It has to start somewhere...

"It has to start somewhere.  It has to start somehow.  What better place than here?  What better time than now?"  Rage Against the Machine, Guerilla Radio



What does a "F the Man" song have to do with fishing?  I'm probably stretching a little lot here.  First, I have been toying with  blogging my "stuff" for a while..  So what better time than now?  The contrarian theme is more abstract. 

I've been mesmerized by the GEOBASS series of videos by Costa del Mar and Motiv Fishing.   These guys travel to amazing places, bust their asses and in some cases their gear and catch some truely awesome fish.  As anyone who isn't fishing while watching a fishing video is bound to do, I imagned traveling to those far off places and busting my own ass to catch those awesome fish.  Then I realized, I don't fish and make movies for a living.  I work 8 to 5 (ha!) every day doing "computer stuff".  I have all these responsibilities and things.  Not to mention given my exciting health history, a GEOBASS-like trip wouldn't just threaten to kill me.  It would follow through with it.  

Ok, fine.  I can't drive to Baja Mexico, take a ferry across the Sea of Cortez and fish for ridiculously massive largemouth bass in a lake few have seen.  But, I live in Florida.  There are 500+ lakes in my county alone.  I'm an hour or so from either coast and a couple hours drive to the Everglades.  I don't need no stinking passport or malaria pills!  
Magazines, TV and video are full of big adventure, big production fishing.  They are enjoyable and seem to help draw more to the sport of fishing.  The contrarian part of my message is, you don't need to fly to Costa Rica and have a loud soundtrack to enjoy fishing.  You don't have to travel thousands of miles to fish someone else's back yard.  You can (and should) fish your own back yard.  Ok, ok, I know what you are thinking.  "You live in a state that is a fishing destination.  Easy for you to say!"  Maybe, but I would be willing to bet that you have some water, somewhere close to you where you can catch some fish.  They might not be Golden Bass, but the potential for a rewarding outing is there.  


Go outside and look.  Cast a lure into a puddle if you have to.  You might be surprised what you will find.

Roll You Own - Adventures in Fishing Tackle Craft

Like all of the sane people in the world, I love fishing.  Over the years, I also started to have a DIY frame of mind.  One day, there was a chocolate and peanut butter incident.  The two interests came together and I found myself in the very rewarding world of rod building, fly tying and tackle craft. 


As a teen, I tied my own flies.  I tried to mimic the "real" flies from my fly tying book, and I was sometimes successful.  I tied a lot of Mickey Finns.  I also tied a lot of my own versions of things


Later in life, I started reading about fishing rod building.  I've tried a lot of hobbies, but this was the one!  I've built a lot of rods.  From ultra light spinning to surf rods, heavy conventional to fly rods, I tried them all.  I even started a business for a year or so.  I never made any actual money but I realized how awesome it is to have wholesale access to suppliers but how miserable it is to run a business.  Whomever runs a rod building business, I applaud you. 


Once I started building fly rods, of course I had to get back into fly tying.  The flies still don't look like the book.


With these hobbies come catalogs.  In those catalogs there are sections for lure building.  So of course, I had to check out YouTube and I found many videos of people custom painting lures.  Yup, some online purchases from Amazon and China later, I am now trying my hand and airbrushing crank baits and top water plugs. 


With this blog, I hope to explore the world of tackle craft.  I wish to share my own adventures as well as those of others I come across in the hobbies.


Come along and give it a try. 


Roll You Own!