Caddis Chronicles

Wouldn't you know it, it's the end of the year and I can't decide what to post.  I fished today, caught a pig, and had a great day on the water.  The sky was clear, blue and cloudless, and the air was warm and breezy; just how we like it.  Just after I caught the big rainbow, I stood on the bank of the river talking to Tim Flagler, and a bald eagle flew right over our heads along the river corridor just above the tree tops.  It was awesome.   Tim commented that maybe it was a sign - we should enlist.....I told you I was confused, didn't I?

 

Yesterday we made an impromptu trip into the concrete jungle better known as New York City,  It is such an incredible departure from the serenity of the woods and rivers we most often frequent that I enjoy it immensely when I am there.  I drove in, which makes the experience all the more interesting - idiots honking their horns like it will make traffic move faster, delivery men on bicycles riding as though no one else is on the road, and pedestrians that might as well have had blinders on walking out from between cars and crossing against the light.  Who needs video games? 

 

     

So where am I going with this?  Well, it's been a wonderful year for so many reasons.  Sure, we had some rough patches, but they only exist to make us more aware of all the good stuff that goes on around us.  We fished a lot, traveled, and best of all spent time with some of our favorite people - many whom we have known for years, and a few new ones that came on board as though they were with us all along. 

 

We made some awesome tying videos thanks to Tim and Joan Flagler at Tightline Productions.  And thanks to those videos, we heard from folks from far off places that if not for the internet, we would never have had the pleasure of knowing.   For instance, today I learned that the folks in Australia need to know a substitute for snowshoe rabbit foot hair, since they can't get that fly tying material there - it's banned from import.  And closer to home, thanks to the tying videos we made, I also found out I dub wrong....backwards.  Who knew?

 

Okay, let's stop there.  I'm not changing the way I dub, not at this late date.  Besides it works just fine for me, and after all, it's just fly tying.  Now if I were performing surgery, then we'd certainly have a problem.  No one wants a heart that beats backwards, do they?  They might fall out of love all the time.......

 

We'll sign off now, but not without thanking all of you that have spent time following Caddis Chronicles.  Over the next few days I'll be posting photos and some vague narrative chronicling the highlights of the past year.  My judgment may be a bit biased, but I'll do my very best to keep it entertaining, if not downright hysterical.

 

Sharpen your hooks.

 

P.S. If you are really desperate for social media interaction, I can rarely be found tweeting on twitter - @Mattgrobert  You can thank my wonderful and talented daughter Megan for talking me into such a crazy endeavor.  She's a marketing and communications wizard, who thinks it might do something for my "brand".  I tried to tell her I was too old for that shit, and that I am allergic to exposure, but she has a way of getting daddio to follow her logic.