WEEK 4

This little Brown was designed to be the companion piece to the Rainbow I completed and posted last week. I had two long and skinny frames that were just looking for the right trout.

FISHING REPORT
Took my nine year old grand-daughter Gracie down to the pond on Sunday night. I had checked it out the evening before and saw that the bluegills and bass were along the shoreline in a definite pre-spawn mood. But alas, Gracie and I didnt see a fish. A front was moving in and it put them all back out in the deep. We got in some quality fly casting lessons, howerver. And speaking of that front...it's below freezing and snowing hard as I write this. AIN'T SPRINGTIME IN THE SOUTH GREAT !!!

Anti- RANT

APPRECIATION
Many of us will find time during the Easter weekend to spend a little time on our favorite trout stream, and as you do, try to focus on more than just catching fish. Take in the beauty around you. Appreciate it. Savor it. Really look at it. And most importantly, consider its Maker. Be grateful.

Every day that we spend on the water we are blessed. We are in the perfect place to consider the wonder of God’s creation. What on God’s earth is more beautiful than a crystal clear trout stream? And how could He have done better in creating the streams’ inhabitants?

He designed all of this and put it here for us. He could just as easily created nothing but piranhas and all of the water could be chocolate syrup. But of course He didn’t. That wasn’t the plan. Then again, if He hadn’t followed through with the rest of the plan...the plan of Salvation... it’s doubtful that any of us would be able to enjoy it. That plan came together about 2000 years ago this weekend. Think on that.

RANT
Well, this just figures!
I start a blog three weeks ago with dreams of glory and riches and today the Federal Trade Commission comes along and says that bloggers can be held liable for statements that they make about products.
"If a blogger received a free sample of skin lotion (make that "Helios" rod) and then incorrectly claimed that the product cured eczema (make that "landed a 15 pound Brown") the FTC could sue the blogger for making false representations."
There goes my product sampling plans! I guess ORVIS won't be calling. And what if the FTC pushed it further and stuck to the letter of the law and held that we would "be held liable for misleading claims" ??? All of them ???
That would shut down every trout blog in existence!

"FRENZY"
Last week in an earlier post I mentioned the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival. Well, for the third year in a row Shirley and I will be attending what must be the best organized, best run and most fun festival on the planet. Beau Beasley (fly fisherman, author, entrepreneur and firefighter)and his crew really know how to put together an event.

I have the honor this year of being their designated "Festival Artist" and while it is certainly an honor...it comes with a bit of pressure. The Festival Artist gets to provide the artwork they use in their promotions and advertising, but the original artwork is also auctioned to the highest bidder at their lavish VIP Dinner and Banquet. The monies received go towards funding their important conservation efforts...so I had to do my best work!

The image you see above is what I came up with. Hope you like it. I tried a very "minimalist" approach to my subject, letting the imagination fill in some of the details. Titled, "Frenzy"...can't you just imagine the entomological smorgasbord these two healthy rainbows are feeding on?

"Frenzy" will be reproduced in a limited edition of 75 signed and numbered prints, many of which will be raffled at the Festival which will be held April 18th & 19th on the banks of South River in Waynesboro, Virginia.

www.vaflyfishingfestival.org

WEEK #3

I REALLY LOVE RAINBOW TROUT!
After being weaned on Bluegills and Smallmouths my Dad introduced my brothers and I to the Rainbow. Dad grew up in SW Missouri, just a few miles from Roaring River State Park and he spent his early years casting a fly to the ancestors of the trout that we were introduced to.
Many of my earliest and fondest memories are of watching Dad expertly lure these gorgeous creatures (with a casting stroke that would rival the best of the FFF Master Casting Instructors), and the year that I was turned loose on them is etched in my memory. I don't recall the exact year...I must have been 10 or 11, but I'll never forget that summer of learning. We must have spent at least eight weekends camping there and I know that I spent from dawn to dusk slingin' flies at those trout. I believe my first rod - the one that I was using - was a white fiberglass Shakespeare model with an "automatic" reel, and I recall that I caught a lot more trees than trout. In fact, it was the last weekend of the summer before I managed to hook and land one of them. I remember the pool - it was the one below the bridge right in front of the lodge - and the fly was a red and yellow Woolly Worm. (Back then, in the Ozarks, they were Woolly Worms - not Woolly Buggars!) I'll never forget the feeling I had...and even if he were still with us, I could never thank Dad enough for that introduction.

FLY FISHING FOR VETS
Last summer as I was exhibiting my art at the Federation of Fly Fishers Southeastern Conclave at Callaway Gardens I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ken Griffin. Ken had recently started an organization called Fly Fishing For Vets. As what is now their sister organization, Project Healing Waters, was getting off the ground and focusing their efforts on the Washington, DC area, Ken took on the task of doing the same type of admirable work with our Wounded Warriors in the state of Georgia. Well Ken has done a fantastic job in the organizations first year! Please take a few moments to visit the groups website at www.flyfishingforvets.com to see just a few examples of the good work that Ken and numerous volunteers throughout Georgia are doing.
I have had the honor of providing my art to Ken's group for their fundraising efforts and I look forward to continuing that. Ken is doing a great job and I encourage all of you that are appreciative of our wounded heroes to check out the organization and seriously consider if you can lend a hand in any way. I promise that you will be richly rewarded!
http://www.flyfishingforvets.com

WEEK #2
Triple Play

I know. I promised a fish a week and this is obviously 3 fish. In preparing for the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival which is coming up in 3 short weeks (http://www.vaflyfishingfestival.org/) I wanted to depict the 3 common species found in the Commonwealth. This was a very challenging undertaking, but I think it turned out alright. Hope you like it!

This might be a good time to explain how I do these things. Once I determine what I'm going to draw, I begin with Bristol (Smooth) 100# drawing paper. Using very fine lined drawing pens I apply about a gazillion teensy tiny dots to create the pen & ink image. Double click on the image and if you get an enlarged version, you'll see what I mean.

Once I'm satisfied with this first stage I'll move on to the "coloring" stage where I use Prismacolor colored pencils. It's not too different than what you did in kindergarten...and just like then, it's very important to stay inside the lines. These pencils are a little different though. They are wax based which allows the layering and blending of colors just like one would do if using oil or acrylic paints.

Please check out the link to VA Fly Fishing Festival, and if you are within a days drive it is certainly worth visiting. If you can make it I hope to meet you there!

Who needs Montana when fishing of this caliber is so close to home?
I was lucky enough to spend yesterday on Big Cedar Creek just outside of Lebanon, Virginia. This fantastic members only private water is one of four streams owned and managed by the Riverbound organization. Extrememly large and amazingly strong rainbows, averaging 3-4 pounds with a good number of hogs up in the 15 pound range. I ended the day with 7 of the size pictured...and with a special memory of one of the aforementioned brutes that broke my 3x on his first run. Had an absolute ball with my TFO 6 foot 2 weight, and I will be going back for round 2 with the one that got away.

RANT

At the risk of alienating the liberal wing of the fly fishing community allow me to comment on the brouhaha regarding Dick Cheney's invitation to speak at the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Ted Williams (no, unfortunately not that one) an editor at Fly Rod & Reel magazine stated, "The entire fly fishing community is appalled and disgusted" with the Cheney invitation. Really? I don't think so. If the invite had gone out to that peanut farming crackpot and failure from Georgia I suppose there would have been high praise and hosannas!

(A couple of years ago I had the great pleasure of spending a few days on Pennslyvania's Spruce Creek. I stayed at Harpster's Farm, which many of you know to be one of the peanut farmer's favorite destinations. I was offered the Jimmy Carter room...which of course, I respectfully declined.)

I would also respectfully decline a bird hunting invitation from Mr. Cheney, but I would love to spend a day on the stream with him. And of course he has a standing invitation to speak whenever he wants at the Folger Museum of Angling Art. I could use his coaching on the proper greeting to use if I happen to meet a member of the US Senate.

WEEK #1

OFF TO A FISHY START

Today begins a year long effort to indulge in one of my passions...or as my wife Shirley would say, obsessions...drawing fish. And yes, I stole the idea from Jeff Kennedy, whose blog, http://www.drawingflies365.blogspot.com/, I have quietly admired in recent months. In addition to many other artistic endeavors, over the past year Jeff commited to drawing one trout fly a day.

His success in accomplishing that has inspired me to try something similar. As I work full time in the world of Executive Search there is no way that I can do one fish drawing a day...but I think I can handle one a week. Other colored pencil artists might say that my work would be much better if I spent longer on each drawing, but I'm an impatient sort of guy. So one a week it will be!

Some illustrations will be good and they'll eventually make it to my website http://www.clearwatermemories.com/, and some wont make the cut. But all of them will be the best that I can do at the time which is a major reason for starting the effort. I'll do some experimenting along the way and hopefully I'll push myself to be a better artist in the process.

But, more about me and this effort later...today I just want to see if I can get something posted and attach an image.

RANT

Fish Snagging...

Just saw an item on Foxnews about the TEN DUMBEST INVENTIONS. None of them hold a candle to what I'm about to rant about. Now, I'm all for entrepreneurialism...after all, that's what I'm all about...but the recent spate of advertisements for "The Moffitt System" take the cake.

http://www.moffittangling.com/

My late Uncle George used to answer the question, "Where'd you catch that lunker?" with, "Right in the mouth!" He caught all of his fish that way. The way God intended.

Have these folks at Moffitt been infiltrated by the kind souls from PETA? If so, why not take it a step further? I will soon be coming out with a greatly improved version of their product. Called "The Folger System" it will replace the dangling hook with a dangling dip net. With my method there will be absolutely no chance of snagging an eye or a wayward dorsal fin. As the trout grabs at the fly, simply jerk the line and WHAMMO!...he's in the net.

Gimmee a break people!