The Happy Trout Chronicles

Steelhead

2011-11-28T21:26:00.005-05:00

Here are a few pics from the long holiday weekend...

Movember

2011-11-19T09:57:00.009-05:00

Been a boring month or so. Fishing really winded down, daylight hours are nonexistant. Grouse and turkey hunting has been a bust. With the warm temps, turkey and grouse aren't too stressed in the woods and on my long walks with the shotgun, forage is abundant- they can be anywhere. Here we are approaching Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) and it will be 60 degrees today.

Ticks have been awful. every walk in the woods produces quite a few crawling up your clothes. It is getting old.

I'm toying with a few new projects in the downtime. I built a pretty nice little stick for my daughter. The blank is a F.H Paddock- one of his three piece caramel colored fiberglass blanks. This particular one is a 7 foot 4 weight. Spigot ferrules, very light and pretty to look at.
I wrapped it with fine diameter nylon in the "sunrise" color, with lightweight snake guides. The cork started out as a preformed cigar shape, but I re-filled it and turned it down to a finer diameter. Reel seat is a Struble DS2 slide band downlock with a Teak insert. The rod came out nice and slings 20-30 feet of line with ease. She doesn't know it yet, but "Merry Christmas."The next project was a fun little restoration on an old 1970s CVA Kentucky longrifle. I really wish I took the time to take a before and after photo of it- it was UGLY when I got it. Now it looks great.This one started its life as one of the popular kits you could buy in the 70s and 80s from CVA. like alot of these I have seen, the original owner hastily put it together and took it out to the woods. I stripped it totally down, removed all of the old finish, re-stained the wood, applied several coats of oil finish and then filed, sanded and polished all of the brass hardware. I also heat treated the ramrod in an old school spiral fashion. I like it, it came out nice. I have not touched it off yet.I need to fish. Steelhead are in up north and I had full plans to dis the boss and head up. I came down with a pretty serious headache that landed me in bed for a few days. Foiled my plans to put a beating on fresh lake run chromers. This week is a short one and I hope to make a trip or two out on the water.

Lastly, but not least...I am part of the Movember movement.... This is a month long fundraiser for mens' cancer awareness. Basically, you shave your stash off October 31st and from November 1 to December 1, you grow it out. I look stupid, (going for the Ron Burgundy) but its for a good cause. You can visit my page here: DaveZ

October Fun

2011-10-16T20:28:00.003-04:00

First day of grouse season on Saturday....and toying with Pennsylvania's elk herd on Sunday. It was a good weekend.

Trout Love

2011-10-02T16:21:00.013-04:00

I got "decorated" by my three daughters before departing

Met the crew for a half-a-week of chucking and ducking big flies, camping, and the inevitable beer drinking. Weather was ideal for fall streamer fishing minus the cold. Rain I can handle. Cold water temps, the "dude don't abide." I also learned that I don't like to be ejected from the back of drift boat for an impromptu swim in 48 degree water.

It was a long drive once again. Michigan gets further and further away every time it seems.
But when you are targeting 20 inch plus sized brown, you gotta get there somehow.

Anyway, We did a few floats, pounded the banks and caught some very nice trout. Wasn't the best of fishing, but the fish that ate were hooked, landed, photographed and let go.

Still can't crack the 24" mark on my rod. I can get to it though.

...So, I'm in the back of the drift boat, as I just got off the oars. water was a little skinny in some places, so we got stuck a few times. In one riffle, we beached, but man, the water on the bank looked so good. I remained standing, hucking line to the bank and the boat broke free. Joe, on the oars, gave a swift left oarm, spun the boat around and I didn't even get a chance to grab ahold of anything. "MAN OVERBOARD!" It happened so fast- I dove straight over the side, rod in hand, right into 2-1/2' deep water. I thought I broke my arm, shoulder, wrist and rod. I got up, made it over tot he bank, shed my wet clothes and "dried off" in the rain. Not good. It was cold too. Luckily, Mark had a spare jacket and it was dry. After checking me over, we decided we could laugh it off, as nobody was seriously hurt, the rod didn't break, all I got was a little wet.
I checked my underwear too, and was all good there as well.

Back to fishing.

The last fish of the day was this brute. 22", but his left side was a mess. Osprey? Heron? something else? He was really scarred up and it looked recent too. He seemed to be OK, swam off hard and other than his "tough guy" looks, was all in tact.

...his good side...

...and his bad side...

I also have a new addiction.....Swinging streamers for big trout. There is nothing like a 20" brown charging down a racing swung streamer. This type of fishing is a heck of alot of fun. The rod I was using is my favorite switch rig- the Red Truck Diesel series 11' 7wt switch. Whats cool about the swing is the line tension when a fish eats. Any good fish nearly buckles the rod in half coupled with the weight of the river.

That's my girl

2011-09-25T20:10:00.005-04:00

Sunday fishin again... In PA football is a big deal. I love it. Well, I don't love football, in fact, I don't think I've ever watched a full game. But, I love that so many people choose to spend their day watching football on Sundays in September and October. Perfect for me- Noone is in the woods. I usually have all the creeks to myself this time of year.
So, I took the kid to the mountains again. Took the Scott F703/3, a box of Stimulators, some tippet, camera and a lunch. We parked the car upstream about a mile and walked the road down. We would wet-wade back to the truck fishing the whole way.
First fish of the day... Best fish I have seen out of this little creek in 15 years. Might have been on the first cast too. She did good. This one was over 10 inches. We went on to catch three more at or over 10 inches and several smaller fish. What a great day. The kid is already a good fisherman, and taking her on these day trips is very educational. Sometimes I, nor she realizes it. learning about the woods, water and the fish is good stuff. I can tell that she is starting to read water well, knows to keep low and sneak up on a hole. She knows how to fish pocket water like a pro. Checks her backcast to make sure she knows what lies behind her. Time for a trip to the Frying Pan.....soon. But we'll certainly take this for now.

Sunday Brookie Fishing

2011-09-18T18:07:00.005-04:00

Woke up this morning with the hankerin' to fish. I asked the 10-year-old if she wanted to go to the mountains and chase a few brook trout around. Of course she said yes, so we packed a lunch, threw a rod in the truck and made our way to the Laurel highlands. We're fortunate to live within a half an hour of the ridge.

It was a nice, laid back sort of day. we took a short hike, scouted a few pools and I showed the kid the pockets she wanted to fish. She can cast fairly well for her age and experience, and on these tight, brushy mountain streams, it can be a challenge and frustrating time. But she handles it well. After all, she has her old man handy to untangle the flies from trees and tie on new ones. I was her own personal guide, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Doin' the sneak
The key to fishing with kids is to make it about them, take only one rod so there never is the temptation to fish yourself. Several times, she handed me the rod and let me catch a few too.

She managed several small trout- all wild brook trout, that is all that is in these creeks, and all on dry flies. When I told her it was time to go home after 4 hours, she didn't want to. "One more spot, dad, one more spot."

I felt like I did something right when I heard that.

Tractor video

2011-08-21T20:06:00.005-04:00

My wife thinks is one of the lame-est things I've ever involved her in.... Making my cheesy tractor video.

So here's the story on the tractor, otherwise known as "Annie."

When I was a kid, I saw this tractor, called a Ford. I always said that when I get older and have my own piece of ground, that I was going to get a tractor, and it had to be a Ford. Several years ago, I got that piece of ground and immediately got the tractor. That first tractor was a 1939 Ford 9n, first model year. It was a beast and need alot of work. I got it running and decided that to bring it back from the dead and do a total restore would be quite extensive. I sold it to a guy who had to have a 1939 model. There is a surplus of these tractors around so it was pretty easy to find another.

Found this 1944 2n on Craigslist 3 years ago.

When I got this one, it was running, had a few minor issues that were easily corrected. It also had an incorrect paint job- It was painted light grey and red like a 1948 ford 8N model. This was pretty common back in the day. I cut grass and did work with the tractor, she never gave me problems other than a little smoke and some loss of power after running for several hours. This spring my father in law and I decided to get dirty and tear her down to the bare block, rebuild it inside and out, and give it a new set of clothes. I'm very pleased with the end result, and I understand these machines inside and out alot better now, and am used to their little quirks and inherent problems. I'm OK with that, I have the tractor of my childhood dreams.

I'm still here

2011-08-15T21:20:00.002-04:00

1944 Ford 2N Restored to original this summer

Hey gang.... It's been a long hot summer and I have been ultra busy. Fishin, mountain biking, playing music, home improvements, tractor restoration, and all the joys of being a father. I promise to get back to posting regularily.

Michigan Road Trip

2011-06-05T16:28:00.010-04:00

Wednesday, 6/1/2011. My friend and I departed Pennsylvania for Michigan. We were headed to meet up with the Grey drake hatch on the Muskegon and Pere Marquette rivers. It turned out to be a whirlwind trip- 1500 miles of driving at $4/gallon and a diet consisting largely of beef jerky, oranges, Coke Zero, Captain Morgan and Miller Genuine Draft.

As I left my house for the trip, I was given a special opportunity- to take a little sock monkey named "Doodis" on the trip. My youngest daughter gave him to me in case I missed home. She wanted Doodis to go fishing with daddy. I did my best to show Doodis a good time. Doodis looks a little drunk to begin with...

the "Doodis"

We arrived at about 8pm to our friends camp, minutes from the Muskegon as our home base. Armed with an arsenal of fly rods, flies, a wood drift boat and a bike for running our own shuttles, we were ready for everything we planned for.

Starting that evening, we did the short float form Croton Dam to Pine avenue takeout. About 1.5 miles of river. Upon putting the boat in, we did see risers- and lots of drakes. The only rub was most of these fish were tiny- stocked steelhead, rainbows and browns. Nonetheless, we fished on and gave it hell.

No big fish yet.

Lots of bugs however.

Thursday. We put the boat on the water early and did an all day float from Croton Dam to Pettit. Pretty disappointing. Hot. Full sun. No big trout. We finally found some risers- but the riseforms were unlike anything else I have seen. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that these "rising" fish were actually gar breathing air! Yes, gar! We found several of these gar throughout the day and ended up catching a couple. This is the first time I ever caught a gar and let me tell you- they are weird. Pre-historic- 1/3 alligator, 1/3 fish and 1/3 snake. Everything about them is weird.

rising gar?

BB's first gar

my first gar

Now I know you can't judge a river based on a day and a half of fishing, but we were pretty sore on the Muskegon. No worries, the Pere Marquette is about a half an hour away.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY-blurrrrrrr. With our wounds licked and a good night's sleep, we headed for the PM early in the morning. Stopped in the fly shop for some local info on floats and flies, and we were off to the river. The PM is a neat little river. You can literally put your boat in, drive 2 miles to the takeout and have a float that takes all day. The river winds and bends continuously and will test your oarsman skills. It was also full of rising trout- rainbows, brookies and browns from 8 inches to 16." It was a better day, fish rising all day, and no one else on the river.

Michigan does has an issue though. MOSQUITOES. Wow. They seem to multiply in front of your eyes. First 1, then 5, then 25, 255, 1005...etc. Crazy thick with bugs.

We spent the rest of our days on the PM and managed to find some of those big fish. Mornings with streamers, evenings with dry flies and at night with mouse patterns. Good stuff.

22" Pere Marquette dry fly brown

18" Pere Marquette Dry Fly Brown

We sported a new boat on this trip as well- The little 11'6 skiff I built made it's maiden voyage. Very nice boat. Perfect size for two guys, and a day's worth of gear. The boat makes its way through skinny water well, turns on a dime and works well with 8' oars. I like the layout, the side pockets for storage and the size of it. I think we have a winner here.

Two For One Special

2011-05-22T21:18:00.004-04:00

"Dave's Flyfisher Skiffs" are complete!

Turned the last screw at about 7pm tonight. Here are the specs:

-Overall Length: 11'6"
-Beam: 60"
-Bottom width: 48"
-Height at the oarlocks: 20"
-Exterior Finish: Varnish over epoxy base
-Interior Finish: Oil
-Hull Material: Meranti sides, Fir bottom
-Chines and Trim: White Oak
-Bottom Treatment: 1/4" fir skid shoe over 1/2" fir. Oiled

Joe's First Steelhead

2011-05-18T12:43:00.006-04:00

Erie Trib fish. Lots of rain brought some freshies in.... Suprisingly, the very first steelhead he ever hooked, he landed! Nice work.

...and then there is Bob.... he is a pro. at catching whitefish.....err SUCKERS!

Pond Fishin

2011-05-11T20:19:00.000-04:00

Laid back. At home. On the pond. With my girl. No place I'd rather be. Bluegills on every cast.

Spring Turkey 2011

2011-05-07T14:43:00.005-04:00

I am having an excellent spring. The previous post showed off some serious trout less than a week ago. In between fishing trips I have been turkey hunting like crazy. Has made for some very early mornings and some long afternoons. This morning I am happy to report that I stomped my biggest tom to date. So here's the story on it...

I me my friend Ed on his property after discussing the options the night before. There has been birds out in his field in the afternoons and he has heard some gobbling in the evenings. The weather looked good for Saturday, So I told him I'd meet him in his driveway at 530 AM.

As expected, my alarm went off at 430. Eek.... I only got 4 hours of sleep due to a hot water heater issue. But if there is anything that gets me up in the morning, it is the opportunity to call in a gobbler and get a crack at him. I pulled on my tick-infested camo on and made the 25 minute trip. Ed was waiting in his driveway, and had already marked 5 different gobblers in different directions. We started down the edge of the woods towards one of the birds, when another went off, not but 100 yards or less to the left of us. We both stopped and were thinking the same thing- change of plans. We quickly head into the woods- it was getting light. I wanted to close the gap and get into a good position where we could see. He gobbled again. This time, he sounded way closer. We had no choice but to set up.

The setup was poor to start. we were uphill of the bird, and surrounded by way too much thick undergrowth. Not very good for us or for a tom- it was unlikely that he would cross thick brush to meet a hen, and even if he did, he'd be very close- likely would bust us. At this point, I let out a few calls to mark the bird and see if he'd respond. He was on the ground and gobbled twice. I sat quiet, but could hear where he was coming from. Bad setup got worse. I was certain he'd hang up. I decided to take a risk and move to the right, slightly up the hill and back into the clearing. There was a well used game trail, and if I had it my way, he'd strut right down it. Yeah right- they never do what you want them to do. I let out another call and he was right on the other side of the thick brush, about 35 yards or so. I was certain he couldn't see me so I eyeballed a tree where I wanted to be and crawled over there. My rustling must have excited him, because he gobbled.

Once I got into position, I set my gun on my left knee, put my head down and let out a soft yelp. He was on it. Double-gobbled. I knew then I didn't spook him off by my movements. I saw something moving straight ahead, and there was his tail fan- missing a few feathers, and confidently purring his way in. Full strut and coming -straight up the game trail! He stayed in full strut and once he was in full view, I knew I had to take him. He was at my elevation and would have expected to see a hen where I was located. I relaxed, took a breath, kept my head down and squeezed off a 3-1/2" magnum. He was down and scratching at the sky.

I leapt up and ran over to him where he lay. I tagged the bird and signaled Ed over. We admired the bird for a few minutes, his head still white hot, while we listened to a gobbler in the distance. After further inspection, I noticed he had a single 1-1/8" spur. The other one was missing and scarred over. He was a fighter. His beard was 9-1/2". Nice mature gobbler.
I dropped my gun and bird off at my truck so we could spend the rest of the morning trying to locate Ed a bird of his own. It wasn't meant to be today, but we'll be back at it this week. I love the interaction, calling and being in the spring woods. I'll call for anyone, any day, all day.
I'm thankful to have these opportunities- whether it is fishing, hunting, spending time in the woods, not catching or shooting anything. Good company, friends or family is good enough. But when it all comes together, it is a welcomed bonus.........and I have another tag to fill!

No Hatch- No problem!

2011-05-03T21:15:00.018-04:00

Create your own hatch. Not really. So over the last week, I had 6 days off to do nothing but fish and hunt Pennsylvania turkeys. No turkey yet, but we played with a few. Still alot of time left. Truth be told, I could have ended it at 6am on opening Saturday, but I didn't pull the trigger. Might be a little regret left there....
So we went fishin'. Plan was to spend five days with the bros from WVA, PA, and MI to do our annual spring fishing trip. usually consists of alot of solid fishing, some BS story telling, beers, Captain Morgan, some late nights by the fire and early mornings chasing gobblers. This year it was reduced to a small covert team of three- Joe, Bob and myself. The three of us met a day earlier at base camp only to find the river high and dirty. Not high and dirty, but effing high and effing dirrrrrty! So, we made some calls to the other guys and let them off the hook. Save your dance card punches for better conditions.

I don't have much to report on the first few days, other than it, well, most of it sucked. We ended up making further drives at $4/gallon in search of a little cleaner water, in hopes to salvage the trip. The search led us way East, and in retrospect it was a good move. Streamer fishin' was on and even a little Hendrickson action came to be in the afternoons. We did catch a few fish (pigs) on dry flies, but mostly, hard charging sled-dog browns off the banks. It was exciting fishing and one of the best days I've ever had streamer fishing. There was that much action. Throwing 7wts, sink tips and tandem hooked flies in all the right places produced results like you always expect them to. It was damn near epic.

So here I am on Tuesday night, sorting through hundreds of pictures, dirty, wet gear, finding deer ticks on everything (including me) and cleaning boats and pickup truck interiors. I gotta go to work tomorrow. Not looking forward to it. Reality alarm clock just went off.

RED TRUCK DIESEL RODS and REELS
I also took out the new Red Truck Diesel 9'5wt rod and Diesel Series 5/6 reel. The rod is sweet. We left it rigged with a floating RIO Grand WF-5F, 9 foot hand tied leader tapered to 4x with a #14 Hendrickson on the end of it. The rod was great for medium to long casts from a drift boat. what stood out most to me was its weight. It is a 3 ounce 5wt rod, feels good in your hand paired up with the Diesel reel. I would best describe this rod as a lightened up older original Scott G series rod. slightly stiffer in the butt section, but the tip feels oddly close to the old G's. (If you know me, you know that I think the original Gs are some of the best dry fly rods ever made). The Diesel fought exactly three trout- an 18", 19" and 22.5" browns, and has only thrown dry flies. I would classify this rod as an excellent fishing tool- and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. It isn't a contest as to who has the most "space-age" materials, science or technology. It's simply a no BS 5 wt fly rod that throws a fly nice and feels good with a heavy trout on the end of it. The Diesel reel is sweet. It is a pretty familiar design of a very well known old school reel. Tall and narrow, the 5/6 is a perfect match for the Diesel rod. It has a nice sounding clicker "drag", fine brass line guard and a palming rim- again- No BS trout reel. I had two of the three fish into backing on the reel, and never once felt like I needed a $600 drag mechanism to stop either of them. The rods and reels can be purchased here.

.....One more.... ok?

Boat progress 04.16.2011

2011-04-17T19:31:00.005-04:00

(click on any photo to enlarge)

First of all, Happy birthday to me.

Got alot of work done this weekend, although I must admit I am de-motivated. Spring has sprung, I'd rather be fishing. So the plan was to do a float on our favorite big trout water, but with 2 inches of rain in the last 48 hours, everything is blown out. Might as well stay home and work on the boats.

As of today, the hulls are complete. outer and inner rails are on, transoms trimmed, everything sanded and ready for finish. It's a little cold still, otherwise I would have oiled the interior and get a coat of varnish on the outside panels.
The boats are looking good, they are gaining weight however. with seats and floorboards still to go, they'll likely put on 40- 50 pounds more. I'll do a weigh in when this is over.

In the picture below, you can see that I've clamped two rails in place and made some plywood brackets. What I am planning to do is put both the rower seat and the front seat on the same set of rails, and between the rails and the hull, will be a large plywood pocket. This way, the front seat can be removed, the rower moved to the middle for those solo trips. I think it will work out nicely. This will also simplify my seat designs- no side pockets. I may make a rower bench, rather than a rope seat as in my other boats. Quite possibly I'll make hinged seat tops for extra storage.
I anticipate another 2 weeks to finish, but I do need some warm weather to get some oil and several coats of varnish down.
There will be some other distractions coming up- April 23rd is Youth Turkey day, so well get after 1 of the few gobblers in the area on Saturday. Once regular Turkey season opens, I'll need to be done with these boats, cause I'm a turkey hunting nut! (look at the walls of my garage) Not to mention hendricksons and caddis will be popping.

Boat progress 4.10.2011

2011-04-10T18:11:00.006-04:00

78 degrees today. It was actually hot out. In the last two days I managed to get alot of work done on the skiffs. I should have been fishing, but its all good. This stuff needs to get done. So lets see-

1/2" fir bottoms installed, trimmed and edges planed.
1/4" fir skid shoes installed
all edges prepped for transom trim, chine caps
all transom trim installed
garage cleaned (haha)

This week I have full intentions to get these boats upright with rails installed, frames trimmed and transoms trimmed.
This is an extremely easy boat to build. There are no hard bends and with the limited rocker, bottoms were an easy one man job.

Poor Riles wanted to go on the trampoline

Atlanta

2011-04-06T16:51:00.004-04:00

I had to go to Atlanta for a work function over the last week. But you know how it goes- make a few phone calls to some friends and try to make some fishin happen as well. I went south a couple days earlier to meet up with good friend Adam. He spoke of an awesome secluded lake with big largemouth. We had a fantastic day. We all caught fish and Adam showed me how the southern boys catch big bass. I have a new secret weapon to try at home.

Flyfisher Skiff Update 3.26.2011

2011-03-26T20:58:00.005-04:00

Bob Bell Hammering nails

Planing chines

Couldn't wait to see it upright

And then......there were TWO!

Boat Progress 03.15.2011

2011-03-15T22:28:00.009-04:00

chine notch art

Special day here folks. My old man would have been 64 today. "would have been" indicates things ended a bit too soon for the guy. He loved to fish, he loved to build things, so you could say he's a big reason for who I am today. He would have loved to build boats with me and fish with the grandkids he never met. Hell, I might have let him row my ass around the river! Let that be an indication to live life to the fullest, spend your time being nice to others and don't take the ones you love for granted. 'Nuff said.

Boat progress. This one man show has been "one man slow"..... A bout with the flu, work and life getting in the way of progress. However, in the last few days I've been to steal back some time and get things moving again. I figure I was a week behind, but now have caught up.

Scarfs are done, All transoms are done, hull sides are cut out, All frames are made, chine notches have been cut, chines have been ripped, all materials have been delivered or picked up. This weekend I will be applying the epoxy to the exterior hull sides (Doing a bright varnish over epoxy on both boats). I prefer to do this step while the wood is still flat.

Scarfs complete

devil in the woodpile

1 set of frames notched

clean cuts
nice fits
I wish they all fit this nice

Next week I should be in good shape to start hull assembly for both of these! Right now, weather is volatile- swinging form ultra nice to rainy and cold. I need to get alot of this boat work done, because as soon as it is consistently nice, I'll be jonesin' for some fish catchin!

"front" transoms

New babies

.....ever important.......Magic Hat DEMO IPA

Glue that up!

2011-03-01T20:40:00.009-05:00

Sorry... Been off building boats instead of posting.
Here is what you need in order to glue up scarfs...
Here is the mixed epoxy applied and then re-applied, but thickened with fir dust from the sander bag...
And here are the weights to hold the joint steady while the chemical reaction occurs... The green box has full sets of sockets- 1/4",3/8" and 1/2" drive full metric and standard plus deep sockets. It's a silly box to lift. The two chunks of chain are what I use for anchors around here. Great stuff.....And finally, here is the un-scraped scarf after the glue is dry.
Here are some transoms for ya.....
...and more of them... These are the rear transoms, glued and nailed. I need to clean up the epoxy marks all over them, but they are effectively done...
I am about a week away from hull assembly at this time. Still need to nail up the front transoms, build a couple more frames and sand it all before it takes hull shape. Things are going good.

Oh, and new chickens.... Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks and white Cochin Bantams. Riles calls them her "little baby tinies." Hoping to get some Golden Comets next week.

New Fly Rods

2011-02-25T13:59:00.000-05:00

Pretty much sums it up. This made me laugh today.

The Fishin Song

2011-02-21T13:11:00.004-05:00

Here's a clip from last week of my stripped down acoustic band "The Agway Shoplifters" doing one of our tunes.

Flyfisher Skiff- 02.15.2011

2011-02-15T22:04:00.010-05:00

First scarf is cut! Well, Let's say "cut" but I actually do not "cut" them. I use a razor sharp hand plane and then finish it off with a sanding block. So here's what I did-
First, I ripped my 4'x8' panels down to 19-3/4" width. I am scarfing a 4' section to an 8' section. I prefer to do my scarfing after the fact because anyone who has done this before knows that a shorter width scarf is easier to line up and glue. Since the side panels on this particular boat is a continuous width for the entire length of the boat, this is really easy to accomplish.

I am using a 12:1 scarf for these 6mm thickness panels. This means 12x the thickness- or roughly 3" is the length of the scarf.
Secondly, choose which faces are going to be the "good" faces. Although this is Hydrotek and is extremely consistent, color varies and there are only minor imperfections. I line them up for the best color match. Place the matched faces together- facing each other. lay them on the table and mark each panel 3" from the edge.

Finally, lay the top sheet on the bottom sheet's line, clamp together and get to planing. You will see that I have a board screwed to the edge of the bench to line up the panels. Not a bad idea.

On my planes- vintage Stanley #220, and a pattern plane, #0220 (counterfiet Stanley) I have the blades set for a minimum depth. Both are RAZOR sharp and on Meranti, they cut so nice. The work actually goes very fast.
Once the major planing work is done, I finish them off with a sanding block with #120 grit sandpaper. This smoothes out any ridges and make the transition from sheet to sheet perfect.

Lastly, flip 'em and line 'em up! Get ready for glue!
I will be doing three more exactly like this. Stay tuned...

St. Mary's finest......

Flyfisher Skiff- The work begins

2011-02-13T15:35:00.006-05:00

Friday I returned from a 500 mile round-trip excursion to pick up enough wood to build to boats. 200 Linear feet of 13/16" clear-vertical-grain Douglas fir for frames, seats and trim. 10 sheets of plywood in various thickness for hulls, bottoms and interior parts. I am using British Standard grade 1088 Hydrotek Meranti in 6mm thickness for the hull sides, and 12mm for the transoms.

Today I Started cutting plywood to get it ready for scarfing- The operation of joining sheets of wood by cutting a "scarf" or overlapping joint. I will also be planing and jointing the Doug Fir from its semi-rough state. This stuff is beautiful.

Red Truck Reels

2011-02-02T18:06:00.014-05:00

A nice new offering from our friends over at Red truck. They are now making some really sweet reels. These reels will remind you of classic trout reels, but at a great price. Make sure you watch the entire vid- you need to hear the screaming drag at the end.

For more info, check em out here:

Flyfisher skiff 1.1

2011-01-12T21:32:00.005-05:00

Got a package in the mail today. This time from good friend and drift boat historian and model maker, Roger Fletcher. I have been corresponding with Roger behind the scenes and together we have refined the lines of my latest creation- The Flyfisher Skiff. Roger and I come from similar schools of thought, but our approaches are worlds apart. I'm an engineer in my professional background and hip to the new engineering tools, however I dabble in old school traditional wood boats. Roger is a methodical hands-on and tactile artist. He loves and lives wood boats. Roger can be reached at his website here: Riverstouch

Roger has been a good friend to me over the years. From our early correspondence when I first got into building wood boats, he walked me through the history. As our friendship grew, he offered me an opportunity to build a first off of the "Trapper." A small, square ender type boat that was a one off he had located in the development of his book, Drift Boats and River Dories. I've kept up with Roger throughout the years and often would send him an email with my boat ideas, family happenings, big fish photos and messages just to "check in."

About a month ago, I sent Roger my model of the boat and drawings -AutoCAD drawings- of my design for a small, stable flat bottomed-low-side skiff. Roger expressed his interest in seeing the lines and to act as a second set of eyes on my work. He had spent significant time in redrawing my lines to scale -by hand- in the traditional manner and returning them to me with his measurements and slight modifications.

He and I are both confident in the lines and feel that the design is ready to take shape in real life. I am starting to procure materials and clear out the shop for the true test of the lines- building not one, but two boats simultaneously.

Stay tuned as I embark on this project.

Red Truck Diesel Preview

2011-01-01T09:10:00.021-05:00

Happy New Year! I hope you all have a happy, safe, healthy and wonderful new year. I hope 2011 finds you with a deep bend in your rod always.

I was hoping to get out this weekend and try the new Red Truck Diesel 11' 7wt switch rod. My plans have been foiled by a freak warmup and all night rain. All of the tribs are brown. It may get good in a couple of days, however, I won't be here to find out!

I will give an in-hand review of the Red Truck Diesel 11' 7wt switch. I received the rod the other day- sorta a belated Christmas present, and all I can say is WOW. Really nice rod. So let me go through a couple of the finer details:

FINISH:

The blank is an unsanded, grey graphite with exposed scrim. This results in a tougher stick that is more durable. I don't know why there aren't more rods built this way. I like the feel and finish of a rod like this. The marroon wraps are very nicely done, tight, smooth and are tipped in a thin silver trim wrap. This complements the grey blank nicely. The finish on the wraps is not excessive- something I cannot stand. There is just the right amount of gloss and finish.

COMPONENTS:

The grip is made of natural cork, of a fine quality. Cork is getting rarer and rarer in this quality, and the Red Truck guys didn't skimp here. The "smoke" anodized reel seat is a functional, light and durable touch. There is something utilitarian about an all-aluminum reel seat that rings makes sense to me. Its totally functional, handsome and won't get loose, swell when out in the rain, or wear out. The guides on the rod also are "smoke" finish and made of a durable light wire- the stripping guides are a nice, slim framed model that keeps the weight down.

NICE TOUCHES:

The Red Truck rods have several "nice touches" that reflect the quality, dedication and functionality that the guys build into the rods- The rear grip of the rod has a black EVA foam cap that is embossed with the Red Truck Logo. The rod tube is a plain old school aluminum, but has a unique feature- the "Brews-Key" hidden on the inside of the cap! We all know how important this is on those week long fishing trips fueled by fish and beer.

Even the rod bag is quality- although it is a four-piece rod, the bag itself has FIVE compartments with a "Spare Tire" sleeve. At any time, you can buy a matched tip section for any of the Red Truck fly rods. This is saving grace on those destination trips.
My favorite finishing touch on this rod is the 30-inch mark on the butt section of the rod. There are a few "magic numbers" in fly fishing- "20-inch brown", "20-pound steelhead" and "30 inch Rainbow." I hope to soon hit this mark.
THE VERDICT:

Although I have only threw a few snap-Ts on the lawn with a 450 grain RIO Skagit on the lawn, and haven't put the wood to any steelhead with it yet, I know I soon will. The rod feels good to me in the hand, balanced, light and casts just as easy overhead. Stay tuned for the Part II on-stream review of this rod.

For more info on Red Truck fly rods, visit their site here:

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T09:56:00.003-05:00

To all my friends, blog watchers, fly flingers, wood boat junkies, wild bird hunters, bike riders, knuckle dragging snow skaters, fish mongers, music makers and anyone else I may have missed....
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Best of 2010

2010-12-20T20:23:00.045-05:00

Time to reflect on the best stuff from 2010. This post isn't about me directly, but about the friends and family I spent the time outdoors with. Although, I did throw a couple shots of me in the mix. This past year, we took lots of trips, North, South, East and West and pile of fish were caught. I asked the regular crew to send me photos of their best of 2010, so here we go...its' mostly "grip and grin"....

Starting with Mark. Jersey monster on a fly. What's that, an Ugly Stik in the background?
And a Niagra river steelhead. NICE.
The little dudes caught big fish too...

I witnessed and photographed this fish of Joe's in May- Hendrickson time!
John caught this and many more leopard browns on our trip to the Bighorn in August. Epic trip.
This guy broke two rods in 5 days (one was mine) and we went fish for fish with hopper juans on the 'Horn too.
At the "Drive In"....

MONTANA

Two drift boats, two dads and three kids trip on the Allegheny. 1 walleye on hardware.
Steve with another hendrickson fooled fish.
Jenny, super hottie, guided by her husband into a 20" brown in high water. She throws big flies too!
This one wins the title. Freaking sled-dog of a brown. 2 footer+ change.....
I need to see both sides of him....
Bahamas 2010 Cuda...
My personal best trout of 2010- two of many really solid 20"+ browns- both on dries.

Stanley and his infectious grin.
Fishin' with the kids and "bamboo" rods....back to my roots.
Some of my best days were spent with small fish, but with this big kid. She is a fine dry fly fisherman.
Her little sister is not far behind...
"V" is for Vermont.
There was some great hunting in 2010. It was the year of the miss for me- I missed the same mature Tom twice. We did however, close the deal on a fair share of grouse, a BC goat and one near record buck.
BC goat.... yeah, by the looks of the pics here, he has had a great year.
There is good reason for him to smile. 3 years of sheds. Archey buck. In the neighborhood of 170.
And like father, like son....
2010 was good times. I raise my glass to more times with my brothers for 2011.

No Pebble!

2010-12-15T20:08:00.005-05:00

I recently was in contact with the folks fighting the good fight over at the Renewable Resources Foundation. They sent along a pack of "NO PEBBLE MINE" stickers for me to pass along to you. So, until they run out, I have them available. Hit my profile on the right and send me an email with your address.

The proposed Pebble Mine will be the largest open pit mine in North America. It's scary what could happen to one of the last if not the last sustainable wild stock of salmon. We're talking industrial mining on the headwater creeks of Bristol bay. Spawning grounds, folks. Show your support, and visit www.renewableresourcescoalition.or g for more information and membership.

Winter Slump

2010-12-13T05:25:00.015-05:00

Right now it is 5:28am. I'd like to tell you that I am awake because I just love to get up early and start my day before everyone else. I'd be lying.....I'm awake due to a 2-day long bout with a sinus headache. I hate weather changes. Caffiene is the cure in the right amount, but than I can't sleep. If I over do it, I'll be shaking and have heart palpatations!

It's cold outside. I don't know when I will make it to the river next. They are all frozen, and the fish are huggin' the bottom anyway. Kind of hard to get motivated to sit at the vise and crank out flies too. I'm in that slump.

I did plan for this however. About 4 months ago I purchased two rod blanks to make a pair of nice rods for my two oldest daughters. I bought them some "nice" fiberglass. One is a F.H. Paddock 7' 4wt 3 piece and the other is a Yellow Lamiglass 7' 5wt. I'm digging around for components and thread colors for these sticks. I'm anxious to cast this Paddock rod, they are supposed to be very nice casting. I doubt I'll have them done in time for Christmas, but will surely have them ready for trout season.

One benefit of insomnia is I get caught up on my emails and things that folks sent me. Here is a funny video from the guys at Red Truck Fly Rods about how to get over another kind of slump. Good stuff!

Flyfisher Skiff

2010-12-06T23:20:00.003-05:00

Here's the latest and the greatest... refined my manila folder models quite a bit. Built a small pile of them, refined the lines three times and finally, I think I've got it. My good friend Roger Fletcher (www.riverstouch.com) sent along some scaled model lumber to build one in wood. Here's the first one.

Specs:
11'6" around the sheer
20" side height
48" wide bottom
60" across the oarlocks
11' straight across the top

I'm calling it the "Flyfisher Skiff" unless anyone has a better name.

Playing with little boats made me want to play with little guitars too.. Here's a uke that I built a few years back...

Drift Pram 1.0

2010-12-01T00:09:00.005-05:00

It's almost winter. Barely December, but I'm already getting the itch to make sawdust. I have big plans to build two boats side by side this winter. This time a boat of my own design- but a combination of some old ideas, plans and ideas from other builders. This one is a low-side "skiff" boat. Let's call it a "Drift Pram."

This will be a slow-water boat for no more than two guys and some gear. I want to build it light, with a wide, flat bottom that drafts little water. Low sides for easy-in/easy-out and less wind drag. Hmm........ I have at least three rivers in mind when I think about this boat.
I'm shooting for an 11'6" side panel, 48" bottom width, 60" beam and 20" side height. I drew up several plans and cut out a few "manilla folder" models. Here's the first one of many that came out good enough to get serious about. I'm toying with frame placement and refining the design for maximum material usage.
Stay tuned, as this thing progresses I'll post often about the entire process.

Sunday Fishin

2010-11-21T22:14:00.004-05:00

The first born and I spent some quality time today on the river. Not many days at the tail end of November that it is 65 degrees plus. I threw big all day, no eats. We did see a hardware fisherman land a 40"+ tiger, but today was not our day. However, time spent with the kid in the boat, at the oars and all that comes with it is better than catching a million fish, any day.

She loves to fish, likes her fly rods, and I gave her this drift boat as her own. I'm grooming her to be my oars-woman so look out.

Spring Creek, November 2010

2010-11-12T18:46:00.007-05:00

Had to be in Happy Valley for work today, and had the opportunity to hit Spring Creek for a couple hours. Fishing was slow, but the weather was nice, and I had the place to myself. I put the rod down after catching a few dinks, and grabbed the camera and busted out the 300mm.

Fish always look flattened out in the water. This is typical "stalk fishing" for browns on Spring Creek. Brothers from another mother. One is a leopard, the other has a handful of spots.

A Catch of a Different Kind...

2010-10-24T19:09:00.004-04:00

The fishing has been off.

We have had really nice weather lately, but awfully dry. Creeks and rivers are gravely low, so I took a pass on the fishing. Muzzleloader antlerless deer season ended yesterday, so no more of that for a while.

Took my mom to a flea market/junk sale today. She likes that stuff, and I sorta do too. I like old tools, and they commonly show up at these sales. But today was a different story.

I caught a Grayling!

On the back it is marked "Arctic Grayling, Snowbird Lake, 1969." I did a quick search and it turned up that Snowbird lake is somewhere in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is a fly-in only or hours and hours of boat rides to get there. I checked it out on Google earth, and it's a remote SOB. Apparently it is known for its monster pike, lake trout and grayling. Pretty cool.
The taxidermist's name is also on the back. In a quick search I found he is still on taxidermy lists and lives not too far from me.
Cool stuff. My wife isn't as excited about it. Wait till she sees the mounted woodcock I scored......

PA Grouse Opener

2010-10-17T19:15:00.004-04:00

October 16th- PA state Grouse and woodcock opener.

BMX State Championship 2010

2010-09-26T09:59:00.002-04:00

This year it was held at our home track- Westmoreland BMX. Gracie rocked it- suprised us all. She ended up with a perfect-#1 in all of her three qualifiers and #1 in the main event. If there was one race to win, this was it. She ended the 2010 season as 3rd in the state for 9 year old girls.

Double Cross One

2010-09-25T22:51:00.013-04:00

The Double Cross Crew

(It will become obvious in a second that this post will be a departure from the normal fishing talk... Also, click any photo to see it full screen.)

The ever inspirational-fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants neighbor called me up last Sunday with a bright idea- "let's create our own cyclocross course." He's never got a shortage of off the wall ideas. I like this, and much to our wives' dismay, we help eachother fulfill our wacked out visions. By 4pm, we had most of the idea implemented on the grounds. We had an assortment of tractors, brush hogs, push mowers, riding lawn mowers, machetes, hatchets, saws and hedge trimmers in action. The only thing missing possibly was a chainsaw.

The course consists of a mix of road, gravel, cut trail, single track and multiple dismounts/run ups. It actually flows really nice and a lap is about 8-10 minutes. We threw in some really tight turns and obstacles in less than friendly places to mix it up a bit. Oh, and you'll likely have to dodge chickens in the trails. Seriously.

So the next bright idea was- "let's host a race." Followed by "when?" and "who?". Thus the Double Cross was born. It would be an invitational event held Friday night, September 24th.

Double Cross- WTF is it? 1. It will be at night. You'll need lights. 2. There are some rules. At the top of the "Mt.Vesuvius" dismount run-up (more like get on your knees and climb like a billy goat) you must ding the bell at the top. ("Bell" = recycled front truck rotor!) 3. At any point in the race a designated "race official" (very loose term) can reroute a rider on the course as they see fit. Yes, this may be unfair, but bitching will get you nowhere except a dis-Q. 4. There will be lots of beer, podium girlies, a kids race, and a very awful soundtrack at times. (As a side note, Rick James "Give it to me Baby" was critical as background music in the planning and building of the course.) Oh and 5. The entry fee was a sixer of beer.

We spent a few hours each night preceding the race setting the course up, painting, and putting the barriers and obstacles in place. Of course, we also rode the hell out of it and had a few riders show up a couple nights to help out and evaluate/make suggestions.

Friday night couldn't come soon enough and what a night it was going to be. Weather was perfect- 70 degrees, and everyone who said they'd make a showing arrived. We started with a kids race- kids on mountain bikes and balance bikes- those little rigs with no pedals. Man, they look like fun. The kids enjoyed their part and tore it up. Two of the bigger kids actually rode a couple laps in the adult race too.

This dude was goin' pro like it was his job

Race number 1- This was a the twilight race. 3 laps. Your position in this first race dictated your start in the second race- the night section. I rode all out on the first race on a single gear bike, slammed a beer on lap two, rode 1/4 of my last lap on a flat, and brought it in. The "organizer benefit" is that now my neighbor would ride in my place on the night section, where he'd surely kill it. The second race is where all the "double crossing" would come into play. We decided that we'd start rerouting riders that were really pulling big gaps- this was alot of fun and all the riders were great sports about it. Not once did anyone bitch about my camera flash either. hahaha.

Now, while it was a race, I don't even know the actual results! That tells me that results are the least important factor in an event like this. It was all about good times.

Hannah was the only one smiling here!

Post race, there were some folks throwing down a boogie, mingling, drinking some beers and live music. I participated in all of the above, maybe a little heavy on the last two. Fortunately, the home field advantage allows me to stumble to my house across the field.

I'm not going to say "I think" everyone had a good time, because I knows it! I also know we are all in agreement that there will be a second race...TBD

Montana- The Bighorn River

2010-08-25T21:34:00.014-04:00

Fort Smith
Just got back from spending 5 days with four of my best friends on the Bighorn River. The section of the 'Horn we fished is located about 90 miles to the East and South of Billings, Montana in the booming metropolis of Fort Smith. We arrived in the afternoon on Thursday, just in time to head to the Three Mile access area to wade fish the evening caddis hatch/egg layer flight. This time of year signals the nearing end of the small black caddis, a greenish bodied, black wing, size 18 bug. It is also the start of the tan Sedge, a slightly larger tan caddisfly. That first night was decent. We had all gone our separate ways to locate rising fish and get a first feel of the river. John waded up to a bushy shoreline that had a few risers. He sat on this till dark and landed a few nice browns. I am quite a bit more mobile as a fisherman. I move alot. I ended up landing two nice fish- a 15" brown and an 18" rainbow. Pretty nice way to start the trip. The other dudes also landed a few fish.

Montana Sunrise

We headed back to Fort Smith, just three miles up the road. Fort Smith is a trout town. Three consecutive fly shops, a market and the restaurant- Polly's Place. Each of the shops and Polly's all had rental rooms and drift boats. We stayed at the Bighorn Angler, had rooms right out the back of the fly shop and several drift boats out front. It was pretty close to paradise for a guy like me.

Bighorn Brown

The cool thing about the Bighorn is that the trip is easy. It's a short 1-1/2 hour drive from Billings, and the setup is king- We booked an all inclusive trip- all meals, drift boat rentals, shuttles all rolled up in one price. The system worked like this- Wake up, walk next door to the shop, tell them where you want them to drop the boat, walk over to Polly's for breakfast, as you eat, they make your sack lunches for the day. Breakfast at Polly's

Walk back over, get in your truck and head to the put in. They shuttle your truck at your selected takeout. Fish like hell, head back to the shop, head to Polly's, have a steak, drink several beers with the locals, go to bed and do it all over again. Pretty good deal.

Mark tied up to a good fish

Oh, and the fishing.....
So, I'm probably the only guy that ever went to the Bighorn and refused to nymph fish. The deal there is you can stack up the fish if you float mid-river and drift long leaders with two or three flies under, well, a bobber. All the guide boats fished their clients this way, and they hooked up often. What I noticed was that most of the fish were small- 14" or less. I went to the Bighorn armed with hoppers in sizes 14 to 6. We wanted to catch fish on hoppers! And we did. I learned after the first day that the feeding fish hung on the inside bends of big turns and were more than willing to take a hopper. Also, throwing a hopper in the middle of the river- fast water 2-4 feet deep would draw up an eating fish. We all did fairly well using these tactics.

The Hopper Juan strikes again

We walked banks and found thousands of hoppers- anything form tiny green ones to big, dirt colored hoppers, 4 inches long. By far, the yellow and olive ones in a size 6 were the most abundant. Thankfully, I had the fly to match it- the Hopper Juan. The Hopper Juan was originated by Front Range guide and friend, Juan Ramirez. Check his blog for tying steps and a great instructional video. www.hopperjuan.blogspot.com. I spoke to Juan today and he made a comment that "my fly is everywhere I want to be!" Isn't that the truth?!

John with a good fish

Despite our decent success, I don't think it was as good as it could have been- the weather was hot- 100 on Friday, 102 on Sunday and back down in the 70s on Monday. After talking with some locals, they said that despite the river being a cold tailwater, the fish may have been put off by the bright sun and actually warmer than normal water. Monday, the action lit up- we had clouds, lots of wind, and a couple of storms. This seemed to be the change we needed. I didn't count fish at all during this trip, but I'm fairly sure we put no fish smaller than 16" in the boat on Monday, and the largest stretched past 20". Bob had ahold of a sled-dog brown that ate a hopper mid river and ran straight to backing into fast water. As the fish passed, it looked to be 24"+!

A Bighorn classic-The Drive-In hole

The trip went well, no real drama other than a couple of busted rods and a busted pair of Smith sunglasses. My Scott S3 906-4 is one of my favorite rods, and gets alot of use. Earlier this year I hit the blank with a heavily weighted streamer and knew I checked the blank. It was a matter of time for that stick to break. Bob busted it putting the wood to a 19" hopper-eating fish on the hookset. The other rod broke at a ferrule due to slippage. The rule is to always check periodically throughout the day.

Sunday Morning Brook Trout

2010-07-25T17:02:00.009-04:00

I blew the plans for a morning float on a nearby river, but ended up salvaging the morning by taking my daughter to the mountains for a few hours. Creeks are low, but oh so cold. She did 90% of the fishing. Landed 3, missed many more. I took over the stick for a few casts and landed a fair share of wild brookies too.
It was a nice morning until the clouds parted into an epic thunderstorm.

Vermont

2010-07-10T20:41:00.031-04:00

(Click on any photo to see it enlarged)

Just got back today from a week long trip in Vermont. My younger brother lives outside of Burlington, right on Lake Champlain. It was a nice 9-hour drive there- but imagine this- my wife, three daughters, my mother and I made the trip in my Ford Explorer. Yes, I was the only male on this drive. There were many, many pee breaks along the way! My mom rode shotgun, and served as my navigator. The drive there was fine. She earned her ride there. The ride home.... I traded her in for a GPS named Lori.

Ann was indeed my co-pilot

The intent of the trip was to visit my brother and girlfriend, see some sights, and fish a little in the mornings and evenings. I had no idea that I would be planning my retirement (its a loooong way off) but, I really liked Vermont. Really, really liked it. And yep, even the gas stations are nice in Vermont.My brother lives within 30 minutes of the mountains. Real mountains. Stowe is an easy drive down Rt 89 and is the heart of mountain brook trout fishing in the summer, grouse hunting in the fall and snowboarding in the winter. I'm also told by the guy at "The Fly Rod Shop" in Stowe, that the area has the Northeasts' best turkey hunting. I don't doubt it.

We did the typical tourist stuff- Vermont Teddy Bear, Ben and Jerry's, Lake Champlain Cruise, Echo science center and aquarium, and a stroll down Church Street- which is mainly shops, Bistros and street performers- accordian players, fiddlers, guitar pickers and singers. i wish I had brought my guitar and mandolin. It was a good time. We also spent the 4th of July at Mallet's Bay- they put on a pretty solid fireworks show, and the place itself was real nice.

Church Street fixed gear bike- they were everywhere!

Mallet's Bay

Shutter delay in Mallet's Bay

They have dogs in Vermont that are crossed with lions too. Look at this guys' tail.....Lucky for me, he was friendly.

Vermont Round-barn-chitecture

Tuesday morning, my brother Mike and I snuck away to small brook (they call them "brooks" in Vermont), just off the beaten path. It turned out to be a very nice creek, full of brookies. The brooks themselves here are different- most of Vermont sits on a bed of Granite, and the creeks shimmer and shine with silver threads in all the rocks. The water is cold, clean and unbelievably clear in most of them. I should mention that the air temps were hot- in the upper 90s, but these creeks in their headwaters where we fished were in the low 60s. These brooks look small in the photographs, but I can guarantee you that during run-off time they are ragin' full on. There were small mountains of debris 100 yards into the woods in some places.

Nice Brook

Vermont brookie

The following day we made the 1.2 mile hike up to Sterling Pond. What a great time this was. we packed water, two fly rods an extra shirt and a camera then started up the long staircase to the top of Sterling trail. This is an offshoot of the famous "Long Trail" that crosses Vermont (and also the name of one of Vermont's famous Beers). When I say staircase, I mean staircase. It literally was a well-worn granite staircase all the way to the top. Once we reached the top, we strung up fly rods and looked for risers. Fishing was tough on the pond- we arrived later in the afternoon, but still in bright daylight. The fish were deep. We circled the pond along the directed trail. We weren't the only ones there however- fresh moose tracks were everywhere. I desperately wanted to see a moose- a full blown Bullwinkle. They were nearby, but all I got was a lousy photo of his tracks!

Sterling Pond Trail

Moose Tracks

Sterling Pond

We fished a few more brooks and rivers. I don't know what the dividing line is between a brook and a river in Vermont, but some of these rivers were smaller than my favorite brook trout creeks back in PA. The Brewster River is one such place. Small creek, full of fish and had classic pocket water and pools. My brother and I traded the Scott F703 back and forth; fish for fish all evening.Mike's first Vermont Brookie

Salmon hole on the Winooski River

I wish I had another week to play in Vermont. I really enjoyed the time we spent there. I loved the farmland everywhere, the close proximity of Lake Champlain, and the big mountains 1/2 an hour to the East. People seem pretty happy there, the one observation I made that seems to be true is that people there generally just like to be outside. They ride bikes everywhere, kayak the lake, hike, fish and just be outside. Pretty cool place.

Lake Champlain sunsetThis guy was ready to party

All in all, the trip went off without a hitch. Everyone had fun and no one got sick. Great success.

The trail on Colchester Point

I'm planning my return. Either grouse season, when the landlocked Atlantics run, or for a snowboard trip with my wife. We'll see...stay tuned.

This kid loved Vermont

Fathers, Sons and Daughters Weekend

2010-06-27T19:30:00.009-04:00

This weekend, my daughter Gracie and I camped and fished along the Allegheny river with my good friend and his two sons. We put our wood boats in 10 miles from the takeout and split it up over two days. The idea was a casual fishing/camping trip with the kids, for the kids. Wether was perfect. We had a great time.

The fishing was OK- the dad's didn't fish like they normally do, mostly we gave the kids lots of fishing time and even brought spinning rods and Rapalas along. 15 minutes into the float on Saturday, one of the boy's caught a really nice Walleye. We caught several Smallmouth bass and one 22" Northern Pike. There was enough action to keep it interesting.
I can normally stay up past midnight, but it is amazing what full sun, heat, humidity, rowing and tending to three kids will do to you by 9pm. I fell asleep at the campfire twice before Gracie and I tuned out the cowboy TV and hit the tent for some shut-eye.
There was a little issue at 2:00 am with one of the boys- got some kind of stomach sickness that kept him throwing up his dinner. It was a rough night, but he made it through. Thankfully, we had separate tents! He was fine in the morning. We have a theory about what happened here, but I'll spare the details.

I feel fortunate that I have kids that are interested in the outdoors and that we can get the kids to take part in fishing boats and camping trips. Our kids are at that fun age where they really have their own personalities, likes and dislikes. Its fun to watch them grow and make these memories. Here's to many more.

Good Ole' Page 73........

2010-06-18T22:02:00.007-04:00

Back again... This time to a different creek, but on the same page of the PA Gazetteer. Today it was a solo project-spent the better part of today fishing for brookies again. I took time to relax, clear the head, play with fiberglass and even get artsy. Page 73 has more wild trout streams than you could thoroughly fish in a lifetime. About 15 years ago I made it a point to try and fish evey one of them on this page, and I'm still not done. I have developed a few favorites and a some of these are just good old friends. It was nice to return to a small drainage that I seldom get to fish.

It's nice to be alone and on your own schedule once in a while, however taking fish pictures by yourself with a DSLR can be a real pain in the butt!

Here's a few shots for you...Pretty wild fish.........
This would be considered a "big one" in this creek...
I think they call this art... I have been playing with long shutters...
More art...

Brookies

2010-06-13T22:04:00.006-04:00

Took the family to the woods today. We had a great time as usual. I had the fly rod in all of the kid's hands and the camera around my dear wife's neck. The creeks are full of cold water, lots of brookies, and some cahills, drakes and yellow sallies as well! Here's a few pics from today...............

Fishing and stuff.....

2010-06-08T17:39:00.013-04:00

It's been a while...the chickens are all grown up.....

Turkeys-
Let me first say the turkey season is over. It was a long and exciting one. I did not bag a turkey this year. I did manage to have many birds come in, some nice toms, some not close enough, two misses and some busts. I never cease to learn about this animals the more I am around them.
Fishing-
Cameron over at www.fishykid.org and www.thefiberglassmanifesto.com says I need to update my blog! He is right. I have been super busy- its been planting season, race season, landscaping season and all that other homeowner stuff. I did manage to get out and fish quite a bit.

Hit the sulphers very good a few evenings at spring creek in Centre County. Fishing was downright slow during the day and early evening, so you had to wait until dark. Maybe I'm getting old, but I choose not to nymph, instead to wait it out and see if the bugs happen. I don't need to catch a million trout per day anymore. I'm to the point where the entire experience is much more than catching dozens of trout. Sure, I still have the days when fish-greed kicks in, but as of late, I've been able to lay back a bit and enjoy it all.

Brookies-
God, do I love brookies. The only trout that is native to the Laurel Highlands, and every little blue line seems to have plenty of them this year. I managed to hit a section of creek inside a State Park last week. I was expecting to see other fisherman, but instead, I had it all to myself. What a blast. Every likely little spot had a willing-to-rise native. The icing on the cake was that Green Drakes came off in very nice numbers 30 minutes before lights out. It was fun to watch tiny trout tackling drakes 3-4 times before they could sink the little battleships.

Smallies-
This weekend we're on to smallies. When the smallie fishing is on there are times where I'd trade in just about any trout fishing for a good smallie day. I'm taking the girls out on the drift boat for the morning and then my good friend Mark in the afternoon. Should be a grand time.

Trips-
This summer I have two trips planned so far- one to Vermont to visit my brother, which will involve some trips to a few nearby brookie streams, a trip to the American museum of fly fishing and to scout out some grouse cover for the fall season. The second trip is to Montana- Spending 5 days on the Bighorn. As luck would have it this summer is expected to be a boon to farmers but a grace to flyfishers- there is an anticipated 30-year invasion of prarie grasshoppers. My last telephone call to the flyshop in Ft. Smith confirmed this. The shop worker on the other end said "Start lifting weights, you'll need to be in shape to fight alot fish..." yeah, I'm excited.

Mandolin-
I took the plunge and bought a really nice mandolin. Not a REALLY, REALLY nice one, but a step up from what I used to play. I have been spending hours learning new licks, tunes and working out new material. I once again have the excitement and desire to play music. My alt-country band, The Agway Shoplifters are going to get back in the game. Last night we had the first practice in a long time. I'm pretty excited over the new songs and getting back out there.

Gear-

Hmm, lets see, some new gear..... I purchased a Scott G2 845/4 this past winter and finally got it out. I'm a big fan of the original G's and the new G2's are very nice too. They are in fact different. The new rods are alot lighter in the hand and seem slightly quicker. I love my old 885/3 G, I will not part with that stick. The old ones are a bit more durable in my opinion. The new ones just feel delicate. I say this because after only two trips, I broke the G2. I managed to whack it with some lead and shortly after, the rod tip broke. We've all been through this before, so no big deal, it can be fixed. I'm just glad I had a backup in the truck because the spinner fall was heavy that evening!

Richardson box and a FYE box in the same week. I've been a fan of old school gear since old school gear was old school gear, but I also like new stuff too. Being a PA boy and having Centre country streams close by, not to mention I'm a PSU grad, the Richardson Chest Fly Box is a local favorite. You can always spot a local on the water- alot of them rock the chest fly box. I managed to find an original FYE box for a decent price. (The FYE box is the predeccessor to the Rex Richardson Box) I'll load it up with beetles, stimmys, hoppers and attractors, don my wet-wading boots and hit the laurel highlands streams this weekend with it. In classic fashion, my Granger Victory 8642 will probably make it out too.....Or a Scott F703....or......you get the idea.

Until next time.....

Turkey fever

2010-05-05T19:55:00.003-04:00

Turkey hunting. Met up with a good friend, Ed today. Ed had six gobblers going last evening at his place. He extended an invite to share in some turkey hunting early this morning. "Hell Yeah, I'll come kill your turkeys!" Up at 4am, drive 35 minutes to get to Ed's house. Ed is standing in the driveway as I pull up. I asked him "hear any yet?" As I finish my sentence, three toms sound off about 400 yards away in their roost "Sheesh. You do have a turkey problem here," I said.

We headed down the valley and into position. They answered a few calls, but seemed uninterested. Sure enough, at light, they flew down and their calls got further away in the distance. Damn hens, I presume.........

Back up to the other side of the woods. There was a single gobbler going off about 200 yards away. We made a slow, creepy and silent hustle to the end of the woods. Set up in mostly open timber, and started calling. He responded well. For at least 35 minutes, we toyed with this tom that would not move closer. At times he got silent and I thought he was moving in. Then he'd sound off and still be 100 yards away.

I started cutting something serious on the diaphragm call. He went nuts and gobbled pretty hard back. Then he got closer. "Off" went the safety. He finally came into view at about 60 yards and was super cautious as old toms are. He put on a short little strut show, back and forth, showing off his goods. He was a nice bird- close to 10" of beard and a nice, full tail fan. He stopped strutting and turned. This is a moment I know all too well. He didn't see a hen, so it was time to go. I let out a soft yelp and that brought him back around. At this point he was inside of 50 yards., in full strut. Open woods, and he was there.

I put my cheek against the stock and tried to aim. I was nauseous. My gun felt like it weighed about 150 pounds. The 45 minutes of foreplay with this damn bird got into my head. I was shaking like crazy. Nonetheless, he was there and I aimed at his head. "BANG" and I let the lead fly. I have taken birds in the past with the 3-1/2" magnum nitro loads and XX full chokes at longer than 50 yards, and this should have been a clean shot. But the bird looked suprrised, jumped, ran and took to the air and left the scene. There is no doubt in my mind that I got a clean miss at this one. The only thing I left him was an education.

I should also say that this is my first miss at a gobbler. This hurts pretty bad.

I paced off the shot and turns out it was only 43 paces. He may have been even closer than I thought. That hurts too.

Nonetheless, this is hunting, and I love getting this close, no matter the outcome. No shot, a miss or a clean kill, its all part of the game. I told Gracie I know how she feels now-Turkey Fever- the nerves and head games they play with you. Now my big issue is to get this out of my head before 5am tomorrow.....

Hank

2010-05-01T20:13:00.013-04:00

Since last Wednesday I have been hiding out with 5 of my closest friends. I don't really have what I call "fishing buddies" or "hunting buddies" because these guys do both and it's the group of friends I hang around most. I've spent more time on the water and in the woods with one of them than any other person on the face of this earth. These guys are all top notch fisherman, bird hunters, story tellers and some of them are accomplished oarsmen. They all accel at what they do in their professional lives as well. Great bunch of guys.

So, we met up for a camping and fishing weekend. Lots of beer; a few bottles of the good stuff, but mostly the cheap stuff- Natty light, PBR, Straub and one case of New Castle. None of us are beer snobs. There's much more important stuff out there- like rising fish.

I had the pleasure of floating with two of the guys that I see the least. We made great use of our time on the water. Between the re-telling of old stories that always seem to have a little more information than last time they were told, to the new ones we were making, we all had a great time. Putting the beer, stories and cigars aside, we also caught some fish.

I cashed in with a 23" brown on a #18 BWO. Three jumps on 5x, and a 80 yard dash to the riffles, we managed to still land him. The smaller fish went no less than 20". Ok, maybe we landed one or two eighteen-inchers.Today marked the 17-year-anniversary of my father's passing. He always took me fishing and I try to make it a point to fish on his birthday and the day he died. He would have loved to see the fish we caught and maybe even catch a few of his own this week. Before I departed towards home today, I wanted to catch and release one good fish for the old man. I waded out in front of camp and sought out a rising fish. After about a half an hour, I managed to locate a decent one- twenty inches, maybe more. He was very steady, and taking everything floating in his feeding lane. There were a few olives, some tan caddis and an errant sulpher or two, but not a ton of bugs. After several drifts, 6 fly and tippet changes, I managed to hook him. He wigged out pretty good and headed downstream for the woody bank. Once he made it there, he broke me off. It was a good place to stop. I reeled up, turned to my friend John and shook his hand. We exchanged a couple of "good-byes", "we'll do-it-again's" and "call me next week's" before I waded for shore. Before I left the river I pointed to the far bank with my rod where the fish left me hanging and said to myself, "That one's for you, Hank."

Turkey Hunting - Turkeys:1, Gracie:0

2010-04-26T21:14:00.007-04:00

The day finally came. The single-day Pennsylvania spring gobbler youth season. Mentored youths can hunt with their parents on this pre-season statewide hunt. Gracie and I have worked hard for this big day. The last two months she has shot about 3 boxes of shells through her single shot 20ga. I had her shooting five per day for the last two weeks, every day after school, to stay sharp and comfortable. We watched countless hours of turkey hunting videos, talked about safety, getting a good, clean shot, turkey behavior and calling. She was ready.

I stayed out in the yard on Friday night until dark. The turkeys never made a sound. For whatever reason, they never respond to an owl hoot or crow call here. I have theories on it, but I won't get into that today.

Camo laid out. check. Gun and ammo ready to go. check. calls, face paint and camera. check. Alarm clock set to 5am. check. In bed at 9pm...check.

I didn't sleep. I tossed and turned in anticipation for the big morning. Turns out, she didn't either. I popped out of bed immediately and before I could make it to her room, she was out greeting me at her bedroom door. We crept downstairs and suited up. Camo face paint on, slam a banana and a glass of milk, and we were out the door.

We were greeted by a perfect morning. 54 degrees, absolutely still, and dark. We stood in the driveway to listen for birds. I have been scouting the last month and know there are some birds around. Sure enough, we heard one, then two, and then well,......... 4 more.

We started to make our way up to the woods silently, and listening carefully. I heard him again. I figured he was roosted in a grove of tall pines and sure enough, I was correct. We set up in a decent spot about 75 yards from his tree. Around 6am, they were really going. I let out a few yelps and he responded well. Another bird about 150+ yards downhill also started to light it up.

This is probably the coolest thing about turkey hunting. The interaction. Most other bird hunting situations you try to get the bird to flush. With turkey hunting its the opposite. The interaction between hunter and bird is what gets me out of bed in the morning this time of year.

The birds stayed in the roost until about 6:15am and finally, I saw birds fly out. Bummer. He had 3 hens with him. They flew north and headed up towards the route we had walked in. No problem. There was still this bird below us that was still hollering. I let out a few calls, he too responded well. We sat for about 30 minutes and he never got any closer. "Damn hens" I mumbled under my breath. I decided it was time to move position. We tried to close the gap on the last bird, but it led far into posted land. "That ones not for us today, kid" I said and we started back up to the other side of the woods. Then things got quiet.

We sat for an hour longer, and when it gets quiet, you get real tired. Then comes hunger. I could hear Gracie's stomach screaming for some eggs, so I asked her if she wanted to head in for breakfast. "Yup" she said, followed by "We're coming back out, right?" "Absolutely," I answered.

On our way out, we moved slowly and quietly. I have been burned before by thinking we're done, and walking in on a bird. Not today. Occasionally, we'd stop and call to locate a bird. About 75 yards from leaving the woods, I let out a yelp and hear a bone shaking "GOBBLE!" 40 yards away. Quickly, we both jumped into the woods and set up against the nearest tree. It was one of those moments that you had to take what you could get, because he was coming....fast! As soon as we sat down, I realized that this wasn't the best spot, but it had to do. He gobbled three more times, each time a few yards closer. I let out one barely audible yelp and he went nuts. I whispered to Gracie "It's on. Get ready" The lay of the land was tough for the kid. There was a small hump in front of us that would shield us from his view, but also would get in the way of Gracie's line of sight. There were also two small trees in front of us that I thought might screw us up, but there was no time to move.

So here he comes.....I could here him purring and spitting as he walked through the crunchy woods. Gracie was shaking like crazy and so was I. I usually don't get too worked, but I wanted soooo badly for her to get a shot. He finally came into view. 35 yards, 30 yards, 25 yards. The smart old gobbler didn't do what I expected he was going to- they never do. I thought he would get up on the log road before us and expose himself, giving her a clean shot. Instead, he walked the low side of the road, where only his head and back were sometimes visible. For a moment, I thought "the jig is up" and he was going to turn. But then he decided to just get on the very edge of the log road and strut. I heard Gracie take a deep breath, I clenched my teeth in anticipation of the shot. She exhaled. I could see that directly in line with her barrel was one of the trees before us, with the old tom right behind it. What a drag! I whispered to her "one more step." hoping he would be dumb enough to either step left or right to expose the kill zone.

We couldn't get that lucky today. He knew something was up and turned back off the road into the woods. We sat in sheer silence for minutes that felt like hours until we were sure he left. I asked her "how do you feel about that?" She could barely talk. She was choked with emotion and had tears of joy and excitement. She was not sad. Then she turned and said to me "It wasn't the right shot to kill him." She knew it was a risky shot, as half of her BBs would have ended in the tree and she might have missed him or wounded him. I'm freaking proud of this kid and know that I am raising an ethical hunter.

Me on the other hand......a wreck. My nerves were absolutely fried. As I sit here and type this, I think of all the other possibilities that could have been. Should she have shot? Should she have moved quick and aimed around the tree? Should I have called more? less??? But then I am reminded that this is hunting. This is the stuff that teaches you so much more than just walking out and killing a bird. They are memories that will last as long as the ones of hunts that ended with birds on the ground.

The worst part of all of this is that today is Monday. Not until Saturday will we be able to hunt again. We will be out there, ready to go. Hopefully, everyone else is sleeping and stays in.

Big Trout Rising

2010-04-11T20:58:00.008-04:00

Epic drive to MI. When it's "ON", you have to go. Good friends, good times, good fish. I'm not going to say much other than the flies were hatching and the trout were rising. It's fairly obvious we put some pigs in the boat this weekend. I'll let the pictures tell the story....

Wood Boat Bottom

2010-04-03T10:28:00.003-04:00

There is always alot of dialog between wooden boat builders when it comes to boat bottom treatment. I've tried numerous methods and finally settle don the wood skid shoe. I had the opportunity to get the woodie out of the barn and clean it up for this season. In the process, I thought I'd flip it and take a few photos for you all to see. This boat spent alot of time in skinny water last season, lots of scrapes and dragging.

As you can see, she is holding up well. Let me re-establish what you are looking at here- It is the flip side of the drift boat, with the 1/4" fir skid shoe facing out. Underneath that is the 1/2" fir bottom. Everything you see here has nothing but an oil treatment.

Wood bottoms are for real. Here's to several more years out of this one.

Sick like dog

2010-03-28T11:21:00.004-04:00

It happens to most of us at one time or another, some of us more than others. -Getting sick as hell on a fishing trip. I'm one of the guys who seems to get it more often. In fact, I'm not sick very often, but when I am it coincides with fishing trips! My boys in MI will recall our trip the Grayling in 2007.

My turn again. We made big plan last weekend to float a river, and two of the kids came down with the flu. The really bad-hurling into the porcelin bottom release flu complete with aches, chills and the loss of the will to live. So last weekend was spent home taking care of kids.

Another week goes by. Big plans to spend the weekend in State College PA to fish Spring Creek, and hit the Blue winged olive hatch. Its a clockwork type of thing that happens between 1-4pm on the right stretch of water.

So Mark and I made plans mid-week- he's bringing the tent, I'm bringing the beer, etc....

Friday comes, my lovely wife wakes at 2am- yeah, you guessed it. Her turn.

I worked partially from home through Friday, running into the office when needed (I live close to work). I feel good at this point. Taking care of the kids, letting the wife sleep and recover.

I called Mark at 8pm to let him know the situation. This has been a 24 hour bug, and she should feel ok in the morning. Once again, I feel ok at this point.

Saturday morning, she is pretty good, no more chills, aches, on her way back up. Mark shows up around 8:45am and we pack my truck. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to fishing. It has been a LONG winter without dry flies.

Mark and I pulled up to the spot and surveyed the air and water. No bugs yet, but its early. At that moment, I say to Mark, "I don't feel right." he says, "Aw here we go, you're fine, don't be a wussy." I headed downstream, he headed upstream. Right away, I notice how cold the water is, but see several fish working nymphs. I put on a deadly Spring Creek combination- #18 Pheasant tail trailed by a #18 olive scud. On my third cast, two fish eat, and here I am trying to land a 14" and a 12" wild brown at the same time. The lower fish gets loose and I land the upper trout. As I bent over to release it, I dry heave. "Oh Sh!t." I say to myself. I tried to fight it off, but it just gets worse. Cars driving by had to get a laugh or two about "the guy trying to nymph and puking between casts."

I finally resign myself to being sick and stumble over to the bank and lay in the grass. As I look to the sky I could see vultures start to circle and I don't really care. I hurled a few more times and actually started to feel a little better. Within minutes though, I became unbearably cold. My hands and feet wanted to fall off. I mustered up enough energy to gather myself up and make it back to the truck, where I leaned over the bed and absorbed some sun. It took me about 15 minutes to get my waders off, as I was completely busted out of energy. I got in the tuck, fired it up and turned the heat on full blast in an effort to warm myself. No dice. I was full blown sick.

So, in the end, I met up with Mark, told him to fish through the hatch, but if he didn't care, I'd like to go home. Being the great friend he is, he said that was a fine plan, and ended up catching some very nice fish. When the hatch was over, we headed home.

So here we are 24 hours later. I'm fine enough to move around the house, I've even eaten a little bit, but man, I'm still yanked that another fishing trip was a bust.

Good Sign.....

2010-03-28T11:07:00.002-04:00

With the Pennsylvania turkey season around the corner, this is a great sign that gets me very excited. There was a group 34 turkys out back, and 7 of them were mature toms. The PA youth season is 3 weeks away. I hope to get Gracie within 20-gauge range of one gain!

Chicken shack

2010-03-17T22:19:00.005-04:00

Spent a better part of the weekend building the new quarters for the new egg-layers. The coop is of my own design and is pretty dang nice for a bunch of bird-brained hens. All it needs is some siding and roofing and it can be moved to the yard. The design will house 10 free ranging birds comfortably and has 2 nesting boxes.

The birds themselves are growing fast. They are 7 days old and have a full set of wing feathers, tail feathers sprouting and they make alot of noise. You can already see the pecking order developing.We've also been shed hunting. While there hasn't been any real monster bucks in these parts seen for some time, it's always fun to find some bone on the ground. No luck yet, other than an old 8-point skull. The ticks have been extremely bad- I had 12 crawling on me after a walk on Monday. Eeek!Look for some posts about fishing (finally) after this week. The weather has finally broke, ice is out of the pond, and BWOs have started to hatch on the area creeks. We'll be fishing steadily from now on!

Baby Chicks!

2010-03-09T17:02:00.004-05:00

They arrived today. A half dozen day-old Barred Plymouth Rock chicks. The names are- Annie, Ferny, Gracie, LuLu, Phyllis, Ethyls and Molleen. Just don't ask me who is who, cause I have absolutely no idea! Little Riley says they "sing to her."

New Toy!

2010-03-08T20:01:00.002-05:00

It came in the mail today..... Loop Multi 7120/4, two-hander. I can't wait to try this thing when the line and heads arrive.....

New Paint

2010-03-07T16:12:00.001-05:00

Here's a new one. 12" x 14" on pine. Can't go fishin', so might as well paint one.

Wright and McGill Granger Victory

2010-02-27T10:57:00.003-05:00

I was going through rods, reels, lines and sorting flies late last night and in the process, came across one of my cool old bamboo rods. This one is a Wright and McGill Granger Victory, 8642. It has two tips, the original sock, tube and all sections are straight and equal lengths. The "8642" designation means 8 foot , 6 inches, 4-1/2 ounces. The weight is of the blank itself, not the finished rod. This taper is highly regarded in classic bamboo rod circles.

I refinished this stick a while back and re-wrapped it using the original ferrules, guides and new old stock thread from the Denver factory. It has three dipped coats of spar varnish.

The rod itself is a sweet one. With a DT5F line, it is a pleasure to cast for medium distances. I like all kinds of rods- modern high tech graphite, vintage fiberglass, modern fiberglass and bamboo. This one is a fun rod on local water when the sulphers hatch and 14" wild browns are the game. It usually makes it out of the tube a couple times a year to be bent by a few trout.
While its not swanky, high dollar bamboo, it's good for me. After all, I'm not swanky, nor high dollar either! The Wright and McGill's are among some of the best factory made trout bamboo rods from the 40s and 50s. This one is no exception.

He's back!!!!!!!!

2010-02-25T20:44:00.003-05:00

This past fall we had a visitor. A baby possum fell into one of our basement window wells.
We helped him out and haven't seen him in a while.

So today I went down in the basement to grab a jar of canned peaches (we did a bushel this summer) and I see this possum scratching at the window and crying at me. I jumped about 3 feet and made a sound my 6 year old daughter doesn't even make. Luckily, I was at home alone.

So he's back! The little guy once again got stuck in the window well. This time I left a 2x3 in there so he can climb out on his own! He isn't very good at playing dead however.

He made it out. After dinner he climbed out. His little possum footprints in the snow wander up towards the woods.

Daddy needs a fish

2010-02-18T19:42:00.005-05:00

"When is it going to stop snowing daddy?"

I am absolutely dying to get out and feel water against my waders, the load of a flyline on a backcast, and wishfully thinking; the pull of a trout on the end of it all.

I just felt the need to clarify that today.

I really need to catch a fish or two. the snow is finally compacting down, and melting a little. More is on the way, extending the snowboarding season a couple weeks, which has been nothing short of....great. However, I am looking forward to putting a few new rods, reels and flies to the test. There are alot of big plans in the making, alot of fish to huck flies at and some new water to scope out.

For now, watching this little guy will have to do......

Too much for me

2010-02-06T13:07:00.007-05:00

The weatherman said, "possibly 8-12" of snow overnight." "Yeah, right" I said. Friday night it indeed did start snowing. I periodically checked out the window until about midnight. It didn't look like much, but when I woke up this morning, wow, was I wrong.

My 2-1/2' spruce trees were missing. My mailbox was sitting on the snowbank. My bee hives were nearly gone!

22" on the ground. I measured it. The weatherman was wrong again. I'll take 12" or even 14" but after that, my 150 yard long driveway becomes invisible and the big F150 risks getting stuck.

So about 9am I started digging out. I'm currently halfway down the driveway, but broke my only snow shovel. Now what? We were supposed to head to the mountain and snowboard, but it looks like that will not happen today. How can it be? Tons of snow and can't go riding????

Nonsense.

Frogs, Frogs, Frogs

2010-01-31T12:19:00.007-05:00

Still tying! Although I have skipped sequence and jumped into bass flies. Usually I tie my trout stuff starting with the things that I will need in the early season. I needed a break from the small stuff. Some of my favorite times on the water are spent with a 7 weight fly rod and big, obnoxious, and gaudy flies for smallmouth bass. So, I finally tried out the STP frog pattern. Simple pattern. Three materials, a hook and some thread. The flies came out very nice and I tested them in the sink. They float great, profile is great and they seem to land right when tossed. These are all #2, which isn't all that big for smallies and largemouth bass. I dig the crazy crooked eyes on the fly to the left. I'm going to make them all this way!

The bodies are cut from the "Large" size STP Frog body Cutter from River Road Creations. (www.riverroadcreations.com). visit their site- they have detailed tying steps with photos for this fly.

I'm staying in today and will probably tie flies and relax. We spent last night snowboarding the night session. Great conditions, great times, although now I'm feeling the burn a little!

Copper Johns and Hopper Juans

2010-01-29T15:26:00.004-05:00

If you read my last post, you know that I sorta whined a little about tying flies. I am changing my tune. I am finally in the swing of things, I can really crank the flies out. Tying has become sort of an evening "quiet time" activity for me every night. Nice therapy. I bought some new tools, and started tying some new patterns.

First, I purchased a set of foam body cutters from River Road Creations. (http://www.riverroadcreations.com/) I ended up with the large size (#2) STP frog cutter and the medium (#6-8) Chernobyl taper cutter along with some fancy frog-speckled foam in green and yellow. The cutters are top notch and very sharp but you need to take care not to bend the blades. I cranked out probably a hundred pink, tan, brown and black hopper bodies and a dozen or so STP frog bodies. I'm going to try tying some of these wacky frogs soon.

The reason I purchased the Chernobyl cutter was to tie #8 Hopper Juans. The Hopper Juan is an excellent tie- floats right, looks right, easy to see and easy to tie. It was developed by my new friend Juan Ramirez out in Colorado. Check out his blog- http://hopperjuan.blogspot.com/. Here is a picture of a few of my ties of the pattern atop one of Juan's "Got Hoppers" stickers. Juan has some fantastic vimeo tying demos that will make you a better tier. I learned a few tricks watching him too.The kids have also been stocking their fly boxes too. Here's a couple shots of my daughters tying their San Juan worms.

The Slump

2010-01-17T08:04:00.005-05:00

It's mid January, a mix of snow and mud on the ground. Deer season is over and small game closes up in a week. Trout streams are either frozen, running high from melt, or otherwise inaccessible. We are in what I refer to as "The Slump." Over the past few weeks, I have had not much to write about. I have been out hunting and walking around in the woods, but nothing overly exciting. A couple more grouse, a couple new covers scouted and ALOT of missed shots. It's been a decent winter with snow on the ground, some snowboarding and sled riding. The kids like it.

Right now however, I'm plain bored of winter.

One of the activities us fly fisherman do to pass the time is tie flies. I'll be up front and honest-I tie my flies out of necessity and not for other misty-eyed-romantic-artful reasons you tend to read about. My do-it-yourselfer attitude doesn't allow me to buy very many flies when I can make them myself. I will be completely honest and say that I do not typically enjoy tying trout flies. It is tedious work, and the older I get, the more my eyes strain, my back aches and small flies are no fun to tie nor fish. The bad thing is- I'm not that old!

Trout flies aside, I do prefer to tie smallmouth bass and muskie flies, big streamers and flies made of foam.

So right now I am tying flies to fill the voids in my boxes. General purpose nymphs, dries and attractors. I'll move onto the tiny Blue Winged Olives whens I get back into the swing of things, then on to Hendricksons and Sulphers. My boxes are always very well stocked- each year I seem to tie more than I use. That bothers me a little because it makes me think either I'm slipping at the game, or, it might mean that I'm so good I don't break off fish or lose flies in trees. Anyone who knows me knows that the latter is not the case.

I taught the kids to tie some simple flies- San Juan worms and buggers- I'll be needing alot of these for a trip to the Bighon river in August. They are doing a good job and the flies look pretty decent. Good enough to take a fish , for sure. Daddy's sweatshop is now up and running, haha.

Despite my whining about winter, we'll soon be into March and that brings the early season streamer throwing trips, and finally, the first hatches of Blue Winged Olives. Then it steadily goes into grannom hatches, sucker spawning, Hendricksons, sulphers, the smorgasbord of march browns, grey foxes, sulphers, drakes and too many types of caddis to list. I'll also be busy with spring cleaning, getting bees in order for the new season, landscaping and all sorts of tasks that come with a partially domesticated life.

So I guess right now, I'll hit the vise and get back to tying.......

Cast and Blast

2009-11-22T19:08:00.001-05:00

Today I managed to get away from chores, to-do lists and general Saturday responsibilities. I made my way for the woods to get in a day of grouse hunting. I had initially intended to hit one cover but told myself that if it got too warm or the birds weren't around, that maybe I'd fish. So I added in a sweet little 3wt Scott fiberglass rod to my pile of grouse gear on the back seat of the truck and headed out. I called a bunch of friends, none of which were able to join me on short notice. So it was a little solo time. I think everyone needs that once in a while.

I arrived at the cover only to find another truck there. Had a RGS sticker on the back window. (Ruffed Grouse Society). Not a great sign, but it was only one truck and this cover is huge. So I hunted the opposite side of the road and saw no signs of anyone else. Or any grouse.

I gave it hell for an hour and a half, not one bird up but tons of deer. But its not deer season yet.

Decision time. I made my way back to the truck, and it was still 45 degrees, so it was at least comfortable- not too hot to be moving. I got to my truck, shook two ticks off, and checked the time. 10:03. Perfect. Plenty of time. Headed Southeast for my next favorite cover. Upon arriving, I saw a hunter walking out and another just heading in on the far end of the SGL. I initially said "screw it." Time to fish. I figure I'd let these guys bump birds further into the cover. Most of the time the guys hit the stuff closer to the access. Just like fishing. They push all the birds deep in the thick stuff. Fine with me.

With the rod strung up and the Nikon around my neck, I made my way towards the headwaters of a small creek that holds plenty of native Brook trout. A few casts into the first foot deep slide and I had landed my first fish. Small, but pretty. You don't fish these creeks in search of giants. The trophy is in the beauty of these creatures. Not to mention the creeks are chock full of fish. It's not uncommon to catch more than one fish in every "fishy" looking spot.

On my way out I had run into one of the hunters. He was probably 70 years old, hunting wide open woods. I asked him if he saw any, he said no. He told me he was "casually" hunting grouse, but mostly looking for signs of bear. The 3-day bear season opens tomorrow. We exchanged a farewell and I hiked it out.

As I wandered out, I thought, Hmm, this guy was hunting wide open woods. No grouse in their right state of mind hangs out in open wods when there is so much food and safety in the thick stuff. I tore down the rod and drove to the far end of the SGL where I know there is the thick, thorny cover that grouse love. The other cars were gone by now.

I checked the time again. 12:30. Plenty of time. So I traded the fly vest for the game bag and headed on a deer trail in. Lots of crabapples on the ground, red- and green-briar berries. Wild grapes in places. Ferns on the ground. This is the stuff that fall and winter grouse need to survive.

I walked away from the road for about 15 minutes and then got into the really nasty stuff. Both bears and deer love this cover too. Saw some signs of bear- Devils thornberries- these are the tall stalks that have dark purple berries on heads at the top. There were several pulled to the ground and bear scat everywhere. Cool. I headed through a small grove of crabapples and it was one of the rare occassions where I was upright. Just then, a whitetail deer jumped about 20 yards away and when it did, a grouse flushed straight away from me. In one of those rare instinctive moments, I raised my shotgun, flipped the safety off and fired. I heard no more flapping wings. It's amazing how your reaction to a flush happens so fast and you really don't think about it. I gathered up the bird and admired its beauty and had quick check in his crop. Full of red berries. Where you find one, you often find more. But today I was satisfied. If I left now I'd still have another 1/2 hour of cover to hike out with the possibility of more flushes. Then I could hit another creek or two on the way home.
So I hiked it out. No more flushes. But that's OK. On the way home I hit my favorite brook trout stream and it was in perfect shape. The trout were more than cooperative, eating stimulators and small caddis patterns fished on the surface. All is right with the world.

Cast and Blast. Two of my favorite things to do in the woods. I feel like a king today for being able to take advantage of possibly the two best things Pennsylvania has to offer: Trout and Grouse.

Bonus Days

2009-11-15T20:27:00.001-05:00

So it is mid-November and yet another weekend of mid 60s, no wind and good flows. This is not normal for SW Pennsylvania. Gotta take advantage of these "bonus days" while you can. I met up with my best bro and we did an all day float on the big river. Fishing was better than expected.

2o minutes into the float we started seeing midges. Then we started seeing risers! We had originally rigged up 6 and 7 weights with 0x, 7" streamers and sink tips. An anchor drop , quick change of plans and some midges and we were dry-fly fishing. This is mid-November, right?

We found 4 fish feeding where a small inlet enters the river. Long story short, we hooked and landed each of them. None were huge, and one was an abnormality (the rare PA golden rainbow hybrid) but they were rising fish and rising fish that ate our dry flies.

Those were unfortunately the last of the risers for the day. Back to throwing 4-7" meat flies. We went a while between fish, but the conversation is always good and it was a heck of a day. We started to locate fish on the banks. We had a few non-committal chases, but that's how streamer fishing goes. Not until we shortened up the flies did we start to get real takes. Black was the color of the day, no flash, just big, heavy, articulated and with sharp hooks.

We put a 20" in the boat followed by a 15" and I had a fish on for about 5 seconds that exceeded the legit 2 footer mark. He missed the fly the first time, came back for it and missed the hook. He thrashed for a few seconds, we got a solid look at it, and all I can say is that it would have been the fish of the year for me.

They tell me this is "the stuff that keeps you coming back." Right. Trust me, I'd still come back even if I landed it.

All in all, we moved some big fish, landed a few, snapped some photos and took advantage of yet another fantastic late fall day.

Sunday Muskie Float

2009-11-10T21:51:00.001-05:00

November 9th. 70 degrees. No wind. Sunny. Conditions could not be better for a float on the river. Weather has been on the freak here lately. I'm not sure I like it, but I'll take it.

Truth be told, I made the decision to float Sunday even if it was raining sideways and 30 degrees with 50 knot winds. Having been bit by the muskie bug earlier this fall, I still need redemption.

So I asked the kids.

"Who wants to go?"
"Go where?"
"For a ride."
"For a ride where?" (For some reason, I enjoy frustrating my kids!)
"On the river."
"In the boat?"
"Yup."

I had a taker. The older one put her barn boots on, got her gear together and headed outside.
I hitched the boat, grabbed a 10wt and some flies that could pass for small chickens themselves.
My daughter brought her "junk box." This is funny to me. It is a medium-sized zippered bag with one giant compartment. She loaded this thing up with what appeared to me as the findings of a scavenger hunt. This is the list:

chapstick
mp3 player
small stuffed animal
comb (ha- funny for a kid who refuses to brush her hair)
bag of pretzels
bottle of water
hair thingy (I'm a dude, I don't know what they are called!)
pencil
sticky note pad
tissues
iCarly cd (but no cd player)
bag of beads and string (In case she wanted to make a bracelet or something)
empty fly box
velvet painting kit (just in case you have the itch to make a velvet painting!)
wallet that weighs about 7 pounds from the piles of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. (She always offers to pay the tolls)

She's a pack rat. Like her old man. The console of my truck has everything from turkey calls, tools, bike parts, miscellaneous screws, nuts bolts and washers and half-eaten beef jerky. (Hey, you never know!)

So anyway... we made it to the river, not a soul in sight. Just the two of us, three cheeseburgers (we fought over the third one), a great blue heron, common merganser and one giant muskie. Nope, we did not catch him this time either, but I have confidence that soon we will. We set up in a spot I have seen them before, and made a bunch of casts. All of a sudden it appeared- about a 40" shape emerged and followed closely behind the fly. My heart racing, I talked myself through it out loud. "Don't stop, DON'T STOP!" The fish followed to about 8 feet from the boat and then got freaked out. It turned and bolted downstream. He was put away for good. So it goes.

We're getting close. The fact that I can go out to target a specific species and actually have a chase tells me I'm doing something right. That's good enough for me.

On the way back, the kid and I talked about life, why fish live in water, why birds fly and where the water in the river comes from. Sure I don't have all the answers, but the way a kid looks at you to be an expert on everything and anything is pretty cool. I can tell her "I don't know" and to her it's ok. I assure her we'll find those answers in a book or somewhere, or even maybe we won't.

As we pulled the boat off the river she likes to summarize. She does this often, and its a part of what makes her cool. She said, "We'll, at least we got to get out, and it was fun. Thanks for taking me, daddy." She followed it with, "too bad we didn't catch one this time."

I asked her if she thought the fishing was good today. She said "naw." I told her that in a John Geirach book there was a line written that said; "The fishing is always good, it's the catching that is sometimes poor."

She agreed. "It was a fine day, daddy."

If I could bottle these moments up and save them for a lifetime I probably would. I thank her for going with me every time.

Grouse Season Opener

2009-10-20T17:31:00.000-04:00

Its finally here! Pennsylvania Grouse season! October 17th marked the opening of the 2009-10 season. Woodcock also opened with a new extended season. A good friend and I headed to the new hideout. Neither of us hunted grouse in these parts before, and it was sort of an exploratory mission. Earlier in the year we heard alot of "drummers" and marked them on the map and noted cut areas.

Arriving at our meeting place, we couldn't believe the amount of snow! The high country had 4 inches or more, and the low creek bottoms were wet- leaves still on the trees and solid rain all day. It was going to be a cold and wet one.

We were heading to one of these newfound spots and couldn't believe it- a grouse was walking down the side of the road! It jumped off the road as we drove by and headed into the woods. This was in a year old cut area. We pulled over, geared up and slid into the woods. The bird flushed 40 yards out. Gone. Ten steps later, 4 birds went out, and my friend downed one. Action in the first 2 minutes! Nice!

Several misses later and I still didn't hit any birds!

We moved to another creek bottom and found a load of Woodcock. My kind of bird- slow to fly, doesn't flush far like a grouse. A grouse is in the next zip code by the time your safety is off!

I bumped the same woodcock about three times before finally getting a shot at him.

Not a bad way to start the new season. I am looking forward to many more good times in the woods.

In the rain

2009-10-05T15:01:00.000-04:00

Lake Erie Steelhead. In the rain. poor cell phone picture. The real camera stayed dry today. Cold,wet,windy, and I had "raisin hands" all day. But that's good. Lots of fish hooked, several landed. Nicely fresh and chrome bright.
Hit a deer on the ride home. That's not good.

BMX State Championship

2009-09-20T20:27:00.001-04:00

Let us take a departure from the fishing this week........

This past weekend we made a trip north to the Keystone State BMX Championship held at Drake's Well BMX in Titusville, PA.

My daughter was in the running all season to make top 5 in the 8-year-old class. We had a great day- no wrecks, no rain, and had a chance to meet up with some old friends and make a few new ones. We arrived at the track around 9am, and practiced for about 2 hours. I actually rolled the track a few times myself and had a blast. I took the season off to really help the kids and I miss it. Next year........

The Titusville track was recently re-built and boy was it different. Really tight turns, I mean REALLY tight. There was absolutely no jumping going on. It is a tight roller track. Very different from the other tracks we are used to riding.

I pretty much clicked the shutter all day, trying to get shots of my daughter and a bunch of my racing friends. I ended up with several shots of the action, hoping there were a few good ones.
This is the "put your silly camera away, dad" look.

This is the "go time" face...............
My daughter had a stacked gate of 8 riding in her class and she pulled 4th place all day, taking the bottom spot in her motos. She wasn't in tune with the track- a challenge she'll have to get over, and was a little intimidated by the boys riding with her. She has a birthday in the beginning of September- this means she raced in the 7-year-old class all summer, but turned 8 just before the championship. In the NBL you race "age-of-day" so this really was the first time she rode as an 8-year-old! This will happen year after year. All in all, she did great and we're super proud of her. She was the only girl in the gate.
At the end of the day she indeed did make the cut and ended the season as the number 5 eight-year-old rookie in the state. Her smile shows it all. That is a great accomplishment all her own. Noone else was out there pedalling her bike for her. Good job kid. It's been a fun year.
Here are a few more from the weekend that I couldn't resist.......

September Bass Trip

2009-09-13T21:01:00.000-04:00

Had a good float today. Took my oldest daughter, as she always is asking to go with the boys. She made the team today. We did a section of river full of smallmouth bass and probably the best shot at muskie.

Put in at about 830am, and fishing was slow. Moved quite a few fish, but very few hookups. Probably due to a combination of fall and low water. Really had to navigate the river today, usually we don't drag, but today was different. My feet were always wet.

I did manage to catch my best smallie of the year today. I estimate around 20". Just absolutely hammered a popper in a shallow riffle. Too bad there is a nasty corona in the picture.

Gracie managed a few of her own. She was not using flies today- for her it was 3" floating Rapalas.There is one fish I don't have a picture of- we had two eats by a 40-45" tiger muskie. Thinking about it right now, I still get chest pains. Absolutely attacked a 7" Whistler. He missed the hook, but swam with the fly hanging out the side of his mouth!!!!! I set the hook, and nothing. He just let it go. One of these days, I will close the deal.
Oh, and here is Stanley, showing us how he rolls.....

So, hey, its been a while!

2009-08-28T20:49:00.000-04:00

I apologize.

My last entry was 06.06.2009. Right after the maiden voyage of the drift boat project. So let me give you a quick run down of how this summer has been. To give you an idea of where we are today- it is officially the last weekend the kids have off before going to school! unreal how time flies.

Rewind.
Ok, so since the boats' completion we have taken many trips in it. Lots of smallmouth bass caught, some carp and as of yet, zero trout in the boat. I have pretty much run smallie water. There has been alot of fishing, so let the pictures tell the story....

On to bike racing.... As you know from my profile, my daughter and I ride and race BMX. We have a local track (www.westmorelandbmx.net) nearby and have been racing a few years. Well- My daughter has been racing alot this year, and I have been lets say, "riding." She is kicking butt in the 7 year old class. She is qualified for the stat championships coming up in September and has a good shot at top 5. Pretty cool considering the majority of the kids are boys. Here is a shot of her in action, ready to make an inside pass. She is dangerous. Leave that inside door open and she'll close it on you. and she does.....every time.

Here is a shot of my new ride- S&M bikes 38 Special 24" cruiser.

On to the bees and garden....
Bees did well all summer. the 2 year old colony is booming. We pulled about 80 pounds of liquid gold of it in mid summer and there is another 80 or so almost ready to go on there now. The started colony did well early, then got stuck- They superseded the queen around July 11th. This means the workers were unhappy with their current queen and decided to raise a new one. It is pretty much a natural course of action. Nothing you can do, but sit back and watch. Both colonies are doing well. In the picture below you can see considerable bees at the bottom entrance of the taller hive and not as many at the shorter hive. that tall one is the 2 year old colony- there are alot of bees in there, most humid nights they hang out on the porch of the hive!

In the garden, we raised alot of good stuff! Hungarian wax peppers (mild), Tomatoes, radishes, carrots, lettuce, onions, peas, wax beans, cucumbers and various herbs (heavy on the dill). Everything flourished except the tomatoes. We got the blight very bad. Basically the bush turns brown and any fruit plain rots on the vine. Best to pull the plants, dry them out and place them on the burn pile. frown. We ended up canning 12 quarts of pickles, 6 quarts of peppers, 4 quarts of pickle/pepper mix, froze 8 quarts of beans and 12 quarts of peaches. The shelfs are loaded up. In mid winter it is a pleasant reminder to pull a jar off the shelf and have a tasty bite... or three..

I am in love all over again. This time her name is Nikon D80. Pre digital, I played around with 35mm SLR cameras (Canons). Since allthings have gone digital, I have owned various point-and-shoot cameras, all of which were adeqaute for everyday use, but always lacked the sharpness and control of an SLR. So after a ton of weighing my options, I bought a discontinued Nikon D80. Oh man, am I having fun with this thing. I would say the hardest part of learning to use this is remembering where all the typical functions/buttons/controls reside on the camera. In a matter of a day, I was back to shooting manual and having complete control of my shots. I even took this thing to the county fair with a 50mm AF f1.8D lens. Tons of weird lighting and hard to get a good shot. But I think I managed a few.

I'm getting better with it and enjoying it. I thought I would baby this thing too, but I even took it out wade fishing with me today for carp. IN THE RAIN. No carp today, but hey, wet boots in the water make me just as happy.

So there you have it. I will get back into the swing of things here and post regularly.

06.06.09- The Maiden Voyage

2009-06-06T20:58:00.000-04:00

The maiden voyage with all my maidens. We had a good time. Did a nice 4 miler float. The kids loved it, its been a long time since the older two have been in a drifty, and the first time for our little one. Perfect weather- 80 degrees, partly sunny, no wind.

The only rub was the river was up and had too much color for good fishing. No sweat, it was a family ride and fishing wasn't the piont today.

The ride went well. I am pleased with the boat, it handles just as well as the old boats I owned. I like the lower front seat, and the anchor release system is plain and simple-fantastic.

The only thing I do need to change is the floor in front of the rower seat. I need to cut heel holes for the rower. My seat is set high, and I like it that way, but I ge a little "knee-knock" from the oars. If I can sink my heels, it will be perfect.
We also found one leak in the boat! I apparently drove a screw threw the bottom and missed a frame. Had a tiny bit of water coming in, no big deal.

The bonus today- the state or someone fixed all of the access points. New gravel ramps, parking spaces and the removed some brush too.

Here are several pics from the trip.

05.27.09 We're done, dude.

2009-05-28T20:21:00.000-04:00

I apologize being so late with reports. With the peak of Pennsylvania mayfly season, the end of turkey season and early honey season, I have been super busy. Not to mention BMX racing has started, so we are spending alot of time riding.

The target date for the completion of this boat project was Memorial Day. Actually, I should clarify- I wanted this boat on the water on Memorial Day. I made may target, but didn't get it to water yet. But all things fair, she is done. I am very pleased with the final result. The boat looks pretty good and I am pleased with the interior appointments.

It was a fine project. A little over 87 hours worth of work, spread across roughly 4 months. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every moment of this one.

Let me introduce you to my latest piece of fishing gear:

16' Double Ender with Transom
16' around the sheer, roughly 15' straight line stem to stern
48" bottom width
Hull sides are 6mm Meranti
Bottom is 1/2" Marine Fir, with an additional 1/4" marine fir skid shoe
Inner chine logs, chine caps, rails and trim is White Oak
Frames, floor boards and seat frames are Douglas Fir
Fasteners are a combination of Silicon Bronze ring nails and screws, Stainless steel and brass
Dierks in-floor anchor release system
Flip-top front seat storage
Additional rear jump seat

Here are a few pictures. I promise to add more when we take her out for the first time.

Dave

5.5.09- Was that my fly?

2009-05-05T12:46:00.000-04:00

So it goes like this..... Hendricksons are in the air, caddis are on the water and the fish don't seem to care which is which- they are eating them all. I'm standing there with my good friend Mark as we watch a pretty decent trout taking flies off the surface 1/2 hour before lights out.

Mark was up- we were stalking risers, and in particular big fish this evening, taking turns on each fish caught. He lays a cast down and across with a #14 henny imitation and the fish eats. Was that my fly? Indeed it was, Mark. 20" brown. Not too bad. The rest of the weekend was similar. I wouldn't be lying if I said we caught collectively, 20 trout equal or over 20" in 4 days. Not a bad time.

The trip was one of many this group has taken over the years- Steve, Joe, Bob, Mark, John and I meet up as much as possible, some more than others, to fish, hunt, camp, tell stories and make new ones. last weekend was to be a weekend full of trout, laughs and turkey hunting. All three were very good. The turkey hunting started out literally with a BANG! Allow me to elaborate....

As you know from my last post, my oldest daughter has been hunting with me under PA's "mentored youth program." Since the last post, we have had exceptional turkey hunting. On the regular season opener, my daughter and I rose at 5am, camo-ed up and headed out. We heard a gobbler right in the edge of the woods nearest the house! We set up, I let out a few calls and he flew down. Strutted right up to us, literally ran 50 yards in full strut-stood at 20 yards for an eternity while my girl aimed her 20GA at his head. She was taking forever to aim, and when she squeezed the trigger, she totally and completely- MISSED!!! The turkey gobbled off and left the scene, unscathed. Needless to say, she is hooked for life.

Thursday morning, Mark had met us in the driveway at 540am to shoot as "back-up". Big fun. The idea was to call a bird in, let the kid take another crack and if the bird is long, or bad shot, Mark would finish the job. Well, at least that's how we planned it.

It was deja-vu. We walked up to the woods and the gobbler started. We move into position, made a few calls and the bird flew down. This time he had his girlfriend with him. She came in running. He was 30 yards behind her, she walked within 10 feet of us and passed us by, not detecting us, although the breathing was heavy at this time. He never stopped- half strut walked to us without a single stop. My daughter had her bead on his head, but was waiting for him to stop for an instant to give him a shot. He got past us, and as she turned, he detected the movement and started the caution call. His hen answered and before too long they were both gone, down into the woods.

We sat silent and in disbelief again for about 10 minutes, until we were sure they were gone. We gathered up and laughed. Turkey hunting is interactive fun- calling a bird, having them respond either favorably or unfavorably. There is no doubt my kid thinks this is pretty easy- she has had close encounters every time out! But I wouldn't trade hunting with my girl for anything in the world.

I took the kid home at 7, as she needed to get ready for school, Mark and I ate breakfast and headed back out. We heard about 5 different birds at this time, but all were hundreds of yards away. We spent most of the rest of the morning listening to gobblers competing for love. About 1030am, we decided to bag it and head back to the house. This is the beginning of the old story of hunting all day and shooting a bird in the backyard. On our way out we heard a bird within 100 yards in a direction we were allowed to hunt. We positioned ourselves inside the wooded edge of a narrow field between forests. He was down on the other side, but was on his way. We made a few calls and he responded well. I was at a higher elevation than Mark and could see his pure white head about 80 yards away. He would strut 5 feet and gobble. Strut 5 feet and gobble. He did this for 15 minutes, making his way toward our yelps. Finally, he reached the edge of the woods. He hesitated moving into the field at risk of being vulnerable. But in the end, he was just too hot. He moved halfway across the field, precisely 33 paces from Mark. I knew at this point Mark would take a shot. Indeed he did and bagged the mature bird. He had an 8 inch beard and a little over an inch spurs. Nice early season 2 year old gobbler for anyone.

I'm still getting up every morning and listening and hunting by myself, as I haven't filled my tag. The birds around here seem to move often and one day there could be no gobblers then the next day five of them. It is really interesting and always fun. I really dig turkey hunting.

Boat progress. I apologize to the folks following this blog for my boat progress. I have been lacksadaisical in my progress reports, but have been steadily finishing this thing. I am presently working on configuring the interior space- Seats, floors, casting deck and miscellaneous stuff like the anchor system, oarlock blocks and rope fittings.

You can see I have also oiled the interior and railings. I must tell you that I am absolutely in love with the way this boat looks (and smells!) I have managed to apply two coats of the "Old Down East" formula:

1 part Boiled Linseed oil
1 part Turpentine
1/4 part Pine Tar

You can also see that I have manage to install the rower seat and transom seat. The seats in this boat will be varnished, as I do not like sitting on oiled seats. The transom seat is a simple design I have used in my previous 16' boat and it functions well and can be removed if more room for gear is desired. The anchor rope fits in the 1" gap between the center boards of the seat. I love it when things work out.The transom seat primarily is for my daughter- she is a 65 pound kid and doesn't affect the trim of the boat much. put a 200 pounder back there and the boat will do a wheelie. However, it is a nice add on to separate the kids!

The front seat is almost finished. I decided to trade side pockets for a full 45" bench. The top will be hinged for some semi-dry storage. I like the side pockets for holding a drink (beer) tippet, flies and other small items, but I need the extra width of a full bench seat for my family. My wife and the two little ones will fit nicely up there... for now.... until the older two get their own boat. (I'm serious!)

Traditional guys will notice that I do not have my front seat on rails. I find on this boat the seat between frames 6-7 works just about fine for 90% of the trips that I do. On those other trips where we have a big payload, we also usually have two boats, so we split up the gear
for a good balance. Those trips are few. Also, if the seat was on rails, I wouldn't get the width I need. Here is the top of the front seat propped up, exposing the secret hiding space. This will be a nice luxury for extra fly rods, camera, fly boxes, etc. That is 44" x 12" x 3-1/2"" of interior space.

I also played with the seat heights on this boat. On previous boats, I didn't know any better and made the seats all the same height. It was tough at times when running technical water with passegers- Seeing over them sometimes was troubling. I lowered the front seat and raised the rower seat. I also raised the oarlock blocks above the rails so my oar handles won't bang my knees. The setup works for me. I guess I'm gonna be the guy stuck rowing!

Anchor system- I decided to lay the greenbacks down a few months ago and buy the right system. The Dierks in-floor anchor release system. This system is pretty sweet- allows the rope to be run along the floor and up the transom. A pretty simple design foot release for sneaking up on those rising browns. This will work nicely for me. I purchased this from Randy and Sanderson over at Tatman Boats. (www.tatmanboats.com). These guys are a class act and also run a forum for wooden boat enthusiasts. The primary discussions are about framed drift boats, but there are others and S&G boats too. Its a great place to hang out. www.woodenboatpeople.com. Take a look!

The pulley on the transom is installed about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the transom. This is slightly lower than in my last boats. It lessens the moment arm of a heavy anchor on the transom and also reduces the boats desire to "yaw" back and forth in the current of the river. This boat by design doesn't yaw all that much anyway, only in the trickiest of currents.

The boat is also legit! I filed the proper forms with the PA Fish and Boat Commission and received my Hull Identification number, capacity plate and registration tag. These three plates need to be installed on the hull when the boat is complete.

This week/weekend I hope to get the seats fully finished, varnished and installed permanently. I need to cut a piece of wood for the casting deck, knee brace and support rails. After this, its just floorboards, and 2 more coats of varnish on the outside.

To date I have 78 hours into the project. Alot of it lately has been spent ciphering over seat heights and configurations, and not alot of real work. Some nights when my wife peeks in the garage, she finds me sitting in a lawn chair staring at the boats lines in deep thought.

could be worse, right???

4.21.2009 fishing report and boat progress

2009-04-21T22:08:00.000-04:00

Lets first say you can always tell when it is officially spring with me... House projects get delayed, nights are spent sitting at the tying bench and the camo gear is out, turkey hunting dvds are on the TV.

......and blog reports fall behind.

So lets first start off with the fishing. It has been good. Saturday marked the opening day of trout season in Pennsylvania. This is a pretty big event for bait fishers across the state. I'm not one to fish bait often, but it is the definition of fishing for alot of people. I just prefer to catch my trout on flies. However, I treat it as an experience for the kids. I take my kids to a small creek stocked with trout only for youth anglers, under the age of 12. It is a nice community park, and the local organizations do well for the kids. I rig them up with cane poles and a bobber. This is absolutely the easiest way for a kid to learn to love fishing. No technical gear, hardware or reels to tangle. Just a plain old stick and string. My kids love it. The smiles on their faces say it all. They had a great time and cleaned this creek out!

I have also been able to get out for the spring hatches this year and have done very well. Timing is everything and everything is a little late this year. We had a cold snap for a while and it delayed hatches. The good news is, all the streams have water, and plenty of it. This is a good sign, for we are on the edge of drought conditions for the last three years.

Grannoms... caddis, whatever you want to call them, they were on this past weekend. Blizzards of bugs, so thick at times you had to pull your hat down tight, button your shirt to the top and keep your mouth shut. It has been that good. The picture below shows a Sycamore tree on the streambank covered in caddis for the first 2 feet. Good stuff. Even better- the trout were rising to them all day on Saturday. I met three good friends for the day on one of central PAs well known streams, and we each had a +30 fish day. Here's to many more. Up next... HENDRICKSONS!!!!!!!!!!!

Turkeys. Last Saturday officially opened the youth spring gobbler hunt. This is a special 1-day hunt for youth and junior hunters. My eldest daughter and I spent a better part of early Saturday morning calling these crazy birds. We had two jakes, and a nice tom walk in about 60 yards, but we got totally busted by two hens. I'm sure they saw my daughter move or her bright skin in the sunlight. No worries, these are the lessons that make you better next time. Oh, and we got her some camo face makeup this week. Saturday opens the regular 1- month long season, and I can't wait!

The boat. Here she is. Alot of progress. It is finally upright, inner and outer rails installed, chine caps on, bottom skid shoe oiled a few coats, transom trimmed, stem trimmed and the anchor bang plate attached. I have been working on it mostly for a few hours each night, taking my time, but still enjoying the project, and yearning for the day (very soon) that we can get it on the water. My girls are itchin' for a float.

Notice how the inner rails are installed. The SS 1/4-20 carriage bolts are about 4" in length and drilled perpendicular to the side of the boat. This means the hole is somewhat across the frame so that the head and washer/nut are flat to the rails face. This si pretty easy to do when using the following technique.

First, cut notches in the frames to receive the rail. This is easily done with a scrap of the rail material. Mark the notch, the width of the gap between rails and cut it carefully with a hacksaw.

Clamp the rail into place at each frame member.

Mark the center of the rail, and the line across the frame top and both inner and outer rails. You will want to follow this line when drilling.

Once the lines are drawn, start with a small drill bit- 5/64" or so. Drill about 2" in from one side and then 2" in from the other side. The holes should line up. Switch to the 1/4" bit and do the same. Drill slow towards the end, and the holes will line up 99.9% of the time. I have never missed one yet.Finally, install the bolt, and finger tighten it with a washer and nut. Note the excess bolt sticking out. Tighten the nut down and cut off the excess with a hacksaw. File the cut portion so the nut can be removed.

Install a shiny new acorn nut and you are done.
This is the exact view I see every morning before I leave for work.

The sticks clamped in place give me a good perspective on where I want to install the seats. On this boat, I am installing the front seat in a permanent location, instead of sliding it on pipes. The sliding seats are used to balance the load to make the boat ride better in more technical water. I do indeed run some techinical stuff, but the majority of my time is spent with only one person in the boat, or my little girls. The load is pretty well balanced with the seat between frames 6-7. I am installing the seat low- this will allow a good view over the passenger, with the rower seat slightly higher. The front seat will be a full bench, 48" wide with no side pockets. I am planning on making it with a hinged top for full storage under the seat.

I will also be adding in a rear seat, a very simple slatted bench. My older daughter likes to ride back there.

On my list for this week/weekend.....

Sand the stem, transom, rails.
Install drain plug
Drill transom anchor hole
Install eye bolt
Fit seats
Make oar blocks
fit casting deck

Till next time........

4-4-09 Boat Progress and Fishing report

2009-04-05T21:17:00.001-04:00

Busy. Been real busy. Lots of boat progess made, and alot of fishing too! Replaced my old truck with a new one too! On the boat front, I made a decision to apply a plywood skid shoe to the bottom of the drift boat. This will be a good selection for bottom protection. I think it is going to work out just fine.

I oiled the 1/2" plyood bottom and then fit a 1/4" piece over that. The thin sheet is oiled inside and out. In the photo you will see the skid shoe before the oil has been applied to the outside. I have oiled the white oak used for the chine battens, rails and trim also.
This week, all of the outer trim goes on and the boat gets flipped. The inner rails go on and the entire inside gets an oil job. Very soon it will be done!

On to fishing.....fishing has been interrupting the boat progress as water temps are on the rise, bugs are starting and the big fish are looking for a meal. We do quite well at this time of year with the big stuff, as there are limited bugs to temp the big fish. I like big fish. The tactic is low-and-slow with big flies in places we know harbor large trout. I'll take three 20" fish over 20 12" any day.

Locations A,B, and C have been giving up fish, but not without some effort, poor weather conditions, 0x and long streamers. On today's float, we landed 76" of fish between 4 fish. Do the math. The guy in the photos is my #1 partner in crime. I have fished with many people but I have not fished with anyone more than with this guy. When he has a good day, I have a lousy day. And vice versa. Today was his day. Saturday was my day. Alot of steelhead on swinging flies in tailouts. A suprising number of fresh fish in the creeks. It was a good time.

Progress 3.22.09- Bees and Boats

2009-03-22T09:14:00.000-04:00

Good Progress this week. It is now officially spring- the weather is decent, so I'm outside doing all sorts of things............

Starting with bees- We had a string of near 70-degree days and the trees have been exploding. Bee activity is up big time. On Wednesday, I visited a hive and did a check to see how they were doing. This colony survived winter and then some. There is a huge number of bees and there are great signs- Bees bringing in Elm, Willow and Maple pollen, showing up as giant lime-green sacks on their hind legs. There were signs of egg-laying and larvae, meaning the queen is doing her thing too.

Watching bees and cracking open a hive allows you to view an entire culture all its own. I find it to be one of the most fascinating things I have ever experienced.

The boat.

The boat has a bottom installed. My little helper and I managed to get the bottom of the boat installed on Saturday. Things went well. The bottom wood on this boat is 1/2" Marine Fir plywood. My daughter was in charge of actually screwing the wood down. She put in all but a handful of the screws! So if it falls off, I have someone to blame!!!! I caulked the frames and drilled the pilot holes. She helped snap the chalk lines, and dipped each screw in warm beeswax before sending it home. She did a good job.

I faired the bottom edges so it is nice and even with the flare of the hulls' sides. It is sitting like this right now, as I have not made an official decision on the bottom treatment. This can go one of two ways:
1. Add layer of 1/4" or 3/8" plywood over the existing bottom. This will serve as a sacrifical "shoe" that will take abuse and hits on the river. When it gets beat up badly, it gets replaced.
This is the old school bottom treatment. There are still plenty of old boats with this bottom oout there.
2. Install the chine battens (Oak strips that cover the endgrain of the plywood) and then layer 21 oz fiberglass cloth, graphite and epoxy. This is a hard, bomb proof bottom, but lends itself to inner floor impact fractures. I used this method on my previous boats.

Once I make a decision I will get this thing done. After the bottom treatment, the boat can be trimmed out and flipped upright! Exciting!

3.14.09 - Almost a boat

2009-03-15T08:54:00.000-04:00

Lots of work completed. Friday night, I emptied the garage to serve as the workshop for assembling the hull. I also attached the stem post to start shaping the boat. To do this, the side panels are supported and placed in precise alignment to the beveled outside faces of the stem. Pilot holes are drilled for the nails used to make the permanent attachment. I used #14- 1-1/4" Silicon Bronze ring nails for this operation. These are the same nails used to install cedar shakes for a roof. If you have ever worked with these, you know that it takes a certain amount of patience to drive them home. They want to bend at the last second, especially when pounded into a hard wood like White Oak. I made a few screw ups, but recovered fine. I find holding the hammer with a "loose hand" helps alot.

Saturday morning, I gave my father-in-law a good excuse to come over for a day- to be a spare set of hands and help converting the flat pile of lumber in the garage into a boat shape. We got started at 9am and by noon we had all of the frames pounded in.

There are many ways to pull a boat into shape. Some guys install frames and then lastly the transom. Others clamp everything in place, then drive it all home in succession. When I assemble a hull, I like to install the transom and a couple of the middle frames- these help curve the wood in two directions, and also support the long, noodle-y piece of plywood. Once the boat has a couple frames in, it is pretty much into shape. Most of them went in without too much issue, but frame #9 was a bear and needed modification. For whatever reason, It did not want any part of being installed. I readjusted the angle of the bevel and made it fit to the natural curve of the wood. Things are OK. I believe the little things add up and can make stuff like this happen. Regardless, its not where or how you fail, but how you recover. As my good friend Roger tells me, "Let the wood be your guide." After all, its a boat. whether it has a few imperfections or it is a show piece, it will still get down river the same. Nonetheless, strive for your best, but know that things can happen. Big deal.

Once all the frames were nailed in, we broke for lunch and took a short rest before moving on to installing the inner chine logs. The inner chine logs really stiffen up a boat, and sometimes can be a bear to install. I used 5/8" by 1-3/4" White Oak material to make these and I am glad I did. On previous boats I have used 3/4" thick material and I recall having some really major installation issues. With 5/8"- no problems. I did however, end up cutting a chine too short. I hate when this happens, but that's what epoxy and filler is for! The chine logs are screwed to the boat with slot-head #8 x 5/8" Silicon Bronze wood screws every 4 inches. fun stuff.

Later in the evening, and after a fantastic, medium-grilled T-Bone, I planed down the chines flush to the bottom of the boat and sawed the stem. The boat is just about ready for the bottom to go on- if I had a bottom! Right now, the 1/2" sheets of plywood are laying on saw horses getting their scarfs cut. I planned to get this done Sunday afternoon- but that didn't happen. I got about halfway through it. Maybe Monday night.

So...we almost have a boat.

I kind of jam-packed this weekend with activities. In addition to the boat stuff I made two additional bluebird houses (we have LOTS of eastern blues) and the girls and I hung one up by their bus stop. We also took a walk and planted 8 new trees in the yard- 4- Norway Spruce, 2- Colorado Blue Spruce and 2- Serbian Spruce. Yeah, I love spruce trees and my girls think planting stuff is "sah-WEET".

I'm tired. Time for bed.

boat work & fishin...3.08.09

2009-02-28T20:01:00.000-05:00

I am sitting here tonight, after entirely too much Sunny Delight and Vodka. (Hey, its all we had!) I apologize in advance if I have severe grammatical errors or do not make sense...Lets reflect back on the last week...

What you are looking at in the photo above is an 18' by 4' sheet of plywood. Since the last report, I completed joining the three sections to make this panel. The joints look good and feel solid. I have drawn the full size layout on the panel and cut this out. The full sheet will make both side panels for the hull.

The picture below shows the extracted panels. These have been sanded and the station lines marked on the inside. The station lines show the placement of the centerline of the frames when the hull is formed. You will see this soon enough...

The sides have been faired to each other- basically this involves clamping the two pieces-insides facing each other and following around the perimeter with a sharp plane. The result is two identical panels that match.

Once the insides are marked, the panels are flipped over to receive two coats of epoxy. The interior will be left bare wood- it will receive an oil treatment. By the looks of this after a single coat, I am going full bore for an exterior bright varnish finish. Once sanded, this epoxied surface leaves an extremely flat surface for the final finish. I am very satisfied with the looks of the Meranti at this point.

I even made some nice sawhorses. If there is one thing I cannot tolerate- it has to be shaky saw horses! So, for about 11 bucks, and an hours' time, I built up a set of 4 identical sawhorses. Very stable and the height is perfect for boat work- about 16" from the floor to the top. Once the hull is formed upside down on these, it will put most of the boat at chest height for the chine and bottom work. No sore back from hunching over the work for me.

Garage is semi-cleaned out. I'll need to tackle this in the next day or so. Once the epoxied panels get sanded it will be the real fun and exciting stuff- building the hull!!!! I need a clean shop for this.

I have been waiting for warm enough weather to shift the operation into the garage and for temps to be high enough to use the marine adhesives and to work in comfort. We are very close. At this point, the next step is assembling the hull. This coming weekend, my father-in-law is coming over to be my extra set of hands to assist in assembling the hull. I promise to take many pictures of this process.

But first, my friends, is a little fishing. On Friday at 5pm, I was officially of the leash for the weekend. Thank you to my family for allowing me to forgoe my duties and escape the real world to do nothing but chase wild fish for a weekend. Weather was slated to be in the mid 60s, My good friend Bob came down to join in the fun.

Soooooooooooooo......No boat work this weekend for me. No house work for me. No planting trees, no fixing the driveway, no work on the truck. Nothing. We just fished like rock stars.

So here are a couple pictures of my first trout of the new year- a 21" brown.

And here's another- caught by Bob. A sparsely spotted 19" brown.

We got a few nice fish on streamers, and even several on blue-winged olives. It is finally here!

Inevitably, we always seem to have a few moments of disbelief, lots of laughs and unbelievable memories on these trips. I could go on for hours about some of the stories. We have seen alot of funny stuff on and off the water. It takes all kinds.

On Sunday the clocks were flipped forward for that extra hour of daylight. This is paramount in my world. It means long evenings in the yard, tending bees, riding my mountain bike after work on the local trails, or riding my bike to work. It cannot come soon enough.

I hope the next blog reports will involve more pictures of big ugly brown trout and big ugly dudes holding them. Stay tuned.......

Progress: 12.19.09

2009-02-19T22:01:00.000-05:00

Its been a fun couple of weeks. I have been getting in daily boat time. Usually it is a few hours at night after the kids have gone to bed. Very soon I will be pulling together the hull for this thing. I am trying not to rush this project, but I enjoy working on it so much, that inevitably, alot has been accomplished! Whenever I finish one of these boats, I have mixed feelings- extremely satisfied with the end result and the road getting there, but also a little sad that it is over. Of course, this is the ending of one chapter with you and your boat, but the opening of another- trips with family, friends and big fish to be caught! I just really enjoy the building process. Through building boats, I have made many friends, from across the country to the other side of the world. Through this very blog, I have reconnected with a childhood friend that got wind of my site. We haven't spoken in at least 15 years.

So here is what I have to show to date:

1. Rower Seat is complete
2. White Oak stem has been planed to shape (by hand of course!)
3. All frames are complete
4. Chine logs have been ripped, chine notches cut into frames
5. Rub rails/rock guards have been scarfed
6. Frame #10 is complete (this is an optional half-frame, see my other post)
7. Transom is complete
8. Front seat backs are complete
9. All materials are on hand
10. Side panels are layed out and ready to be scarfed (This weekend!)

I have made all of the neccessary pieces to pull a hull together. I will be scarfing plywood this weekend and as early as next week be cutting the hull sides out. The sides will then be faired against eachother so they are exactly the same, and finished on the outside surfaces with epoxy as a base layer for the paint to follow. This is exciting stuff. I love seeing a flat pile of lumber in my shop turn into a sculpture of tortured plywood and frames. It becomes a boat at this point.

Here are some random pictures of the recent progress.

Scarfing Plywood 101

2009-02-19T20:37:00.000-05:00

The first of two blog posts on the same day. This one I will describe the method for joining plywood sheets to make longer pieces. This boat requires the use of a full 16 foot panel to make the hull sides. The problem is, 4 foot by 8 foot sheets are the standard size. The boat also will have rock guards or rub rails. These are the strips of wood on the sides of the hull that protect the boat at the waterline from banging rocks. Ironically, these were initially not intended for that purpose! They actually were used to protect the boat from "wheel rub" on the old fenderless trailers! On this boat, the rub rails are about 10'-2" long. In this installment I will be joining two sections of Meranti plywood to make an 11' blank to cut these from. One section will be 8' and the other 3'.

I like to start joining wood with pieces like this. It allows me to get the feel of the wood, the tool, and epoxy used to glue the joint. A mistake at this stage is way less costly than on a full sheet or sheets of plywood!

Definition: Scarf Joint. A scarf joint is a lap-style joint where both pieces of wood to be joined are tapered at the same angle then laid on top of one another. The final thickness is the same as the thickness of the plywood itself.

It is recommended that a taper of 10:1 to 12:1 be used for this type of joint to insure adequate surface area for glueing the joint. The ratio is 10 times to 12 times the thickness of the plywood. For this application, we are using 6mm (~1/4") for the hull sides and rub rails, and 12mm (~1/2") for the bottom. I prefer to use a 12:1 scarf. For 1/4" plywood, the ratio of taper to thickness will be 12*0.25" = 3". This means that the plywood pieces will be lapped by 3" when glued up. This also means that you technically lose 3" from a sheet of plywood. Two 8' sheets with a 12:1 scarf will result in an overall length of 15'-9". To get a 16' sheet a third section must be scarfed in!

There are many ways to make this joint. There are fancy jigs available for a circular saw, power planer and router. These work well, and you can make some of them yourself. You can also use a hand held belt sander, random orbit sander and finally, a well-tuned hand plane. I prefer the last method. Part of building a wood boat is sometimes surrounding yourself with an endless pile of shavings. Making shavings by hand with a well tuned plane is good for the soul. I also feel you can do a better job as it is slow moving allowing you more control.

Layout. First thing to do is to layout the pieces to be joined. The Meranti I am using is nearly perfect on both faces, and color matched so it doesn't matter which side is which. When you have contrasting grain (such as fir) you want to lay you plywood out with the similar faces facing each other. You will see why later.
Measure and draw a line 3" from each edge to be scarfed. This will be the reference on how far to plane the edges.
Lay the wooden a hard level surface at a comfortable working height. I am using a butcher block table that is very flat and allows me to clamp to the surface securely. Stagger the plywood so the edge of the top piece is directly on top of the line on the bottom piece. When complete, this will become a taper from the line on the top sheet to your work surface.

I start planing the top piece edge first. This gives me a feel for the wood and allows me to adjust the bite of my tool. I will adjust the cutting depth from fairly thick, but not gouging, to barely making a cut when we get close to the final dimension. It takes feel and a little experience. Take it slow. Start by holding the plane about 30 degrees off the edge of the wood and shave the material. This keeps the tool form tearing out both on the edge parallel to the cut and the end of the wood perpendicular to the cut.

As you start to remove material, the inner plies become visible. I find it very easy to plane multiple-ply wood versus low ply count materials. The reason is- with more plies, you have a direct reference of your progress. The plies should start to show as parallel lines. This makes it very easy to adjust your tool and material removal. Its fun.

In the following pictures, you can see the progress of material removal. It goes surprsingly fast. Meranti planes sooooooo nice. It is a 5-ply material, and as you will see, the plies are not uniform thickness. The wider bands are thicker plies. The face veneers are slightly thinner.

Once the majority of material has been removed, I switch to a sanding block with 80 grit sandpaper on it. Meranti also sands nicely and this step finishes off the finely feather edges of the ply. You need to be careful and watch closely. Those end edges will be paper thin and should always stay a perfectly straight line.

...Fast forward. What you see in the picture below is the finished scarf, but not glued up yet. The top section is flipped over and layed on the bottom sheet so the tapered edges line up. The layup is tested for fit and for marking the edges to insure proper alignment once glued. If all my joints turn out like this, I will be perpetually elated.

The final picture shows the glued joint. I did not take pictures of the glueing process, as I inadvertently spilled some epoxy, ruined a new pair of jeans and had it all over my hands. That would not have been good for my camera! In gluing the pieces, first un-thickend epoxy is spread over both surfaces. I let these sit and soak in for a few minutes. When I am prepared to glue, I lay waxed paper down on the table, prepare my clamps. In the batch of epoxy, I will add some wood flour- in this case Douglas Fir dust to the mix to make a paste. This will get spread on each surface as well. This prevents the epoxy from getting sucked totally in the plywood, thus starving the joint. By using a thickener, there is a continuous bond between the pieces and the glue left in the joint. I like to leave a small amount of the left over epoxy in a cup to cure. In the morning, this should be a hard rock. This tends to give me extra confidence that not only will the joint look good, but more importantly it will perform without failure. This joint will get lightly scraped and finished with a base of 2 coats epoxy and several coats of varnish.

When complete, stand back and relax. Your back will hurt a little from hunching over the bench and your hands will feel the burn of real work.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have. This is one of the most satisfying parts of building a boat. Getting clean, good looking scarf joints is something to be proud of.

Got Wood?

2009-02-07T21:02:00.000-05:00

No, seriously...I purchased a load of wood this weekend. My wife and I made an epic trip to the western end of Ohio Saturday morning at 4:45 AM. About a 3-1/2 hour drive to the closest and best-stocked marine lumber/plywood supplier. I went with an open mind on what to get for plywood. You need 1/4" for the side panels and 1/2" for the bottom. There are essentially 6 options- Marine AB fir, Meranti, Teak, Occume and Sappele. Teak, Occume and Sappele were off the table, as they are extremely expensive. I started with option 1- Marine Fir. I have built other boats with this material and am very comfortable with it. I've used the last two boats extensively in whitewater, and never had issues with fir panels. My big gripe with it is that the current quality of it is very poor. APA standards (American Plywood Association) allow up to 8 "football" patches in an "A" grade face. This is unacceptable for a bright finished boat. Structurally, it is sound and the patches are fine.
The B faces can have up to 24 or so patches. Some sheets I looked at were just OK, others were poor. The reason for the patches are to replace any imperfections or knots in the layer.

On to Option#2... Meranti. The particular Meranti suitable for marine applications is Red Meranti, a member of the Luan group from the Phillipines. It is very close in likeness to Mahogany. This wood is very rot resistant, strong, and essentially perfect aesthetically. The grading system for this is the British Standard grade- for marine use, and is stamped with a seal stating it is truly BS1088 grade. Definitly adds confidence to see this, but buyer beware- there are reports of fake or counterfeit BS1088 plywood. There are lesser grades inadvisable for watercraft. This plywood is also 6mm- a touch larger than 1/4" and is 5 plies, versus the 3 ply Marine Fir. Face veneers are supposed to be about 1.2mm, but sometimes are thinner.

Long story short- I purchased 4 sheets of the BS1088 Hydro-Tek Red Meranti for the hull material of this boat. Only 2 are required, but I play it safe- I will use one extra sheet for rock guards, flyline deck and other parts. The 4th sheet is a spare. Better have it now than NEED it later. For the bottom, I purchased 1/2" Marine Fir. I sorted sheets like you wouldn't believe, (I probably irritated my supplier!) until I found two sheets that were perfect on the "A" faces. These will face up- as the inside floor of the boat. The "B" faces do not matter on the outside bottom- the bottom gets its own special treatment after the hull is formed. In addition to the 1/2" marine fir, I purchased a 12mm sheet of Red Meranti for the seats, transom and other interior appointments.

I have mixed feelings about my purchase of the Meranti. On one hand, it is indeed beautiful and both sides of a sheet are perfect. It is quality wood. On the other hand, the traditional drift boat wood was fir. I just couldn't bring myself to purchase the quality of fir wood that is available. Capturing the boats lines, regardless of material is what it is all about. I'm certain the Woodie Hindman, Tom Kaarhus and Keith Steele would have used alternative materials in this day and age. I'm over it!

I also purchased a ton of White Oak. All of the dimensional lumber used for the trim, stem, outside chine caps and rails is cut from flat sawn white oak. I use 5/8" x 8/4" for everything. 5/8" bends nice and is plenty strong. Flat sawn because this stuff needs to be somewhat flexible. White Oak is hell on tools, but is just plain tough to beat for the parts of the boat that will take abuse. Steer clear of Red Oak for a boat- save that for the inside furniture. It is deeply porous, and porous is bad when it comes to water. Red Oak turns black when exposed to moisture.

We're ready to go. I have all of the pieces in my possesion or on order at this point. The frameset is complete, the rower seat is complete, and the shop is in order. Blades have been sharpened, essential items like pencils, tape, countersinks and replacement sanding paper and discs. I even melted some old beeswax from my hives to use as a screw lubricant! An order of bronze ring nails, screws and sealants showed up on Monday too.

I also made a decision to add one more frame to the boat. The boat normally has 9 frames. In the original design from the 40s, Woodie Hindman (the boats original creator) had a 10th frame in the forward most position of the boat under the casting deck. This frame was a short frame- only extending about halfway up the hulls' side panels. You don't see this frame much in modern wood boats. I added it because I am a sucker for the tradition and history behind these boats.

Progress should really ramp up over the next few weeks, providing the temps in the garage are on the up. What to look for next- A complete transom, a stem sawn to shape, and inner chines ripped. When the weather warms enough to get a good glue joint, we'll get into scarfing the sheets of plywood to make 16' side panels. Big fun!