Yeah, he’s a scientologolist or whatever but fuck it…

The greatest thing about turning 40 for me is that in just a few weeks I’ll be fishing the Little Red in AR with Jamie Rouse (not sure what’s up with his main site but check here if the first link is a dud) who was recently featured in the latest of Southern Culture on the Fly. I found Jamie via the lodge that we are staying at and it would seem that my instincts led me in the right direction. After a short talk with Jamie I was sold on the fact that he is afflicted.  I’m heading that way with my best friend who lives in Dallas now. Another guy that refuses to indi fish even if he is being outfished by the nympher next door. He turns 40 this year too so we have to at least hit double 20″ browns or the trip has to be done over. Part of me hopes that the do over happens so the rest of the Hatchless dudes can join us next time.

We have one day with with Jamie and one with one of his other guides that is also a streamer junkie. Should be a killer trip. It was nice to get an endorsement on Jamie from a fellow Au Sable streamer guy, Kelly Neuman, and then yet another endorsement a week after we booked with Jamie via SCOTF.

Kelly is guiding on the White for the first few weeks in Feb and is well worth looking up because he has a killer deal going down there. Also on the White this time of year from MI are the guys from OAS in Grayling, MI doing time down there chasing hogs. Find them at Daily’s Ozark Fly Fisher. The Michigan guys know the deal when it comes to tuggin’ streamers!

We fucking love you all. Have a Happy New Year too!

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Don’t they look tasty? 

Click the link to find out.

photo from: chicagobreakingnews.com

I received the email below from Tom Buhr today. Tom is the president of a grass roots organization that focuses on the Au Sable river in MI. He is the man we all wish we could be when it comes to having the balls and energy to fight the good fights and get motivated on the conservation front. I’m sure he made Rusty Gates proud on many an occasion. His group, which we are big fans and supporters of, can be found here.

Here is the email:

Subject: Newsletter: Attorney General Mike Cox’s StopAsianCarp.com

Please let me know.
…
Department of Attorney General

Yes. Its a big deal. Check out the site. Sign the petition. Send a letter. Whatever it takes.

Issue number 8. Get it here.

Issue number 20. Get it here.

Photo courtesy of Fishbeer.com. Too many to choose from but Fat Tire in cans (its boat friendly!), acid reducer,  and a 10″ pepperoni log had to be it.

Thanks to “Little Timmy” for asking “which blog is for him”?. I say that knowing that his question could have been in jest which I will attempt to qualify later… or not.

I would also like to thank Alex from 40 Rivers for including us in his 20 blogs to read. I like Alex’s blog. Its kind of right in line with what/why we started Hatchless. He seems like a regular guy with a regular life that takes time to do the thing that he loves to do when he can and writes about it when he can. Fortunately he writes often and we get to share his experiences. I guess that makes him lucky but that’s what the whole blog thing is about isn’t it? Sort of…

There are a shit ton of fly fishing related blogs and a lot of them are a really good read. Some have become a way to advertise and you can travel the world of fly fishing through them if that’s what you’re after. If you want to find a hip guide you can probably find it through a blog. If you want to read a story about a lifestyle you wish you had, you can read it in a blog. If you’re looking for a quick story from an amateur writer that just wants to talk about a special time they had in a special place, you can probably find it through a blog. Its all there if you want to take the time to read it and the big bonus is that its free and the people that write them are human too and if you want to contact them, you probably can.

Where do you start? Looking for options, just go to Buster’s site and look at the side bar. Tons o’ blogs and stuff there. Or go to the infamous “Chum” and look at the links. Tons again. (Be sure to check back every friday on the Chum for the Friday Pin Up. Even though this week is sub-par, its usauly pretty good.) Most of the blogs you’ll find will link you to another one. The bottom line is that the shit is out there. You just gotta go find what’s right for you.

For me its a mood thing, If I”m feeling a little “fuck the man” I might read Buster.  If I need a quick fix I usually go to the Chum because you just never know what you’ll find. Could be some killer photos linked to a post there that I may not have found otherwise or art or a conservation topic or… etc. The Chum is all over the place. Call it what you want. I know that some of us here at Hatchlss have opinions on it but we still wear the stickers on our trucks and boats regardless. Midcurrent… its the CNN of fly fishing. What more can you say. They say it and its not a bad thing. Its just their thing and its what they do and they do it well.

So what about the rest of us? Already mentioned 40 Rivers. Enough said about Alex. Anything more might breach the line into ass kissing. What about Fish Beer? He is probably a whole hell of a lot better writer than I’ll ever be. Just read his latest post: “She looked absent mindedly at the concrete wall and exhaled cigarette smoke like a thick streaming liquid into continental August humidity and it slowly expanded to fill the truck’s cab despite the open windows.” Its probably a run-on sentence but who fucking cares? None of the other fly fishing blogs are writing stuff like that! What about Josh Greenberg from Gates Lodge? Granted, this week’s report is not up to snuff and it might not even be a “blog” but who cares? Josh is a good writer and I look forward to every one of his new reports. Again, its there. There are so many more. Just read the stuff and find your favorites.  When you do find something you love or hate, leave a comment. We appreciate it either way.

When we started Hatchless we had intentions of reaching out to the masses. We still have intentions of reaching out to the masses. If you had a good time with a fly rod in your hand and want to write about it but don’t have a place to do it, share it with us and we’ll probably post it. Its part of why we’re here.

There really isn’t much that I can say about this except that it was fly caught, it wasn’t the biggest one, and you can read about it here.

A fishing trip should probably never end in you being passed out in the ER or result in having weapons of limited destruction end up your boat in place of where a fish should have been. Not saying that weapons and passing out shouldn’t be a part of any fishing trip, just that they shouldn’t be an end to one.

Thanks to Maine Fly Castings  and Singlebarbed for helping with today’s story problem.

  Does this look like a tool designed for catch and release?