First Bass 2012

I 'll admit, I am off to a rather slow start this year.  One post and its it already the 7th, seriously?  a whole week gone already?  Truth is that sometimes life just wears you out and with the horrendous work schedule I have had over the holidays I have had barely enough time to see my family much less sit down and surf the blogs.  And time spent painting or  fishing?  You can just forget about that.
So just in case some of you that frequent my blog (and even more of you whose blogs I frequent) have started to believe that the Year On the Fly Blog has passed on, or its owner has lost interest and gone on to other waters, let me reassure you that I am still here and am planning on continuing on with year 3 of this one year project.

I did manage to sit down last night for an hour or two and toss a bit of paint to paper for this recollection of a cold river smallmouth bass I hooked into last year while on the Chattooga.  What I remember most about the surprise bass in waters where trout usually roam was the bright red of the eye.  That clean bright red eye surprised me almost as much as finding a leaping bass on the end of my line where I expected a trout to be.
This was also my first smallmouth bass I have ever painted.  I suppose that even if we are already a week into the new year, it is quite fitting to have my first painting of the year be a new species for my watercolor.  Maybe as the year progresses I will work up enough courage to paint one of the big mouths leaping from tranquil water.  For now this head shot will have to do.

So on other news, I have recently procured an antique secretary desk for my fly tying station and as soon as I have a bit of time I will put together a dedicated post on the subject, including the restoration and conversion of this beauty for the purpose of fly tying.  Of course I have to have the time to restore it but I figure that its been sitting around for a hundred years, a few more weeks wont hurt it.  anyway, before the month is out I will have a post ready on the subject.

I have also been looking for a bit of small antique fly fishing advertisements to frame up and add old world ambiance to my tying station.  I figure that these classic adds will compliment the antique secretary desk nicely.  So if any of you out there have pre 1950's fly fishing or outdoor magazines cluttering up your floor space I would be happy to take a few of them (or just the advertisement clipping) off your hands.  Just Email me and we will work it out.

And finally, since the end of 2011 was such a hectic time for me I figured that I would add a bit of thanks for the followers, comments, and support that all of you have given this angler over the past two years.  Without you this project that started as a single year commitment would not be ebbing into its third year.  Thanks again for helping me improve with each and every cast of my fly rod and stroke of my paint brush.  Since I can't buy you all a beer, go get one of your own and raise a glass and just know I am toasting you.  Cheers.