Fly Fish Chick

Well, Team Paddlefish participated in another 10K race this past weekend on Town Lake. You may recall we completed the first Town Lake race in gusting winds in 1 hour 36 minutes. This time we invited friends and family to cheer us on so we could beat our time, but more importantly, so we could pass the hat for our two charities: The International Rett Syndrome Foundation and Project Healing Waters.

A few days before the race I was interviewed by Bettie Cross for KEYE, our local CBS affiliate. A portion of the interview is available to view here.

Race day was magical on all fronts. Plenty of sunshine and our friends were out in full force. I had the chance to meet two Austin-area families that I befriended online whose daughters both live with Rett Syndrome. It was so fun to meet them in person!

Meanwhile Banning and I are getting to know more paddlers at these races and events – which means we are learning more and more from all these Safari veterans. Plus, our friends provided food and drinks and various items that we were able to sell for our charities. MANY THANKS goes to:

• Nueva Onda – the best breakfast taco in ATX — donated four dozen breakfast tacos
• My sweet friend Shawn who brought these adorable (and delicious!) paddlefish cookies
• My equally sweet friend Hillary brought water and coffee
• Ted Mendrick from Sportsmans Finest handmade fish refrigerator magnets that we sold
• Eric from Eric’s Hired Hands who was on hand to offer chair massage
• Kevin Hutchison was offering flycasting lessons and donated Team Paddlefish boat towels
• 1379 brought a big cheerleading contingency and surprised us with 1379 Team Paddlefish shirts; we have lots of kids sizes that we will be able to sell as well
• Fire In The Gut outfitted us in hats and most importantly these super high-tech performance shirts – I am practically living in these FITG shirts these days. Training, running, rowing machine, paddling, carpool. They are my new uniform, so I was very proud to debut the new FITG logo on the canoe. Pssst…check out who is on the homepage
• Tim Cole, who works with Costa del Mar, generously provided new shades and visors and shirts
• John Baltzell and all the volunteers organized The Town Lake Race Series and were very gracious to include our friends, charities and cheerleaders in Sunday’s race

Little Chick was a machine manning the Paddlefish Bazaar, and since it never crossed her mind to make change, we ended up with a whopping $225 for our charities! And all the cheering really made a difference because despite the fact that there was wind again, we managed to beat our previous time: Tosh clocked us finishing at 1 hour and 29 minutes.

Many Thanks to all who came out to wave the Team Paddlefish flag!! Onward to the Safari…

Thanks so much to all of you for tuning in to watch ‘Adventure Guides’ on The Outdoor Channel this past weekend. I appreciate all of your kind comments, I really do. It’s all in good fun of course. But I was excited to see the show! With short notice I was hard-pressed to finagle a deal with the cable company to add a sports package to my bare bone basic cable. I gave it my best effort, but honestly I was so crazed last week that when I heard “come in to one of our Time Warner locations and pick up your cable box” I simply stopped listening.

So I had to secure a place to watch the episode! I decided to call the absolute greatest sports bar in the whole world, The Tavern at 12th & Lamar. I’ve been watching Carolina basketball games here for decades and delight in the fact there is still a sports bar on the planet with a little character. They have the Outdoor Channel and were thrilled to host me for my television debut on the Outdoor Channel. Only problem? The show aired at 10:30 central Saturday morning and The Tavern doesn’t open until 11am.

Breaking and entering is not actually my strong suit, sweet talk is more my forte. So with a little please please please and thank you thank you thank you we were granted permission to get inside the Tavern before opening so we could watch the episode. As you can see, now that I am a big time television star, the crowds of fans and paparazzi that follow me around are downright relentless.

Luckily the Professor was in town to serve as bodyguard. But he seems awfully enthralled with the fishing on television and not exactly keeping a keen watch for incoming paparazzi.

Of course the truth is my friend Mark from Headhunters in Craig MT is the true star of this episode. Having known Mark for over ten years I can say he is every bit as fun-loving as he comes across in this show. And fishy to boot.

Big thank you to Don at the Tavern who let us sneak in the back entrance, allowed us to come in before opening, and got the show all squared away on the big fancy tele.

I’d also like to extend a big thank you to John Dietsch, the host of Adventure Guides for inviting me to be on the show; Tim Cash who shot and edited the episode and truly captured the spirit of the Missouri; everyone at The Outdoor Channel; and of course Mark Raisler and John Arnold at Headhunters who made filming this episode nothing more than a day of fishing the Missouri with friends.

As it should be.

Since the server has been acting bewitchy and I haven’t caught a fish to write about in ages, I’ve taken to cleaning out my desk drawers instead of writing blogposts. Okay fine, so we all know I wasn’t really cleaning, but I was in fact rifling through a drawer searching for a piece of stationery and the remnants of a checkbook so I could pay a bill to one of my few analog holdout utilities. That’s when I stumbled across a business card that totally makes me smile.

A couple of years ago during my first-ever visit to Banditos in Virginia City Montana, a guy named Rosy came up to the bar where we were eating queso fundito and drenching our organs in margaritas and handed us this hand-crafted, hand-cut business card. With a packed bar of strangers focused on our conversation, Rosy urged me to pick a number so I smiled politely and answered, “Well, um…number 3?”

At which point he flipped the business card over:

Alright alright, laugh if you will, your time will come. No doubt a wave of hearty laughter rippled down the length of that bar full of locals. (Methinks Rosy had pulled that trick before on other Banditos rookies.) But really, I’d like to point out how much I love this business card! There are too many reasons to list. So let’s just start with his many professions.

Auto delivery, Bartending, Courier, Fencer (Jackleg only), Indian Artwork, Lawn Maintenance, Motorcycle Rides, Private Detective. It seems Rosy wears more hats than someone trying to support themselves in the fly fishing industry.

Rosy’s copious list of professional services is evocative of the table I’ve purchased at this year’s upcoming Fly Fishing Film Tour Industry Pre-Party. I will be at one of the first tables near the entrance spreading the word and peddling a sundry of fly fishing and river-related passion projects, including FlyFishChick the blog, Pro Outfitters, Team Paddlefish, Class V Fishing, maybe Hatch reels. I don’t know what else will be piled on. But it seems I will have the gypsy caravan table of the pre-party for sure.

Which reminds me of a very important announcement I have to share with each of you: Tickets to the Austin Fly Fishing Film Tour are on sale online NOW!

We are not selling them on the Drake site this year, you must purchase tickets via our venue, The Alamo Drafthouse. So click here to purchase your tickets now! Anyone remember last year? The Austin sell-out? Our very own sponsors didn’t have tickets to the show last year. Trust me, those guys aren’t making the same mistake twice so the table sponsors are literally clamoring toward their online shopping cart as we speak. So grab these babies while they are hot off the press because they won’t last long.

Which begs the question…what are YOU going to be doing on Tuesday April 27th?

Pick a number:

1. Grouting the tub while watching a Real Housewives of Atlanta marathon on Bravo

2. Translating Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler into Farsi

3. Attending the Drake Fly Fishing Film Tour in Austin TX

4. Combing the mall for the ideal shade of blush-colored silk ribbon to compliment the gift wrap paper you are going to hand make in order to wrap the Mothers Day gifts you have no doubt already woven from scratch on the tabletop loom you purchased from the Home Shopping Network

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Rosy was spot on.

Sometimes you go to a restaurant and your waiter takes everyone’s order with his hands folded behind his back, nodding and smiling at the selections without writing down a single thing. I always wonder nervously if it’s going to work out, and miraculously, most of the time it does.

But sometimes your server totally screws you.

Such is this case this week with our web server. This site was down most of the day yesterday. It’s live again but recent posts are missing. I am having trouble loading posts with pictures. Old posts are mysteriously being emailed out to subscribers. Egad.

My apologies to the Outdoor Channel who posted a link to my most recent post and sent thousands of viewers to a page that the server has since 86-ed somewhere in the alley behind the kitchen with the fry cook who’s recently out on parole and probably high and spitting in everyone’s food.

Many thanks to Tom Chandler at the Trout Underground who graciously hosts this site and is in the trenches trying to right all of these server wrongs.

So bear with me friends. We are going to be serving things family style for awhile here. Meaning we’ll get what we get and we’ll just have to be happy about it, focusing instead on sparkling conversations and lots of laughs.

Cin Cin!

I am thrilled to announce that Fire In The Gut Performance Shirts has officially agreed to sponsor Team Paddlefish. I have to say, I am excited about this on so many levels…

First and foremost I can’t wait to try these shirts. Tim Grizzell, founder of FITG, is a former Navy SEAL, athlete, husband, father of three, and inspirational entrepreneur. He designed these high-tech shirts “for the warrior athlete”. They are made from high-tech Cocona Fabrics which maximize a flash dry effect, regulating an athlete’s body temperature and…(attention all fishing guides and single moms on this next point)…and…means you don’t have to wash these shirts after you workout and sweat in them.

Oh, yeah. You heard me. Cha-ching! Finally, high-performance athletic clothing that caters to my innate sense of laziness.

GONE COCONUTS

I really haven’t thought so much about coconuts until I started training for this race, but now I feel like they are everywhere in my life. My nutrition consigliore, Melissa, has me making hemp smoothies with spinach, berries and coconut water. Apparently the health benefits of coconuts are unparalleled.

And now Tim has me wearing coconut shirts.

This special Cocona Fabric is created from heating coconut shells to extreme temperatures, thus creating gobs of miniscule carbon particles that are imbedded permanently into the fabric. Apparently coconut carbon is also used to treat and filter air, as well as used as medicine in Europe and to remove toxins from overdose victims in emergency situations. When it comes to shirts, these coconut carbon particles manage the flash-dry process.

BUDS

I had a lovely conversation with Tim this week as we confirmed the details of our partnership. A former Navy SEAL and avid kayak paddler, he was intrigued with the intensity and sheer challenge of the Texas Water Safari. He shared incredible stories of his bootcamp experience in BUDS – Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL Training. Tim was BUDS Class 188.

Apparently in BUDS you are paired with a swim buddy and must stay with that swim buddy constantly, often tied together and/or paddling around in a boat, involved in long race exercises. Tim described extreme physical tests and recalled the feeling of being wet and sandy for days on end.

Hmm, sounds like the Water Safari all right! I just hope some of Tim’s badassery rubs off on Team Paddlefish.

FIRE IN THE GUT

The “Fire In The Gut” award is presented to the graduating Navy SEAL who displays the best attitude in 26-weeks of BUDS training. Tim has founded his company on the principles of motivation, strong will, and determination. He is focused on quality products that are eco-friendly and believes in giving back with his corporate endeavors.

Whether paddling in a race or loading a driftboat on a trailer on a steamy summer night in Montana, if you’re intrigued with these shirts, click here to learn more and purchase online.

Most importantly, I’d like to encourage you to become a fan of FIRE IN THE GUT on Facebook. Tim is creating a positive online community where he shares motivational messages for the warrior athlete in all of us.

I am already learning so much from Tim. Not to mention, I feel like just a little bit of a badass now that I am formally associated with a Navy SEAL – a big-hearted Navy SEAL, granted – but a badass Navy SEAL nonetheless.

HOO YAH!! CHARLIE MIKE!!

Via FITG Facebook: “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle–when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” Sir Roger Bannister, 1st man to run a sub-4 minute mile

After three autumn trips to Mississippi which yielded one small redfish, we decided to cure the winter fishing blues by roving over to Louisiana to look for big reds. We planned two trips in January, one of which was a couple of weeks ago. I geared up and flew to Mobile where the Professor and I kept an eye on the weather for a few days. Alas, Mother Nature foiled our plans: no fishing.

So we were that much more excited for our second trip this past weekend, and we were booked with Louisiana redfish guide Travis Holeman. Spirits were high as the trip grew near. Once again I flew to Mobile and the Professor and I started monitoring the weekend weather. Unfortunately we had to pull the plug on Saturday – clouds and wind. But it seemed Sunday would be cold, calmer, clear and hopefully fishable.

Okay, one day of fishing. At least we’d get one day out of the four we’d been hoping for in January.

So wandering anglers that we are, we pointed the truck west and barreled down I-10 toward New Orleans. Only problem? I was on Day #3 of a multi-day migraine and I really thought my skull was going to implode and pulverize my brain into a dusty mass. My apologies to all the fine folks at that diner in Slidell where I almost got sick to my stomach. My head hurt so badly that I literally thought I was going to be ill from the mere presence of food and I spent most of the meal slumped over the table thinking I might faint.

My biggest concern was feeling better in time for my one day of fishing the next day.

The Professor forced me to eat a little – which helped. And strangely the familiar glow and pulse of New Orleans (one of my favorite home-away-from-home cities) relaxed me and served as a surefire panacea as we drove through town toward the hotel. Despite sleeping in the car I immediately took yet another nap and enjoyed the fact that the relentless pulsating tide of pain in my temples was finally starting to subside. Miraculously, I recovered just in time to step out for an early dinner at Galatoire’s.

I love Galatoire’s. Ages ago, I used to make a regular pilgrimage to Galatoire’s with one of my bestest friends and spend about four hours having a wine soaked lunch with every single course. Thrilled to be back, I poured over the menu options, debating between a filet and the specialty chicken but ultimately accepted our waiter’s passionate plea for the pompano, joking to the Professor, “with my luck, this could be the only fish I see all weekend!”

Grilled pompano with crabmeat, garlic french bread and escargot, bread pudding bananas foster. And a touch of red wine. Granted I veered way off my training diet, but before the migraine set in last week I had been a maniac on the rowing machine, elliptical and treadmill, so I felt I could indulge. Hey, it was only a few hours earlier that I thought I was heading toward the light and meeting my maker in a po-boy dive somewhere off I-10 in Slidell Louisiana, so I was going to celebrate my astonishing recovery at one of my oldest and most favorite restaurants.

After a lovely dinner we tucked ourselves away early despite the call of the quarter. We set three alarms and scheduled a wake up call and fell asleep with visions of big redfish.

We ventured out just before light, followed directions we’d been given and met Travis at Penny’s Cafe for breakfast. Unfortunately the clear skies we were counting on were tucked behind a thick blanket of clouds, and Travis calculated the wind chill was going to be about zero. Nevertheless, we ordered veal cutlet po-boys for our boat lunch and swapped fishing stories over eggs and coffee while we waited to see what the weather was going to do. After a full meal the night before I was trying to exercise a modicum of self discipline with my scrambled eggs but I am here to tell you the roasted biscuits that Travis ordered looked sublime. I can’t tell you how many times I almost stuck my fork over on his plate and shanghaied a bite for myself. Next time at Penny’s, I am getting the biscuits.

We grabbed our veal cutlet po-boys to go and agreed to journey on to the marina to assess the weather.

We kicked around the parking lot for a spell but Travis called Time of Death on the expedition about 9ish. It was brutally cold, the wind was whipping and the clouds were locked-in overhead. As disappointed as we were to lose out on yet another fishing day, we cannot say enough nice things about Travis. He was cool as all get out about it, totally honest and direct about the diminishing prospects and we all agreed to re-book as soon as possible. I was thrilled to get to know him a little and truly look forward to getting on the water with my new friend Travis soon.

Thank God for the pompano. A couple of fishless vagabonds, we hopped back in the truck and hit the trail back to Mobile where we ate our boat lunch on the couch watching Robert Redford in “The Great Waldo Pepper.” New Orleans was great fun, Travis was cool as hell, the po-boy was yummy and my migraine was gone. All good stuff. But when you really break things down, this isn’t exactly the red I though I would have in hand at two in the afternoon this past Sunday.

Winter fishing has driven me to day drinking.

This past weekend the Professor and I were enjoying a soggy evening with a little red vino while trying to determine the top five fly-fishing books of all time. We reached consensus pretty quickly on four great reads, but the jury is still out on the fifth slot. Take a look at what we came up with:

1. The River Why by David James Duncan. This is a personal favorite of mine. Adore this book because it’s really just a great love story hidden in a fish story.

2. The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton. I haven’t read it, going with the masses here.

3. Trout Bum by John Gierach. Didn’t blow my skirt up but I defer to the world on this one.

4. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. I know, I know. We love to hate what this film did to our secret little sport. But I love it. I love Robert Redford, I love Norman Maclean, I love the writing. It’s beautiful. It’s literary. It’s poetic. And even if you don’t like it, you at least have to admit, without it we wouldn’t have Buster.

5. ????

What’s your ruling? Did we get it right?

Don’t hold your tongue, instead plead your case for the fifth title to make the list.

Time to get back in the canoe. With less than five months to train for the Texas Water Safari, I am definitely starting to feel the pressure. I’m gathering up all my cold weather fishing gear/clothing to resume paddle training this week. I’m not going to look like a professional paddler, that’s for certain, but I can’t justify spending an extra buck on fancy paddling clothes if I can make my fishing gear work. We shall see.

I may not be an expert paddler, but there’s one thing I know something of, and that’s music. And rivers. So in an effort to get my corpulent yuletide fanny off the couch and back on the treadmill, I’ve created a whopper of a playlist with great songs about RIVERS.

I have to imagine a few of you could chime in on this topic. So tell me, my huckleberry friend, what is your favorite river song?

In the meantime, enjoy the flow of these selections…

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:

2010 DRAKE FLY FISHING FILM TOUR – BACK IN AUSTIN TX

BIGGER BADDER WILDER WEIRDER

TUESDAY APRIL 27th

SAVE THE DATE.

Get out your calendars and mark down the date because we are bringing the film tour back to Austin, my friends! After last year’s red-hot Austin show, we are really going to amp up the energy this year and make it another Texas-style throwdown.

Those of you who have been around FFC awhile know that I am not full of hot air. Last year I told everyone to get their tickets early, I told everyone we would sell out. Sure enough we sold out well in advance and people were clamoring for tickets. Close to a hundred people didn’t get in. Yikes.

For the FFC newcomers, allow me to get you up to speed on the backstory: Last year I met TX Gov Rick Perry on a plane and he promised to help promote and support the show (when I pitched him loudly in front of dozens of passengers constituents.) He and his aide subsequently ignored all of my calls and emails. 

Shortly after I saw The Lizardman on a plane and contacted him a few times, begging for support. No reply.

Luckily I got a break with localebrity cross-dressing Leslie who shot a video for us. The show was a blast and at the Horseshoe Lounge post-party we plied esteemed author Miles Nolte full of Lone Stars and he was last seen drowning in a pile of plushie toys. It was all good. Except for the terse blog comment I ultimately received from The Lizardman who was peeved that I shamed him on my blog for dissing me.

But nothing – and I mean nothing – mends a minor spat better than the foolproof combination of fishing, films & beer. Ah, the power of the Drake Film Tour! The moment we set the date for the 2010 show I started hounding The Lizardman again, proposing that we kiss and make up…aaaand…that he give us a photo-op. Pretty please? With sugar on top?

Finally, he agreed. So this morning I met the Lizardman at the Alamo Drafthouse, and I am here to tell you he is the greatest guy! In addition to the intense body modification he is a completely fascinating individual — a sideshow performer, a writer with multiple book projects, and an ardent student of philosophy. Turns out his sister and brother-in-law live in Montana and like to fish. And his grandfather was a passionate fisherman in New York who died on the water with a fish on the line.

I am certain the Fly-Fish-Chick-Lizardman Lovefest is just starting to bloom. The Middle East could take a page from our book! And Perry? Pa-shaw. Perry. What is he thinking snubbing me so badly? I am going to try and use FFC as the anti-Oprah effect on his goobernatorial campaign. You know what I say? I say, “LIZARDMAN FOR GOVERNOR!!”

Oh my goodness did I just accidentally launch his campaign for Texas Governor?

But really, at the end of the day, I think we’ve learned three important lessons here:

#1 — I have a strange tendency to incorporate men-with-stuffed-animal pictures when I blog about the film tour

#2 — The Lizardman’s grip-and-grin is infinitely more badass than anything you’ve ever seen on the Drake

#3 — We can do things the hard way, or we can do things the easy way, but no matter what I will wear you down charm you in the end. I believe the Lizardman can attest to that.

So folks I urge you to go ahead and mark your calendars. And stay tuned for information on ticket sales.

Thank You, Thank You Thank You, Lizardman!