Win This Painting - Last Few Days

(This is a Re-Post to give everyone a chance to win this painting of a Golden Trout.  Just leave a comment on this post to enter.  Contest ends at the end of the month.) 

This past month has been a big one for this blog.  While I was wrapped up with work, family, fishing, and fun my fellow fishing bloggers were busy posting nothing but good things about my site and my art.  Every day I log on to find yet another follower or email with someone interested in what I have to say and post.  Many of you know that I started this blog as a way to get my butt out on the water as well as force myself to improve my art.  At best I was just hoping to share my art and fishing with friends and family.  What I did not expect was to have my little blog blow up into what it has become.  It is now a daily 'business' just to keep up with it but if that sounds like it is un-enjoyable then you are misunderstanding.  It is quite the contrary.  I look forward to waking up and checking my email to see if yet another person has purchased a print, or asked about a custom work, or (more recently) asked if any more fly boxes are available (and sorry but no - all sold out quickly).
Well since it is now well into my venture as a fly fishing blogger and all of you have been so kind to this humble fly/paint slinger I thought that it was time to return the favor. 
From now until the end of the month, if you leave a comment on THIS post you will be entered into a Thank You Contest.  The winner will receive this original painting. 

Once again: To enter for a chance to win this original watercolor of the Golden Trout just leave a comment on this post.  The winner will be selected randomly out of all the comments.  Please, if you run a web site or blog LEAVE your own blog address in the comments so others can visit you as well.
My next post will be in the first week April and will include the name of the winner.

The Watercolor Specs:

- @ 8"x6"

- Gouache & Watercolor

- Acid Free 200lb Paper

- Comes In A Mat Ready To Be Framed

Thanks again to all that have continued to support this blog and encourage me to get on the water and fish.  You are to numerous to thank in one post but you know who you are.  Good Luck!

1st Bass of 2011 & More

Starting out with a new little Tenkara Style Fly and a treasure hunt.  Your reward - discovering a great blog!  Can you find the Tenkara fisher who posted this bee inspired Tenkara fly?  Good luck.

 Also an update on the search for bass on the fly.  I took the new old rod out for another spin the other day with my father in-law and a buddy of mine and hooked up with two nice little fish.  We arrived at the pond a little late and just on the tail end of the prime feeding time to find a muddy wash from the previous weeks rains.  Despite this we tried out best to throw a bit of top water action without any action and then switched to some deep swimmers.
  For my fly I tied on one of my quickly tied buggers I threw together earlier that morning.  Black hackle and a crystal & red wool tail, it took these two without little effort, and I mean that literally.  The bass hooked up by itself.  What happened was I tossed the fly and about ten feet of fly line out into the pond and then turned my attention to untangling the line that had wrapped itself around a bunch of thorns.  about 2-3 minuted later and the tangle taken care of I twitch the fly off the bottom and felt that heart stopping tug.  A quick fight and a few healthy jumps and the bass was in hand.  Sweet!
   The little crappie was taken much the same way but this time on purpose - taking what I learned from the first hook up.  Notice that the little guy still has his deep water color which tells me that the water is not quite warm enough for these bad boys to be cruising the surface.

All in all these two were the only fish caught that day and despite my insistence that my two fishing companions put down their spinning rods and try my fly caster, they kept to their guns.  I figure that if I continue to out fish them with a fly rod then they are bound to cave in one of these days.

Pan Fishing & A Few Boxes Still Available

I got a new rod the other day and took the morning to test it on a new pond I discovered.  Okay, so really it is a vintage rod, complete with an old school Martin automatic reel, I got as a gift from a friend at church.  I have never fished with an automatic and it was fun to experiment with it on the open pond.

 My original hope was to hook into some bass but as with my last few attempts at landing a bucket mouth I found that those finicky fellows just were not ready to show up.  The little pan fish were more than willing to take my woolly and I had a blast flipping those eager fish onto the bank one after another.  It might have been a bit overkill with the six weight rod and 3x leader but it was still a great little outing.

I have also gone a bit overboard with the fish pics on this post but what the heck, we all love looking at fish caught on the fly even if they are small panfish.

Along with the fish posts today I woke up to find a number of orders for the nine fly boxes I had ordered and customised with a digital decal.  There are still a few boxes available today but if you are really wanting one for your own then get your order in soon because there is only a few left.

And as this is an art and fishing blog, what post would be complete without a little sketch to finish it off.  The sketches below are just time wasting sketches of a fly and a Coho. 

AYOTF Fly Box For Sale

I was messing around on the Internet a few months ago and a crazy idea entered into my mind about how I can transform my watercolor art into a functional piece of equipment.  Now with that idea stewing around I went on a search for something to put my art on and low and behold I came across a classic style fly box made out of aluminum with small hinged, spring loaded, compartments.  Perfect!

So without any further adue I give you a small experimental run of the Year On the Fly aluminum fly box complete with a digital decal of my Iron Blue Wingless.  

Really this is only a trial run to learn about the printing process and to get one of these great looking boxes for myself.  I have always wanted a good aluminum box with the compartments and this little beauty fits the bill perfectly.  As it is I only purchased and printed 10 boxes and one of them is remaining with me so I now have 9 boxes for sale.  I am offering these boxes for sale for just $20 each plus USPS standard rate shipping of $5.20. (US Only).

If you are interested in purchasing one of these boxes just shoot me an email and I will email you a Paypal money request which you can easily pay with any major credit card or your paypal account.  If you don't like paypal then we can discuss some other method of payment.   I will only accept the first nine email requests since this is a ONE TIME DEAL.  So if you want one of these boxes you need to act QUICK.   

To purchase EMAIL ME HERE.   

Sketching Goldfish

Just posting a few sketches made while on the road.  I am hoping to get a bit of fishing done next week but that all depends if work doesn't get in the way. 

These sketches don't really have a purpose, just a bit of sketches to pass the time.  Both have an Asian feel to go along with my Tenkara style fishing.

A Bow and A Book

It has been a bit over a week since my last post but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy.  I have been working on a new piece for a client but since it is a gift and the recipient of said work might happen upon my blog and recognise the picture, I have decided to whip up a small rainbow trout painting instead.

This watercolor is not very big (6"x9") and was done quickly, just dropping in color where needed and adding a few spots to finish it off.  I do a number of these small studies while I am on the road so I can experiment with thee color and flow of the water and see how the pigments react to the paper.  All these small little paintings - although they lack the quality and refinement of my larger paintings - allow me valuable practice and study.  They also give me material to post.

On the fishing front, I took the kids fishing the other day with my trusty Tenkara rod, to fish for blue gill) and a rigged up 6w for those lunker bass that have been alluding me.  As you can see - no pictures of the outing.  Why, well three hours of dinking around two ponds close to home only yielded two smallish bluegill.  It was enough to excite the kids between tossing sticks and pine cones into the water but it wasn't enough for me to break out the camera. 

I was reallyhopping to put my newly gained knowledge from my recent read -Bassin' With A Fly Rod -by Jack Ellis but alas no bass decided to show.  The only knowledge I got to use was something Jack mentioned over and over in his book, and I paraphrase - A fly fisher only owns the top 5 feet of water when fishing for bass, any deeper and your in the spin and bait fishers back yard. 

By the way - if you are looking to do a bit of bassn' with a fly rod, pick this book up.  It might boarder on sacrilege to a few purists out there with the suggestion of using a rubber worm on a fly rod, but it is a great book with great tips.  When the water warms a bit and the weather evens out I hope to put a few of his ideas to work on my SC water.  I think I will skip the worm though and stick with rabbit strips and mouse tails.