FOR SALE: FILSON CHEST PACK

The item I have for sale is a Filson Chest pack.  It's a great pack, but it's just not my style.  It is used, and in great condition.  Asking $50 plus shipping, unless you're in the Twin Cities area and can meet up sometime.  If you would like to inquire about purchasing this great pack or have questions, please feel free to email me at - carfoutdoors@gmail.com

THANK YOU!  I hope this finds a great new home!

Pink Squirrels and Hatches

While at the fly fishing expo, I purchased some much needed proven trout flies from Matt Ebbers.  On the way back to Chicago, Dave, and I stopped at the Rush River after pretty much everyone told us to go there while on our way back.

Dave and I doubled up about 15 minutes into our wade.  I hooked up with a small brook trout on a Matt Ebbers pink squirrel, and Dave caught a brown trout on...I have no idea...a trout fly.  Pretty fish.  Small fish, but pretty fish.

Doubled up.  Photo by UA Dave.

Me wading upstream.  Photo by UA Dave.

While on our wade back downstream to the car, I noticed that there were trout starting to rise.  As I continued to watch, more and more trout were rising and at a faster rate.  What is this madness I thought to myself.  I felt something crawling on the back of my neck...it was a black winged insect.  Very small with sort of a long body.  I was witnessing a hatch!

I quickly switched flies to the smallest black dry fly I had, and immediately told Dave to do the same.  After quite a few missed opportunities and some good laughs, I finally hooked up!  My first "match the hatch" trout, and a nice one at that!

The small fly that caught the brown trout above was from my purchase of trout flies from Phil's Phly Shop.  I am terrible with all the names of these small flies, and really only know if it's a nymph or a dry fly.  Haha

Well, that brown trout shot out of the water like a missle to take the fly, and it was AWESOME!

Fly Fishing with The Slaunch Mob

My buddy Adam aka The Slaunch Mob (Instagram - @theslaunchmob) decided that he wanted to pick up fly fishing.  We were finally able to get out and fish with one another, and since we both have a love for smallies, we decided to wade a stretch on the DPR that he fished the day before with minimal luck.  There were some storms that rolled through, so, the water was high, but that didn't stop us from getting out and getting some casting time.

We were skunked, but it was a good time none the less.

Here's a short short video of the outing.  Basically, it was just me playing with different camera angles and working on my editing for future stuff.  Turned out pretty cool.

Enjoy the skunk.

Here's an awesome shot that Adam took while I was casting into the morning fog with the sun peering over the trees.  If you're on Instagram, I suggest you give him a follow.  You certainly won't find fishing shirts quite like his anywhere else.

@justincarf casting in the fog this morning. www.slaunchmob.com #flyfishing #fishing #bassfishing #largemouth #smallmouth #trout #slaunch #slaunchmob #carfoutdoors #art #apparel #illustration #chicago #heavymetal #deathmetal

A photo posted by @theslaunchmob on Sep 13, 2015 at 12:41pm PDT

Creek Time

My buddy DanK and I decided to meet up for a wade on our favorite small creek. I was up extra early, so, I decided to fish the backyard lake a little bit, and work on my wacky rigged worm technique. Caught a decent one before I called it quits and hopped in the car to leave.

I was tossing a fly on my 5wt, and DanK was using his spinning rod. There was no action on the creek, and with the rising sun, the temperature started to rise. It was not making for a fun wade. Now if we were catching fish, I wouldn't mind being in my waders sweating my butt off, but as a skunked outing loomed over our heads, I just wanted to be out of my waders.

DanK under one of the many bridges we cross on this urban creek.

We decided to fish on until we reached our determined turning point on the creek. Immediately, DanK got a follow from a very small pike, and then on his next cast he hooked up. At first we were both thinking it was the pike, of course.

FISH ON!

....but it actually turned out to be a quilback! I have only ever seen 2 of this species in my time fishing, and both have been caught by, DanK. He's like the quilback whisperer. Haha

Big Quilly Style

As we approached where our cars were parked, BOOM, we doubled up to end the day. Pretty awesome. I was able to shake the skunk in the final moments.

Doubled Up!

After we finished up the wade, we headed on over to my house. DanK hasn't seen the new place, yet, and I've been ranting and raving about the fishing I have in my backyard. DanK is like a Jedi Master with a jig and soft plastic trailer. He was tossing a Tight Rope Jig with a small crawfish pattern plastic as a trailer, and he killed it! 

BOOM

I never knew there were bass of this size in my backyard lake until DanK started landing monsters. With every bass he caught, it seemed like they just kept getting bigger. It's really good to know this exists in my backyard. I have yet to catch these big ones, but I sure do like knowing their in there, regardless if I catch them or not.

Biggest one of the day. WOW.

Damn, that was my favorite shirt.

Gave my buddy Fat Gordo ring to see if he was free to fish, and he was. We decided to fish Poplar Creek, again. It's been awhile since I fished that creek, and I was feigning some smallmouth action. After a quick Cabela's stop for some fly tying materials I needed.

Smallie was caught under that bridge.

Catch

Release

The water was low, and the fishing was tough. I thought that the cloud cover of the day would definitely work to our advantage, but it didn't. Oh well. I still managed 1 dink smallie, and a decent LMB.

Not only was the fishing bad, but the wade was, too. Rocks just kept sneaking up on us. First the Fat Gordo went down, and came back up okay, and no water in the waders. Then I went down not 5 minutes after that. I was rewarded a nice welt on my right shin. 

Once we decided to turn around and make our way back to my car, I went down, again! This time I was rewarded with 3 very nice gashes in my right forearm. I didn't even bother to check what it was that gave me this glorious wound, but I just have my fingers crossed that it wasn't a hunk of metal. (Unfortunately, I think it was a hunk of metal.) I was just worried about stopping the bleeding. They were some pretty deep gashes, and I had nothing with me. (I should probably carry a small first aid kit in my pack, and so should you!) In order to stop the bleeding, I had to rip one of the sleeves off of my favorite Vedavoo shirt. The Fat Gordo helped me tie it tight around my wound, and then we carried on.

Be careful out there!!!

Not the best of days.

Update: The wound is healing nicely. It sort of looks like I was attacked by a mini Wolverine from the X-men.