distinctly remember thinking if I were to become stranded I'd have to eat my former project manager's black lab back then. I didn't have that feeling this time.

In fact, there was a lot of traffic, which sucked at times: there were not many places to pass transport trucks, and it meant using a lot of windshield wiper fluid.

We checked into another Comfort Inn at ~2200h. The free wifi & continental breakfasts are solid, though this particular one charged for Awesome staying in the room. Front desk staff was also friendly & helpful here, too.

Before bedtime, we decided it'd be most appropriate to stop at the Terry Fox Memorial in the morning. I'm glad we did.

Non-Canadians: click here for more on Terry Fox.

Canadians not knowing who Terry Fox is: Leave now. Get on an ice floe, push off and float away in a slow, southerly route. Far from shore. I don't want you here.

Total travel time, North Bay to Thunder Bay: 13 hours and change. This is where the comparisons between 2006 & 2013 should stop; in '06 Thunder Bay was a gas/coffee/bathroom stop, and I kept going...right through to Saskatoon...

D: Regina, SK - Sunday/Monday, 24/25-Feb

After paying respects to the Terry Fox Memorial east of Thunder Bay, we once again pointed west and were off.

Today was to be a wildcard day of driving: if we made it past Winnipeg, I'd be happy. Any further than that would be a bonus. We just wanted to be out of Ontario and eventually, we were: we made it into Manitoba.

High-level negotiations between driver & passenger carried on throughout the day to determine how far and how long we would go into the night. The driver (me) was feeling pretty good: alert, not stiff and well-rested. The passenger, unfortunately, was not.

Compromises were made, and a (rough) plan hatched: stop for the night in Brandon, MB; then take a short driving day the next day to rest our weary souls and bones. The passenger dozed off, and I pushed through to Regina, Saskatchewan. Bam.

We stayed at (another) Comfort Inn in Regina. The bag o' douche at the front desk gave me the "we have a room available" routine, as if to imply there was one and only one room available, and it was going to be expensive...in terms of the Comfort Inn. I didn't give a rat's ass whether it was $89 or $129, I just wanted a bed.

Then I almost broke my neck in the icy parking lot while outside with the dog, which endeared all-things-Saskatchewan to me even further.

Total travel time, Thunder Bay to Regina: Seventeen-ish hours. We stopped for a 'fancy' lunch in Dryden, ON, the birthplace of Chris Pronger...if anyone cares...

Fun fact: once crossing the border into Manitoba, I set my cruise control for ~105km/h (65mph) and didn't accelerate or decelerate from that speed for about an hour and forty minutes. Love the Prairie Provinces.

PS - Comfort Inn, Regina: eat a dick.

E: Medicine Hat, AB - Monday/Tuesday, 25/26-Feb

As agreed to during high-level negotiations of the previous day, this was our short day. A half-day...or more like a third-day, by the rate we had been travelling.

After a lazy start to the day, we made it into Alberta and checked into a nice Best Western in Medicine Hat by mid-afternoon.

Pizza was ordered, sleep was had.

Which is good, because the mountains were coming at us fast...

Total travel time, Regina to Medicine Hat: Five hours. If only all the days were like that.

F. Chilliwack, BC - Tuesday/Wednesday, 26/27-Feb

The day started ominously: at the first intersection of the morning, I needed to pop the truck into four wheel drive in order to move at the green light.

As y'all can imagine, I had been paying attention to the weather for days leading up to and throughout the trip. Our drive from Fredericton and through Quebec was a precision-timed masterpiece, avoiding storms by mere hours ahead of us and behind us.

I knew weather would be touch-and-go for the first two hours out of Medicine Hat but with minimal snow accumulation and no chance of freezing rain. And once we were past Calgary, it would be clear skies for much of the day through the mountains...but I also knew it wouldn't last for long: bad weather was a-brewin'.

I'll tell this part of the journey through Twitter:

Alas, it wasn't all rainbows & unicorns on this last big day of driving: I had a solid forty minutes of white-knuckled, butt-puckering, scary-ass driving on the Coquihalla Pass¹.

This was the worse part of the entire trip. I hated it, while my lovely passenger slept soundly through it all. I'm sure she still doesn't believe there were snowbanks towering over the truck (there were) with three feet of snow on the road at the summit (more like three inches).

But two lengthy Matthew Good songs² later, we were out of the mountains and into a light, mild³ rain.

We stayed at another Comfort Inn. Not as good as the Comfort Inns of Ontario, but a zillion times better than that shithead Comfort Inn of Regina.

I didn't sleep well as I was constantly checking on the truck. When I first moved to Vancouver in '06, some dick smashed my driver's side door window, probably to see if the newly-landed New Brunswicker left anything of value in the truck. He got thirty-seven cents; I got a $345 repair bill.

As we say back east, the bastards would steal Christ from the cross and go back for the nails. Fuckers.

¹ - just pronounce it Coca Cola Pass and you'll be fine.

² - like this one and this one (they're worth a listen. Right now. Go ahead).

³ - mild by Canadian standards, as in, it was 6°C (43°F). Goddamned tropical by eastern Canadian in February standards.

Total travel time, Medicine Hat to Chilliwack: Fifteen hours or so. We stopped in Canmore for lunch and in Kamloops for an extended dog-walk. Plus the whole snowpocalypse on the Coca Cola Highway slowed things down...

G: Comox Valley, BC - Wednesday, 27-Feb.

Nothing much to report on this part of the journey, except we finished it. Anticlimactic, isn't it?

We were on the road by 0800h (Pacific Time) with a quick Starbucks Coffee from beside the motel, and efficient use of the carpool lane through the Lower Mainland to North Vancouver to make it onto the 1030h ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo.

I had a huge breakfast on the ferry for not that much money and we chilled out for the ride; happy to be out of the truck while making forward progress.

Once on Vancouver Island, the goal line was in sight. We pulled into the Safeway in Courtenay around 1330h to grab a few groceries, and we were off to check into our seaside cottage hideaway.

We were asleep for the night by 1630h. Pacific time.

Total travel time, Chilliwack to Comox Valley: about five hours, with 70 minutes spent waiting to load on the ferry and almost two hours on the ferry.

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Be sure to follow along with my Instagram feed for pics chronicling my adventure in a new land (and pics of Awesome the Dog, too).

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Westward

Coming to a Western Province near you.

Just don't ask me how the gas mileage is.

The Promised Land

I've yet to load the Diable Paddlesports Chupacabra on the truck

Much like the Clampetts, we'll be soon taking our lives west. But not to Beverly Hills.

Ignoring the minor details of not yet knowing where we'll call home (Vancouver Island landlords aren't very good at responding to emails), we'll be arriving in less than three weeks.

Preparing both physically and mentally for a move from one side to the other of the world's second-largest country whilst in West Africa should be a breeze in this current age of technology...but it isn't.

A typical email to a prospective landlord would go as such:

Hi,
I came across your ad on Craigslist; is your house still available to rent? 

If so, could you tell me if there is carpeting or not, and if the bathroom has a bathtub?   

Also, our dog is approximately 35lbs (Brittany Spaniel mix); is that too large for you? 

We are moving to Vancouver Island in late February but would have no issues renting for Feb. 15th if it works out.  

Thanks in advance & have a great weekend!

This response to those four fairly precise questions was returned:

"im showing it tmr at noon, 250-898-****"

So I guess the house is still available to rent.

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On the bright side of things, I've almost forgotten about one significant (and awesome) detail about fishing on Vancouver Island...besides steelhead, cutthroat, pink salmon, coho salmon, chinook salmon, ling cod, dungeness crab and oysters:

Whether it is the infinite number of Bass that proliferate its waters, or the fact that these fish attain weights of up to 4 kg.

For my metric-deficient American cousins:

I can deal with less-than helpful potential landlords for 8lb smallies.

Heck, I'd sleep in my truck for 4lb smallies (my lovely girlfriend is another matter altogether, though).

Vancouver Island is the promised land.

Counting down

Much like a child awaiting the arrival of Christmas morning, I'm counting down the days.

There's slightly more than two weeks left to go for me on this project; once I arrive home, I'll be taking a break from work for six to eight weeks. Note I've omitted placing the words 'much needed' prior to 'break.' This past week is the first I've worked since leaving here on December 18th; I won't try to convince you I have it that rough...though the chaps in the picture above (part of my security detail) might suggest otherwise.

After arriving home in February, my lovely girlfriend and I will spend the next week sorting our belongings and packing what won't be sold, donated or tossed. Frantically, I might add.

I'll be attempting to replicate the packing abilities of minibus drivers seen here in West Africa, with assorted baggage, bicycle and fishing kayak towering several feet over the height of my truck's roof.

I'll admit I'm looking forward to this.

A lot, I might add, because it's just another step closer to us getting on the road to our new adventures on Vancouver Island.

And that's what I'm really looking forward to.

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Here are a few Vancouver Island beach flies I've tied for coho & pink salmon.

All are variants on fairly well-known (locally, at least) Pacific NW salt patterns. Changes to the original fly recipes were made not to add in a 'creative touch' but due to lack of availability of the originally-listed tying materials.

Ferguson Green and Silver

Pink and blue Handlebars

Cathy's Coat (or Kathy's Koat) variant

Bead-head Handlebars

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East, then west.

If things had gone to plan, I'd be sitting in an airport right now, bound for a return trip to Africa.

But for various reasons, most of which weren't confirmed until yesterday afternoon, I'm tapping away at my desk instead. This, in my mind, is not a bad thing.

Time > Money. Don't ever forget that, kids.

— Mat Trevors (@mattrevors) January 11, 2013

I like my work all fine & good, but an extra week at home is appreciated. Even if it means a 33°C temperature difference.

Note: It's an unseasonably mild day here in New Brunswick. Had I written this earlier this week or last week, that temperature difference would be more like 48°C. For my 'merican cousins, that's the difference between 81°F and -5°F.

So if things go to plan (version 2.0), I'll be sitting in an airport or on a plane next Saturday, bound for a return trip to Africa.

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If any of you follow along with my dribble on Twitter and Instagram, you're probably all aware of our plans of relocating. But in case you missed it, here it is: after I escape the clutches of work in Africa, we're moving to Vancouver Island.

We'll be doing our best Beverley Hillbillies impersonation with our moving truck, which may be familiar to car manufacturers, dealers and me as my 2003 Ford Sport Trac.

Valuables that can't be left behind & must be loaded on the truck include my Chupacabra kayak, fishing & tying gear, my bike, my lovely girlfriend's ever-growing book collection, as well as numerous personal & kitchen effects, including my various coffee snob paraphernalia.

And we mustn't forget Awesome the Dog and his crate, too.

After we pile a small U-Haul truck's worth of gear in and on a small truck, we'll then drive from the eastern side to the western side of the world's second largest country in February, known to some as 'winter.'

We're making the move for a number of reasons, but is best summarized by these two reasons:

• I'm on a mission to bridge the divide between the East Coast and West Coast rap scenes, and to prevent any escalating violence while promoting a confluence of the ideals and creativity of hip hop and rap from both coasts*. 
• My lovely girlfriend, Awesome the Dog, and I all absolutely hate winter. And both my lovely girlfriend and I would like a change in scenery, at least temporarily. Awesome is unable to communicate whether he wants a change in scenery as well, though. 

Note: The twelve months of fishing Vancouver Island provides, as opposed to six months of fishing here, has absolutely nothing* to with the decision.

* - Denotes a blatant lies, also known as a 'fibs.'

Follow along on this farcical adventure, complete with tweets of frustration and photographs of triumph and/or disaster on the aforementioned Twitter and Instagram, as well as here on mattrevors.com, in February, 2013.

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Enjoy a tune:

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