Bucket List

First off I have some fishing friends out there who in my book are more deserving of this honor than I am.  Mitch, Chris, Dave, and especially Ryan without you guys I would have never picked up a fly rod or I would have without a doubt put them down a long long time ago.  (I LOVE YOU WIFE.)  Those relationships and memories are what life in general and especially this sport is all about…Catching something is just a bonus.

I don’t have a “Bucket List” but I do have a mental notepad full of fishing related desires.  One of the things not on that list is now at the tip-pity-top, with a big X scratched threw it.  To have a photo of myself on the cover of a fly fishing magazine was all but unthinkable until a few weeks ago when a phone call from Kent broke the news.  It wasn’t until a few days ago that I got to see it for myself.  If the picture was on the last page of south pole fly fishing magazine buried in a collage of hundreds of pictures that would have been fine by me.  But thanks to Louis Cahill’s master Yoda  photography skills and Kent Klewein’s coaching, I find myself gracing the cover of and a 2 page contents spread in Trout Magazine.

I am beyond excited and humbly thankful to the guys over at Gink and Gasoline, they are a BLAST to fish with.  I’m not sure what exactly you have to do in order to deserve such a thing.  I, not so simply, found myself in the right place at the right time, with the right people.  I mean come on look at this guy a Loop jacket, Simms beanie, Redington waders, Korkers boots, Sage Reel, G-Loomis rod and a fishpond backpack I am a branding nightmare holding a fish that could have been easily swallowed by some of the monsters we caught in that river.  Some fancy company didn’t send us there to shoot pictures, just a group of guys out fishing, although one of us just happened to be a successful wizard with a camera.  Which is why I think this picture looks truly F^&#ing awesome.  Anyone who thinks fly fishing is not a sport should go and park themselves in western New York, smack dab in the middle of a December freeze for 5 days of Steelhead fishing with a  long rod.  The cold was indescribable, everything froze.  I literally had to crawl into the shower just to break free from the ice in order to get out of my boots and waders.  All of this is why that trip deserved the most amazing pictures I have ever seen.

More pictures from this trip last year and this years trip which wrapped yesterday will continue to trickle out from time to time.  Here are a few from last year that the Gink and Gasoline guys have put out.  As you can see Trout Magazine chose their pictures for their needs.  My favorite from the group below is Kents giant Steelhead grip and grin from up at the dam.  Not that I’m arguing with their choice!!!