Omaha Stylee

311 IS COMING TO ASHEVILLE ...
AGAIN!!!!!

My absolutely wonderful wife procured us two tickets for 311 at the Orange Peel in Asheville, in May! I'm ecstatic, as is Cat. I might be a little bit more excited, but she'd be running close behind me. I think this will be my 13th or 14th and Cat's 8th or 9th time seeing them live. Anyone who knows me is keenly aware of my obsessive nature. (take fishing as an example) It's no different here. I have copies of all of their CD's, including 3 unreleased albums. 9 times out of 10, if you're in the truck, I've got 311 playin....loudly.
Why is it so great that they are at The Peel? It only holds like 500 people, WHAT? Only 500? Last time we saw them there, we were within 25 ft of the stage. That and the Orange Peel is a great place to see a band play.
The last time Cat and I saw them was in New Orleans for 311 day on March 11 (3-11). This will now become a pilgrimage we make every other year, and because they only do it every other year.

So what is 311 day? 5 plus hours of total bliss. I think they played something like 63 songs. I was absolutely worn out afterwards. I'm sure Cat will elaborate on my declining to go party on Bourbon St after the show. What can you even say about a band that puts on a show like that for their fans? It's 311's vibe in a nutshell. Peace, love, and harmony. All laid out on edgy guitar rifts, some jammin drums, unbelievable bass lines, with an unmistakable reggae undercurrent.
Grassroots, their first major release, is still by far my favorite album, with Omaha Stylee being my favorite song. Other favs are 8:16AM, My Stony Baby, Large in the Margin...... This list could go on for a while. It's rare that I skip a song when I'm jammin out to them.

Well, I think that's enough random rambling. If you ever get a chance to listen to their music, do. If you get into STP, Incubus, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Finger 11, you'll love 311.

311 ROCKS!!!!

Peace

A New Commitment

So I'm making a commitment to spend more time posting on my blog. After suffering through almost 6 months of inactivity, I'm going to make a better effort to post more regularly. Maybe something like 3 times a week if there's nothing really going on, maybe more if there is. Cat is a driving force behind this to some extent. Anyone who reads my blog regularly has probably looked at her blog at some point. (If you haven't, you should. When you see both sides of the crazy, things seem to somehow make sense.?) She is committed! The woman is like a blog machine. I've already gotten a dirty look for being on the computer. She wants it so she can post a post about me posting a post, when I'm posting. Crazy, huh?

I started turning the garden over on yesterday, with hopes of turning another bed today. We (I) are lacking a tiller at the moment, so I'm going OOOOLLLLDDD school and turning it with a mattock, hoe, and a garden rake. If you read Fire Pit or Pit of Hell, you can see my praise of the mattock. Right now I'm cussing it. We have a fairly decent sized garden, and the thought of digging it out by hand makes me sore just thinking about it. I think it's something like 12'x70', so.... maybe 800 or so square feet to turn by hand. Oh well, I guess it will help me get into shape for spring fishing! We're still coming up with the game plan for the garden this year, but likely we're going to go with square foot type set up with "raised" beds 3'x4'. I'm not sure, but I am sure it will be entertaining no matter what!

I hope to go fishing this week. It breaks my heart that I have not caught a fish all year. Pathetic! This is the first time in something like 10 years that I've let my license expire. I'm hoping to hit the Tuck on Mon or Thurs with Adicus for some big bows and browns, if I can
remember how to set a hook. My next pattern will hopefully post this week. A steamer called the Hale-Bop that is absolutely deadly on stupid fish, particularly big brookies. I like to throw a size 6 or 8 in chartreuse, one of the uglier flies you'll ever see me throw. I've seen groups of brookies and browns coming after that ugly thing like a pack of wolves! Refer to photo below.
Well, that's enough randomness for now. Cat is watching network news as she like to do on Sunday mornings, and I think my head is about to explode over the new stimulus package. I had decided not to talk politics on my blog, but that has decidedly flown out the window. The level of idiocy and what seems to me as pure theft has left me no choice but to rant somewhere about it. But I regress, time to get in the yard and get something done today before the trappings of a good nap take over.

The Island of Time Past

Well, I just got back from Cumberland Island and the weather was absolutely fantastic. This place was all and more than I expected. Bill and I left on Wed. night around 11pm and got to St. Mary's around 6am on Thurs. morning. Enough time to catch a quick wink and a bite to eat before we hopped on the ferry.
To some extent, this was an escape from the cold and to some semblance of warmth. Thursday morning it was a frosty 26 degree's in downtown St. Mary's. Thankfully, it finally warmed up on Friday and was in the 70's Sat, Sun, and Mon. When we left on Wed, I had 4" of snow on the ground and the lows were plunging into the single digits, with 35+ winds. Needless to say, it was time to go to the beach.
I'm not even going to pretend that I can describe this place with words. I'm not even sure the photo's will really do it justice. So.... not a lot of words, but a bunch of photos! Enjoy....

St. Marys River

Campsite at Stafford Beach
























Hiking the Main Road Horse and Coon Tracks
























Gotta Bring Jack! Trail Through the Dunes

More Dunes

And More Dunes!

Driftwood on Beach

Plum Orchard Plum Orchard

Plum Orchard BaySide
Bill at Sunrise
Horses on Beach at Sunrise
Sunrise
Sunset


So there it is. A small grouping of the 394 photos I took in 5 days. This place just screams to be photographed. There were horses, armadillos, coons, birds, etc. everywhere. Hear a tank coming through the palmetto at camp, fret not, just a horse wandering through looking for a snack. want to be alone on the beach, just go for a walk. 16.6 miles of beach and only 300 people allowed on the island makes for a strong feeling of being alone. If you look at the beach shots, you'll notice the lack of other people. People tended to congregate near the camp areas, which left miles and miles of beach and interior empty.

On the downside, neither the island nor the rangers are very dog friendly. Ya'll know how we take Adicus almost everywhere. This won't be a place he'll ever get to go to. Bugs! On the warmer days the no-seeums came out in force on the bay side. I pulled 2 ticks off of me, so I can't really imagine how bad it can be in August! Be prepared to walk or pay a small ransom for a bike. We walked over 40 miles in 5 days. Bike rentals were $20 a day, ridiculous.

My overall thoughts on the island. WOW!! I'm not a beach person, but wow! SeaCamp, the main park service campground is phenomenal. Probably one of the best NPS campground I've been to. It was kept very private, they didn't try to cram in as many people as possible. Shells! Bill and I picked up over a 1 dozen and a 1/2 sandollars in one walk. I have a small cooler full of sweet shells for Cat. Not crappy bi valves, but the "spirally" type. Needless to say, she was happy with her shells! 5 types of habitats, all kinds of critters, including horses. Ruins of houses built during the Gilded Era, some restored. I give this place two thumbs up with a strong recommendation of visiting when you get a chance.

On a side note, you'll notice there are no fish photos. No rods accompanied me on this trip. It was more about being warm and hiking. When I return, there WILL be rods with me. I hoping to take Cat there in the fall, so hopefully I'll be able to post some fishing reports from there.
Hope ya'll enjoyed the virtual vacation.

The Harey Moose - My Favorite Nymph

So after having the photo's to post this recipe for 3 weeks, I'm finally getting around to posting it. This is a self creation (IMO), although I'm sure someone out there has tied something like this before, but I like to think I have an original thought from time to time. It's a variation of a hares ear and maybe a birds nest. If you have any comments on the design, feel free to share. If you tie it and catch fish on it (which you will!), you must pay homage to me with some photos. : )


HareyMoose
Hook: mustad 9671 1x or equivalent size 8-20
Head: brass bead
Thread: tan or gray
Tail: moose mane
Body: rabbit dubbing/ mostly guard hairs
Wing: mallard flanks

Step1:
Slip the bead over your hook and push to the eye. I then place 5 wraps of weight on the shank and push the end into the hole at the bead.













Step2:
Begin at the base of the hook with your thread. Wrap it up over the weight to secure and wrap back down to the base of the hook. Take a small clump of moose mane, proportional to the size of the fly. I like 1 1/2 times the length of the hook. Wrap the thread loosely around the mane at the hook base and slowly increase the tightness as you move towards the weight.









Step3:
Now this is looking like something! Trim the extra mane and wrap the cut ends for a clean underbody. Wrap your thread back to the base of the hook to secure the mane. Be careful not to use too much pressure near the base, or it will cause the tail to flair out excessively. I like to take the extra step of adding glue to my underbody to make it durable and last longer. With the thread hanging off the rear of the hook, begin dubbing rabbit fur onto the thread. I use as much gaurd hair as possible and make the dubbing thicker and bushier the farther down the thread as I progress.












Step4:
Begin wrapping the dubbing up the hook over the under body. Stopping about midway through the weight, you want to leave enough room for your wings and the head. Next, prepare the mallard flank by pulling off the fluffy stuff at the bottom and cutting as small v in the top of the feather.

















Step5:
Place the mallard flank dull side towads the hook and wrap it in with the cut just a little more to the head than the thread. Use a fair amount of tension, you want the flank to flair out some, but not too much. The end of the wings should extend just past the base of the hook.









Step6:
Cut off the exess mallard flank and dub a small amount of rabbit guard hairs to the thread. Wrap from the mallard to the bead, leaving enough room to tie the whole thing off.











Step7:
The fly is pretty much done. Whio finish the head and cut the thread. Now the most important part. Take a bodkin and begin picking at the fly to make it bushier and buggier. Be careful not to pull too much hair out and try not to get the thread underneath.












Viola! The HareyMoose!

How to fish it:
Anyway you want! My fav is as a dropper below a thunderhead. Sometimes I'll use a big ol' size 8 with some weight and maybe a size 18 pheasant tail tailing 6" behind it to get at bigger fish on the bottom. I've fished it as a wet fly, even as an unweighted emerger in the film. I don't know what it looks like, but ALL fish seem to like it. Don't just use it on trout. Bluegill love to nibble on this, and smallies will slam some of the larger versions. I tie it a multitude of colors. The most common is natural, olive, and a dirty yellow. My most used size is probably 12 or 14, but I do take it down to a size 20.
I hope ya'll enjoy the pattern, this is by far my #1 confidence fly and usually my go to. If you flip through the blog, you'll see this hanging out of ALOT of fishies mouths! It's an easy tie once you get used to the pattern and I can usually tie about 1/2 dozen an hour. At any given time, you can find a 50 or more of these in my main box on a multitude of colors and sizes.

Now quit reading and start tying. Springs comming and it's time to get those box's loaded!

Wow! Has it Really Been Since Sept.

Well, a very busy Christmas season is finally over for me and I finally have some time to relax. Returning to the world of big box retail just before the Christmas season started was quite a reality check, but thankfully it's over! Haven't been fishin in months, too cold to ride the bike.... I'm about dine with winter! Sometime around early march, I'll start getting real giddy about the prospect of the coming of spring. Warm weather and more importantly, warm streams and rivers!
Enough dreaming of spring! I'm hoping to start posting recipes of some of the most successful fly patterns I've come up with over the years, and other somewhat standard patterns I've found to be extremely useful around these parts. We'll be seeing some of my standards: Harey Moose, Hale Bop Streamer, Furry Pheasant, and some more known.... Thunderheads, Stimulators, etc. Don't get too excited. I've found over the years that I tend to fish the same patterns over and over, with the occasional new fly becoming essential every couple of years. What does this mean? That I have limited my fly collection to the ones I know work and have confidence in. I'm sure there will be much expantion of this subjet as I actually start to do the posts.
Commin soon..... My BF and I are heading down to Cumberland Island Georgia for some R&R and hopefully some warmer weather. I plan on maybe doin a little fishin, but mostly hangin out and doin alot of nothin. If youve never heard of Cumberland sland National Seashore, check this link out. http://www.nps.gov/cuis In the warmer months, fishing can be absolutely outstanding! The island is very unique in it's multitude of different habitats, and also for it's population of wild horses running on the island. I'm super jazzed about going there at the end of January!
Well, I figure that's enough for now. I hope that I actually have some readers left after my sabatical. Happy New Year!

Dirty, Dirty Carbs

The battle of the century seems to be keeping this 28 year old Honda CM400 running. Actually it's not been that bad, but she does take up quite a bit of time every couple of weeks. Right now I'm trying to figure out why my engine is getting so hot, and I mean like skizzle hot. The crankcase is averaging in the 230-250 degree range as far as I can tell, which is a bit on the hot side. Now, there are a list of culprits that could be causing this, the most likely are or were a dirty carburetor, valves out of adjustment, or the timing is off. I don't have a timing light or feeler gauges, so that kinda pushes me into checking the carbs first.
This didn't bother me since I had been looking at the blow up diagram from bikebandit.com for something like two months now. I was able to find some replacement screws for ones that had been stripped before she was mine, so I was ready to tear into them. First thing first, I gotta get them off the bike first. This is not super hard, but does require you to take off the gas tank to get to the throttle and choke cables. After taking off the tank, drain the float bowls, and loosen and detach all cables, except the choke, WHILE KEEPING TRACK OF WHERE THEY WERE!!!! I dunno, take a photo or something, I had 3 cables and marked them 1,2, and 3 to keep em in order. Worked for me, why not you? After you detach cables 1&2, pull the choke out( at the handlebars), and loosen the clamps around the boots. At this point it's kinda by feel to get them out. I straddle the bike, and pull the carbs back to get them out of the boots connecting to the engine block. Then I'm able to kinda wiggle and force them out to the left. If you pulled the choke, that little tab won't get hung on the rear boot, making life a lot easier. With a little finesse, they should pop out. Each time I take them out, it varies in difficulty, sometimes are easier than others? After the carbs are free, remove the throttle cable and viola! A set of carburetors in hand!

After freeing them, be careful with them. Don't shake em or do stupid crap like that. Now you want a CLEAN AND ORGANIZED working area. I can't reinforce this enough, there are lots of tiny parts in there. I lay a cheap towel down and put all my tools and needs on it before I start, this tends to save a lot of time in the long run. All I really use is a can of carb cleaner, a can of compressed air, a phillips head screwdriver, two flat head scew drivers(one large, one small), and maybe some pliers and tweezers. Along with that, I'll use tin cans to soak jets and other parts in and a larger container to soak other parts in. Now it's time to open them up. I start with the bowls, seems logical and it will tell you what you can expect in the rest of the carb. A preview of this is seen when you drain your bowls before taking the carbs off. In my case, lots of particulate rust from a rusty gas tank and a crappy wire fuel filter. This is not a good thing to see. Before you start to spray everything with carb cleaner, remove all rubber pieces, carb cleaner will destroy them. Replace them if necessary, be careful with them if you're not! After cleaning out the bowls, start taking the jets out and looking for clogs and whatnot. It's not recommended that you stick wire through the jet holes, but in the case of heavy varnish, it might be necessary. I like to use the wire out of the center of a twisty tie. They're super thin, so there's no threat of damaging the needle. After checking the jets, throw them into a can to soak in cleaner, and continue to disassemble the body. Remove the floats and the float needle. Check the float and needle for defects.

My cabs are cv type with pistons, so I flip them over next to take the pistons apart. After removing the main screws, slip the body apart to expose the slider and carb interior. Remove the needle jet and toss it into the can with the other jets. The whole body is almost apart at this point. Parts are everywhere, things could get hectic. All that's left is removing the accelerator pump and air cut off valve. The air cut off valve is on the side of the body. Take the cap off slowly, there is a spring underneath it that can be lost easily. The pump itself is a brass piece with a rubber gasket. Check to make sure there are no tears or cracks in the gasket and remove the small o-ring in the small hole to the bottom left of the pump. Next is the accelerator pump. Similar to the air cut off valve except its a brass rod with a rubber gasket. Same drill on this one, look for defects and clean gently. At this point, the carb body is completely apart and its time to clean it. Clean it good, blow cleaner into all it's little holes, nooks, and crannies. Make sure all the paths are clear of obstructions and then blow all the cleaner out with compressed air. The insides should be shiny clean!

Time to reassemble. I put it back together the opposite of how I took it apart. Makes it easier for me to get it back together with all the parts in the right order. I tend to lay pieces out in the order I take them out, so I just have to move down the line to get it back together. After reassembling the first carb, do the exact same thing to the other one. It's best to clean them separately. If you forget how to put a piece together, you can look at the one that's still together, plus, they tend to not like having parts swapped between the two of them. I hope this helps someone who wants to work on their carbs but is hesitant to. It's not that hard if you have some mechanical ability and can stay somewhat organized. In the end, I pulled some nasty crap out of my carbs. LOTS of rust. I plan on resealing my tank this winter. Unfortunately, she is still overheating. I'm becoming more suspect of a small hole in my lower head gasket. It might be blowing back into the cylinder head causing my mixture to lean out, thus causing it to run hot. Sounds like there will be a blow by blow of how to replace most of the gaskets and seals in the engine this winter.

All Is Well..... Kinda

It seems the universe has finally righted itself. After a month of despair and misery, gainful employment has finally been secured. In case your not aware, Western North Carolina does not have the best job market in the world, so I'm pleased to find something reasonable that didn't require me to shave my beard or wear a uniform. Hopefully now things will begin to right themselves around here. I think financial disaster has been averted, but only through the fraying of Cat's nerves.
Obviously I haven't been doing a lot of the normal things I would fill my blog with, now that things are getting back to normal, some fishing and hiking will definitely be in order. It looks like we'll be having a good color this year. I hope, it makes for great photos and beautiful hikes.
Brookies should be spawning soon and since we had a little rain, the fishin should be pretty good. Temps have started to trend towards to more fall like, which is great, except when I'm riding into work when it's 45 in the morning. I am still on the motorcycle, but barely, I dropped it 3 weeks ago at 45mph and was luckily able to ride it home with both of us in one piece. Well, the bike actually had a few things just hanging on it. Total damage was taken care of for $15 an a little rigging. I limped away with two separated ribs and some road rash and miscellaneous bruises, but overall quite pleased at my condition. A guy who saw it was amazed that I got up and rode home 30 minutes later. Shows the wonders of wearing a full face helmet and leather!
Thanks to all who voiced support during these trying times, I appreciate it.