Hawg

The first fish (& only fish, so far) in my new Jackson Kayaks Cuda 14 was a personal-best smallmouth bass.

It measured a shade under 23", putting it in the 7lb range.

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I was casting into extremely heavy cover - a lot of fallen trees & such; for an extremely pregnant pause of 3-4 seconds, I thought I was hung up on a branch. Then the line moved.

For what seemed like eternity, the bass stayed deep. I didn't see it but the bend in the 6wt told me it was big. Finally seeing it gave confirmation; the bass jumped once then dove deep again, running for cover of the downed trees. I couldn't afford to give it any line, so the bass was towing the kayak and the rod was bent almost double. Once the line pointed vertically below the kayak into the mess of branches, I thought all was for nought.

I switched the rod to my left hand and, keeping the rod pressured, I paddled one-handed to horse the bass out from under the branches, hoping all the while the #8 fluoro tippet would hold up.

The tippet did its job: the bass was free of trees and soon at the side of my kayak. Having lost a ~5lb smallie (which would have been a personal-best at the time) boat-side a few weeks back, I didn't f**k around: I lipped the fish, bringing it aboard & dislodging the fly almost simultaneously. I then snapped some quick pics with my Camera+ app, took a fast measurement of its length, and sent the bass on its way.

I drifted aimlessly in the 'yak for the next half-hour, mumbling prayers of thanks to both the bass and Bob Clouser, shaking too much from excitement to make another cast.

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Gear:

• #4 chartreuse & white Clouser minnow
• Redington Predator 6wt rod 
• Redington Rise 5/6 reel 
• RIO Smallmouth taper line
• Blue Sky furled leader with Maxima #8 fluorocarbon tippet

Location, time & date:

• Name Redacted Lake, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
• ~1545h, 04 June, 2013

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.

Unable to see the video in your email? Click here to view the full post

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Birth of a 'yak angler

Random redfish picture, just so y'all know where my head is at.
(Taken at SC Aquarium, which is an awesome place)

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. - Kenneth Grahame

Bringing home my new Diablo Paddlesports' Chupacabra marked the end of an era: the Magnificent Basstard is for sale.

Note #1: I reverted back to calling it the Magnificent Basstard from The Aluminum Bastard since it's for sale.
Note #2: selling the boat would be a lot easier if I wasn't in Nunavut until late August.

A little piece of my brain was whispering about the adventures I could have with both The Magnificent Basstard (henceforth "the MB") and the Chupacabra paired up as part of an amphibious fly fishing strike force of awesomeness.

Common sense (and a promise to my lovely girlfriend) has won out; I will bid adieu to the MB as soon as a buyer is found. In fact, a few interested souls have already come forward.

I weighed the options of buying a fishing kayak last year, but the summer slipped by way too fast. I was away working a fair bit and next thing I knew it was September. And when October rolled around, I ended up buying the MB...and then promptly went to Idaho to work for the entire month.

Desires for a fishing kayak reared its head again in the spring, but having the MB and a trip booked to Belize in September kept any and all kayak delusions in check. It came down to simple economics: kayaks are sort of expensive.

A boat owner is a special breed of person. I battled with truck repairs, learning to back up with a trailer hitched, boat covers that collected more rainwater than they shed, parking issues, and a trailer that requires a little bit of servicing to pass inspection. As the summer once again started sliding past, I very calmly*, with no cursing whatsoever**, concluded I am not that breed of person. Not yet, anyway.

* - This is a lie.
** - This is not a lie, but replace 'doghouse' with 'boat trailer' in this video here.

Owning a powerboat, with the associated time, money and responsibilities that go with it just isn't for me at this current stage of my life.

Note #3: Without question, the MB itself is a great boat. My truck and the boat trailer have caused me all of my boating woes, with my work schedule being the main contributing factor to why the boat lies fallow.

Sea trials on Lake Sebago, Maine

But I still wanted (needed?) to be on the water.

The kayak had definite merits (many of which I told my lovely girlfriend). No trailer to worry about towing, parking space or government inspections. No gas bills. No possible future mechanical failures. No insurance. No lower unit to worry about in shallow water.

Less worry. Less hassle. Less money. All possible in less water.

Plus excuses for (lots of) physical activity under the guise of fishing and to build and rig things like storage out of milk crates and push-poles out of PVC.

Note #4: the word 'accessories' takes on whole new levels of awesomeness why you combine the words 'kayak' and 'fishing.'

Yes, I think a kayak is more my style.

Note #5: Especially if your talking about living room style:

Boat parking issues are SOLVED!

Traveling Angler Tuesdays Tip #5: Networking

Traveling Angler Tuesdays launched June 26th, 2012 on mattrevors.com. My mission is to prove the concept of fly fishing travel abroad is not just the realm of old rich dudes and magazine writers & photographers. Keep checking back regularly as I share tips & tricks to get you to fly fishing locales you dream of going to. To see past articles & tips, click here.

Oh Asheville, you so crazay!

Greetings from beautiful Charleston, SC!

This is edition of Traveling Angler Tuesdays will be short. This Traveling Angler is on vacation.

My lovely girlfriend and I departed Fredericton last Tuesday afternoon, embarking on an epic road trip. We swung through southern Ontario to hit the Toronto Zoo and Marineland in Niagara Falls, then pointed south to the Carolinas.

What's the draw of the Carolina's, you might ask?

For one, redfish. Of course.

But secondly, there's a cluster of cool dudes living down here that I wanted to meet and (hopefully) fish with. Guys like David from Southern Culture on the Fly and Cameron of The Fiberglass Manifesto.

Herein lies the Traveling Angler Tip of the week: learn how to make friends. In the professional world, this is called networking.

I briefly wrote about this in the Traveling Angler Tuesday post about research:

Hitting up Twitter, Facebook and Google+ and asking the right people if they or anyone they know have information might give you some leads as well. New to the social media thing? Sign up for Twitter and follow me. Then follow the fishing people I follow and politely ask us some questions. Twitter folks have all the answers.

The guys I've met or will meet I have spoken to before, either on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or SCOF's web forum. To finally meet with them in real life after "knowing" them for months, if not years is pretty amazing.

And that is why networking in the fly fishing world is awesome.

Pro tip: Don't network in the douchey professional sense. The anglers on twitter & who write don't really like it. Don't be greasy or selfish. Follow some people on social media, read their stuff, make informative comments when necessary, share their links to their online content. Be friendly. Most people in the fly fishing online realm are extremely friendly & willing to share information, but be helpful to them in some way as well. Putting SCOF & TFM stickers on the new fairing of a roof rack is a start :)

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I'm under the gun to get out of the hostel room & get to a beach, so that's it for this week's Traveling Angler Tuesdays (I didn't proofread this as much as usually do, so please excuse any typos).

The new Chupacabra

I'd like to give shout-outs to the following folks for helping our epic road trip so far with tips, information and other awesome stuff:

• Thomas at Diablo Paddlesports, for helping with lots of questions & calling the dealer ahead of time for me.
• Luthi's Fly Fishing in Greenville, for setting aside my new Chupacabra kayak and helping me instal my roof rack for it in the parking lot!
• Cameron of The Fiberglass Manifesto, for Chupacabra info, restaurant & sightseeing ideas in Asheville and Charleston, and helping pick out a PFD for me in Columbia.
• Dave of Southern Culture on the Fly, for the campsite referral and taking us out fishing on Lake James, where I knocked off a bream for my Species Journal!

We're off to see the fellas at Lowcountry Fly Shop this morning on our way to the beach.

I'm goin' redfishin' this week. I hope y'all wish me luck.