Steeldrifter

Caught a beast of a brown this evening. 20"+ and really thick. Was a great fight on the 10' 3wt. Had absolutely gorgeous colors and pattern. Probably one of the prettiest browns I have ever caught.

Nice couple hours of dry fly fishing this morning. Going to hang out and tie some flies before heading back out this evening.

Got into town about 1pm today and all unpacked in the room. Love the room I have this year, she hooked me up in a bigger room for the same price. We fished for about 2 hrs this evening and started the trip off with a few nice trout already. Had about 45mins of good dry fly action right before dark. Good start to the trip.

Nice. 3rd one looks like a pretty decent fish for sure 👍

That's almost how it looked here in SE Michigan yesterday. I went for my normal evening bike ride and soon as I turned the corner off my street I noticed how it looked so hazy/white when you looked more than about 1/2 mile down the main road. Didn't know why at first, then it hit me it must have been from the Canadian fires.

Neat vids, but if you could from here forward on these multiple youtube shorts vids and such that you have been posting daily, start a topic in the Lodge to post these under rather than here in the Reports section if you would. This section is for reports and pictures of trips. These youtube shorts/funny vids and such fit better in the lodge than under reports. Thanks.

Tyin up some extended body iso's tonight. One of my fav hatches. Big fish usually right at dusk rather than middle of the night like hex are.

This year is definitely the most blooms my red rosebush has ever had on it.

Nice morning on a local river with my buddy Mark. Nothing big at all, just a bunch of little largemouth bass and a streamer eating creek chub, but a pleasant way to spend the early morning.

Well it is almost here ...only 6 days till I leave. And to make it even better...I added an extra week to the trip. So I will be fishing for 3 full weeks this time all alone. CAN NOT WAIT!!! 😁

Hit a goal of 25lbs lost now today. Down to 244lbs. Should be just over the halfway mark of what I want to lose. I think at my height 6'4" I look best at about 220lbs. Would like to drop another 5lbs in the next week though since I leave for my long 3 week fishing trip next Sunday, and I know I will have a few good snacks/meals on that trip. So would be nice to have a 5lb "cushion" for that trip 😁😏

Byron that sounds like quite the roller coaster ride of emotions in a 24hrs span. Had to be very scary for you, but glad it turned out to be benign. And thank God they found the aneurysm before it had a chance to become a bigger issue. Making lifestyle changes that will effect your health (in a good way) is not as hard as it sounds. When you first do it then it is a bit hard at first just because it's a change to your routine and to what you are use to doing, but once you get settled into a healthy routine then it just becomes 2nd nature and seems natural to you. And the really good thing is once you have been into the healthy lifestyle and you start seeing & feeling the positive changes it makes in the way that you feel, then that just motivates you more to keep it up, and it no longer seems like you are giving anything you like up, or having to work for anything. As you know I've made some serious changes myself in my lifestyle over the years. I use to be 402lbs, alcoholic (drank 3 fifths of Vodka per week), smoked a pack & half of cigs per day, blood pressure use to be about 150/100 and would get winded and have a backache just walking through a store. I was well on my way to diabetes and probably death from cirrhosis of the liver or lung cancer. Now at 51yrs old I'm 240lbs, sober for years, quit smoking 13 yrs ago, eat healthy, bike and walk about 20+ miles per week, blood pressure stays around 100/70 and honestly I have more energy now at 51 than I did when I was 41. So it can be done, and when you do it, the first couple weeks of change will be the hardest part, but once you get into the grove of it and you start feeling better and have more energy you will wonder why you didn't make those changes sooner.

That's a cool pic to have Chug 👍

That had to be a fun fight on a 1wt. .....And send some of that rain up to Michigan please! 😏Starting to be borderline drought like up here lately.

Yep sadly being diabetic can cause a lot of issues with your eyes. My Brother in law had a really bad diabetic episode about 3 yrs ago where he basically went about 75% blind for about 2 weeks or so. I was having to take care of him during the day while my Nephew was at work because he couldn't even see well enough to be trusted not to walk into things. Thankfully after a few weeks of treatment and being on insulin, his sight has came back fully again.

Latest out of the shop today. A 7'6" 2wt on one of our im12 light/faster action blanks, with a slide band burl reel seat and all natural cork. This one weighs in at only 1.7oz and ready to head to its new owner tomorrow for a season of trout action.

Screw that, one thing I HATE is someone messing with my eyes! I remember some years ago I got rust in my eye when I was under one of my trucks working on it and had to go to the doc. He put some shit in my eyes and then used some yellow thing that was almost like a piece of thin plastic to wipe/scrap across my eyeball. I was one second from drawing back and decking that doc 🤣 Every since then I can't stand anyone messing with my eyes.

Nothing wrong with a day filled with brookies 👍👍

Down to the last rod to finish before I leave for my long trip in less than 2 weeks now. So starting to tie up some #10 brown drake spinners.

Being on a diet for the past 40 days, I'd kill for a good pizza right now 😁

Latest out of the shop. A very light weight IM12 graphite 9' 5wt in royal blue & silver wraps, single foot guides, and burl reel seat. Total weight of this rod is just 2.7oz

That's why I went with the box I did here. It's about an inch & half between the two foams so there's no chance of crushing the hackles. That was a problem I had in some of my normal store bought fly boxes. Once you filled both side the hackle would always get mushed down which always drove me nuts.

Still working hard on it and making progress, but slower than it use to be. In the 10 days since posting this I have only lost 3 1/2 lbs more. I guess that's actually pretty good when I stop and think about it, but when you are extremely strict with your eating, and doing so much exercise, you want to lose at a faster rate which is probably expecting too much. Down to 247.5 lbs now, so have about 25-30lbs more to go to hit my goal.

I'm not sure of all the specs, but I have owned these here for the past 4 yrs or so now and I really like them. I use them almost every night while watching TV. The sound is good, they hold a charge for a long time (4hrs or so of use on a charge) and they are comfortable. Headphones usually start giving me a headache or make my head/ears sore after awhile, but with these I have to have them on for more than 2-3hrs to start annoying me even in the slightest. https://www.amazon.com/Sony-WH-CH510-Wireless-Headphones-WHCH510/dp/B07WSKKYPR?th=1

Looks like a fantastic day with your Dad on the water. Like niveker said, enjoy it to it's fullest. I use to love fishing with my Dad. What I wouldn't give to be able to have just one more day on the water with him.