I was just sitting upstairs in Elia's room talking to her while she played some CDs and we had this conversation.

"Would you like to hear a different CD dad?"

"Sure honey."

"What would you like to hear?"

"Oh, you pick, anything is fine." I said.

"No..I'm asking you. Do you like Puff the Magic Dragon?"

"I love Puff, that would be perfect."

"Um...we are going to skip Puff the Magic Dragon tonight. I'll put on something else."

She put on a different CD and I ran downstairs to write it down because I thought it was funny. She cracks me up sometimes. I'm blown away by how adult she can be at only 3 years old.

The last time I touched a fish was Nov. 7th. That is the longest drought since I picked up my fly rod after college.

Elia and I hit the fly shop today and I looked up from perusing some beads and Elia was standing by Don, the owner. "Excuse me." she says.

"I broke my Dora the Explorer fishing rod and need a new one. Where do you keep the girl fishing rods?"

Don laughed and showed her a 6 ft 2 wt. Pretty funny moment, complete with the shop owner trying to upsell my 3 year old!

I sometimes wonder if I'll remember these moments in another 10 years. They come from nowhere, and hit a father harder than anyone can imagine (except another dad) and the most amazing thing about it is that there are so many of these moments. You would think that the sheer volume of words and looks combined with the massive emotional charge they deliver would wear you down over time. But that hasn't happened. Each time Elia or JJ does something like that I fall to the floor again, and get back up thinking "I'm never going to forget that." The reality is that in some cases, I probably will forget the actual words, or the exact moment; but I think that big jolt of electricity that stuns you stays with you. It keeps building up and as near as I can tell, I've got plenty of room for more.

You really do love your kids more each day. Think about how amazing that is.

The winter here has seemingly lasted forever. My last carp outing on the Columbia seems like years ago, and it has been a long time since I felt that adreline rush, heart pumping moment seconds before a carp inhales your fly. Elia and I headed out today, mainly just to walk around the pond but I was secretly hoping to at least see some fish active. We walked about 50 feet and I spotted a fish, which had me sprinting for the car to rig up my 6 weight. Of course, as quick as I was (and anyone who fishes with me can attest to how quickly I go from pulling up to the spot, to putting a fly in the water!) that fish was long gone. Still, we walked around the pond, and somehow spotted 4-5 more fish in the murk and mud.



Tough conditions, and I never could make out much more than shadows or a tail here and there. Still, I should have nailed at least one of the fish. I put the fly in the right spot, but the fish were extremely lethargic, and I only thought "he took it!" once...and that was a whiff. What a 90 minutes of excitement though! Just stalking around, fly rod in hand and enough fish around to keep the eagle eyes active. I'll be watching for sun breaks every weekend, and I might just get a February carp.

Elia had a blast despite one slip in the mud. She carried the net and told me I'm still a good fisherman, even though I didn't catch anything today. I asked if she was ready to go home at one point, and she responded "I'm reluctant to leave all of these fish!" Yep...that's my girl!

Yep...I'm dying for some carp fishing.

It has been tough to get to the computer long enough to post anything the last few months. I guess that is a byproduct of two young kids. Once the water warms and the carp get active I'll get out fishing and force some computer time for reports. Right now, the only fishing I'm doing is on the Internet.

With that in mind, check out the new and improved RoughFish.com. As usual, the site is full of great information, but the overhaul makes it even easier to navigate.

Great work from the Rough Fish boys!

I am DYING to get out and do some carp fishing. Justin and I have been planning our spring trips; I've been reading old reports and going through old pictures...spring can't come soon enough. I did some gear shopping to tide me over until the fishing heats up, specifically for a nice 6 wt reel and a lumbar pack big enough for an entire day on the flats. I ended up with a Fishpond Waterdance pack, it fits the bill and will keep me relatively light and organized when the weather finally lures the carp into the shallows!

In addition to the new pack, I got a great deal from the guys at River City Fly shop on a Lamson Velocity reel and Ridgeline fly line. The color of the ridgeline is nicely muted, a big key for carp fishing. I'm of the "cheap reels are fine" school of thought, but frankly, that doesn't work for carp. I've destroyed 3 Pflueger Medalists in the last 3 seasons carp fishing. They run so often and so fast that all 3 reels have developed grooves in the plastic disk drag. Plus, it can take a long time to reel in all of that backing on a small arbor reel. That sounds like a load of crap, but it isn't. I've had fish tear loose with tons of backing out and it can be real excersize just filling the reel back up one crank at a time. The lamson should help, it has a really large arbor and the line retrieval rate will be great.

Back to daydreams of big carp...Here is a picture of a best I found online. How far away is spring?

I've been meaning to put up a link to a site my friend Matt Klara writes for called Sexy Loops. I just added them to the sidebar today. It has been pretty tough to spend much time on the blog lately. I'm also in the middle of a pretty serious carp fishing withdrawal. I spent most of today so far daydreaming of miles of shallow water and tails waving like flags. You can blame Matt for a lot of that as just the thought of using his latest creation this spring is driving me crazy. Here is why:



While this fly hasn't been tested, I'm fairly certain I already know the only acceptable response from the clam chowing Columbia river Carp. For tying details check out Matt's page:

The Clam Before the Storm