F3T & Abel Reels

In December, F3T (Fly Fishing Film Tour) held a photo contest along with sponsors Abel Reels, and Ross Reels. The contest would have 2 winners. 1 for Abel Reels that represented their slogan "Crafted for Chaos." The other for Ross Reels slogan "Made on the water."

The picture that best showcased Ross Reels - Made on the water, was a photo by, Tim Morrison. His Instagram name is @steelhead_dreams. For being chosen he won a reel from Ross Reels. I'm not quite sure on the model, but congratulations to him. I think they chose a great photo.

The picture that best showcased Abel Reels - Crafted for Chaos, was yours truly! My musky release photo got me the win. I still cannot believe I was picked to win! I was sent a beautiful Abel reel, that I will show off below. Here is the picture that was chosen.

Here is the beautiful reel I was sent. It's an Abel Reels Classic click and pawl. It's rated a 3/4/5 wt, and it's in my favorite color blue! HOW FREAKING AWESOME!!!

A big THANK YOU goes out to the F3T, and Abel Reels! Thank you, mas much!

So, in November I won a Yeti Cooler, and now I win an Abel Reel....I seriously must have a horseshoe shoved way up my keester! That's the only logical thing I can think of. My GF said I should really start playing the lottery. I think she's right!

Any suggestions on what I rod I should look to pair this rod with? I was leaning heavily towards the 5/6 Featherweight Eagle Claw. I've been wanting a fiberglass rod, and not wanting to speed big bucks. Plus, I think the blue and yellow are a perfect match!

Wolves -vs- Coyote

Just thought I would share this video I came across. I have never seen footage of how vicious wolves can be. I feel bad for that coyote, but he seemed like he was aware of the consequences. Those wolves really F'd him up bad!

Notice the bald eagle scavaging! Reminds me of the time I saw a bald eagle up north scavaging on a dead deer on the side of the road.

Exploring the Northwoods

On a recent trip to the Northwoods of Wisconsin, The Fat Gordo and I took a walk. Instead of wading back to our camp, we decided to take the unbeaten path through the forest. We actually just followed some deer paths.

There was quite a bit of rain that week, so, there was quite a bit of mud. You would have thought it had rained frogs with the amount of frogs we came across while hiking.

We also, came across quite a few different types of mushrooms. I bought and read a book last year so I could better ID the different types of fungi that I would come across, but I did not do a good job of studying it, because, I couldn't ID any of them. Haha

Can you ID it?

A better picture of that bald eagle. It wasn't part of the hike, but who doesn't like looking at this magnificent bird of prey.

One of the things that we were surprised about on our hike, and our trips up here was the lack of wildlife sightings. Yeah, we did see fish, frogs, bald eagles, and few squirrels, but what we thought was missing were the deer, hawks, minks, and beavers. We didn't see any of those. Maybe next year. I'm really hoping to run into some black bears and wolves next year, too....at a safe distance of course. :)

Another shot of The Fat Gordo crossing a mini swamp on a fallen tree.

Bald Eagle

While driving back from the Northwoods of Wisconsin, my buddy Fat Gordo and I passed by a bald eagle eating a doe that was on the side of the road. We quickly made a U-turn, but a passing semi truck scared the eagle off of the deer.

Here's a terrible picture of the bald eagle after the semi truck passed by.

After a short while, the eagle just walked around, and then took off into some nearby trees. We were quick to follow the eagle down the road, and to where it was perched. I got out of the car to take some pictures of the eagle and all of it's beauty. 

As I got closer, the bird started to sway and fidget, like it was preparing to take off. I set my GoPro camera to the burst shot setting with hopes of getting shots of this raptor taking off. As I stood almost under the tree, I could hear my buddy Fat Gordo say from the car, "he's gonna go, he's gonna go!" ....after a few more fidgets and a lift of the tail, he went...number 2 that is.

My buddy and I could not control our laughter, because, we were both so sure that he was going to take off. We both would have put money on it. Shortly after the eagle took off, and I missed the opportunity to get those take off pictures, because, I was busy laughing at what had happened.

America.

Thankfully, I was not directly under the tree during the encounter. Although, I hear if a bird poops on you it's good luck, I wonder how much luck a bald eagle would have brought me. Ha

Nature = Amazing

If there something that bonds all of us fly fishermen/women, besides fly fishing, I'd say it would be an appreciation for the outdoors, and wildlife...nature.

Nature - It truly never ceases to amaze me. I am always stumbling across new and interesting information when I'm not outdoors, and then when I am, I always see something new and interesting. My eyes and ears are constantly wandering when I'm out on a river or lake. I'm not searching for anything in particular, more so, for the appreciation of where I am and what's around me at that given moment. You never know what you're going to see or hear.

Check out this video I found in my news feed on FaceBook. It's about how the reintroduced wolves are changing Yellowstone National Park. Who would have thought a pack of wolves would have such an affect on so many different things. (I'm sure Wildlife Biologist expected results like this, hence, why they reintroduced them to Yellowstone.)

Thanks, for reading my babble!