The first of many firsts

After having some drinks Will asked me if I would join him at a secret pond just out side of St. Louis. Seriously who could say no to a secret pond with hopes of catching ping pong paddle sized panfish. I could not, so we met at the pond just in time to see the sun sun come up over the small pond. i brought my spinning rod as a back up but decided to be adventurous and start with my nine foot five weight fly rod.

It was my first time fishing a fly setup and needless to say it was a fruitless and rocky start. I asked multiple questions to get my bearings and continued working out the kinks of getting the fly on the water to the fish. I watched will pull in a nice bass and a few chunky sunfish. I was chomping at the bit to hook some fish, so i quickly switched to my spinning outfit and shortly tied into a decent sunfish. This fish was tough looking the kind of body builder look that sunfish get when they are super healthy and get that meat bulge on top of their heads. We moved around the pond and caught a few more before venturing down to a small stream that had been blown out by night time rain showers. I caught a really cool long ear out of a little pool and will caught a creek chub near a very large blown down tree. The stream was bordered by lush trees on both sides and in one area part of a dead tree formed a portal that showed a blue sky flecked with wispy clouds. Altogether it was a fun time talking and getting to know each other and more importantly discussing future fishing trips.

A brief history

This is my first excursion into the wide world of blogging, and with that in mind I will begin to jot down the highlights and experiences of my new found love with fly fishing and everything else that has to do with the outdoors. I have been pestering my wife Ashley for some time now to help me find a friend that shared the same fondness for the outdoors and other man like activities. I have a few great friends but their only fault is that they do not share a passion of hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping that is truly ingrained in my life.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity Ashley informed me that she had run into a co-worker who happened to have a husband who was fisherman. Interestingly enough he was in the market for another fishing buddy(what angler worth his salt isn't) and Ashley arranged a meeting at a local and may I add shady looking drinking establishment in South County. The bar was worse than I could have imagined, it was Karaoke night and every one in the joint looked like they could have been related. Holding a conversation was incredibly difficult because the karaoke noise made me feel like I was trapped inside of a sub woofer. The conversation quickly unraveled into a short history of our lives as fisherman and ended with an impromptu fishing trip. I was ill prepared for this trip which would have me up at four am which would normally be a small inconvenience but I had been celebrating the end of summer school at my place of work. Lets just say the next morning was interesting yet I had a blast on the water with my new friend Will. Little did I know that this chance meeting would evolve into an absolute obsession with fly fishing which would test the boundaries of my fishing expertise and wallet.
Maybe the word love is not strong enough, some might say I have a wild obsession with all things that swim in the water and live in the woods. I guess the blame can fall squarely on the shoulders of my father and his father for that matter. Ever since I was strong enough to hold a stick I have been fishing and thinking about fishing and enjoying the wonders of wildlife. I was born and raised in a small city in Los Angeles California and I wondered through life with as much ambition as any other fishing or hunting bum. I was given the chance to attend college in Missouri and I quickly jumped at the chance to broaden my horizons in education as well as life experiences. I soon fell in love with the city of St. Louis because it was a fairly manageable city with actual seasons, and farm land and unspoiled country side a quick thirty to forty minutes away. I was hooked and began exploring the new waters and gaining friendships that materialized into hunting opportunities. All of this has led me to my current quest to understand, appreciate, and eventually become somewhat successful in the art that is fly fishing. The following posts will chronicle my adventures and more importantly the crazy misadventures that my friends and i will undoubtedly find ourselves wrapped up in.