First Fish of 2007

March 26, 2007 at 5:55 pm · Filed under Just Stuff, Sports

I caught my first fish of 2007 on the weekend. These were actually the first fish that I have caught in several years. I caught them at Trout Lake, which was about 10 minutes from where our family was staying in Halfmoon Bay.

I hit the lake early Sunday morning in my float tube. I had a few nibbles on my sinking line, then I started getting really cold. On my way back to shore I hooked a nice little cutthroat that did a lot of jumping. Later that afternoon I had some time to kill so I went back to the lake and cast from shore. BTW, am I the only one that has trouble casting a sinking line on a 6wt rod? I think the heavier line needs a stiffer rod. With some patience and careful attention I was able to get the line out maybe 40ft. Obviously this isn’t a big concern when cruising in a float tube. Anyways, I managed to bring in another cutthroat from shore.

I saw a bit of action on the surface in both the morning and afternoon. There were some whiteish type bugs skittering on the surface and flying around a bit. I’m not sure how well a dry fly would have worked. I did see a guy casting a dry line from a float tube in the afternoon but I didn’t see him hook anything while I was there.

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Steam bending stems for canoe

March 22, 2007 at 11:15 pm · Filed under Freedom 15 Canoe

I finished steam bending the stems for the Freedom 15. It was really easy. I grabbed our kitchen kettle and taped down the on switch to keep the kettle boiling. Over top of the spout I placed some ABS tube with my stem pieces. I didn’t worry too much about stuffing rags around the spout to trap the steam. The kettle was ejecting steam in all sorts of directions. The top end of the ABS was already sealed with a cap. In fact, the ABS I was using is actually my home made rod case for our 8wt fly rod. After 20min of steaming I grabbed the strips and slapped it on the stem mold. The wood bent extremely easy. Time really wasn’t an issue. All I had to do was clamp one end, pull the strips down and put on more clamp on. Voila. After that, I put more clamps just to secure the whole thing and to minimize recoil.

My stems consist of three strips of wrc for the inside, and walnut/AYC/walnut for the three strips for the outside stems. I’m not sure why a person would need hardwood for the inside. I’m not even sure why you need hardwood for the outside, the whole thing is wrapped in fiberglass and epoxy. I guess it doesn’t hurt, and I hope the AYC stands up to the abuse. One of my wrc strips actually cracked during the bending. I’m not sure why, but maybe there was a knot in it. I didn’t use particularly great wood for the insides stems.

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Hacked!

March 20, 2007 at 5:07 pm · Filed under Just Stuff

dryfly got hacked yesterday, along with alpinevisions and the dryfly gallery. I would describe more about the hack, but then that would partially validate some of the hacker’s intentions…

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tv just got better

March 15, 2007 at 6:17 pm · Filed under Just Stuff

Starchoice has 2 new channels in its lineup. As a starchoice customer, I now get GolTV and WFN. GolTV is Canada’s only 24hr soccer channel which carries games from Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil and others. WFN is the world fishing network, and everyone knows that the world needs more fishing shows. I particularly enjoy comparing the size of the gold rings that the various hosts on the fishing shows wear.

To inaugurate this momentous occasion, tonight I can watch the 2.5hrs show “Arsenal TV”, which of course is a show dedicated to Europe’s most fun and dynamic soccer team.

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