These are pictures taken before I got my first digital camera. Kind of a blast from the past that my wife found when going through some old pictures. Paper on back said October 16,1998 so almost 20 years ago. I liked the big eyes I made with the vinyl paint, don't use it anymore. Took pictures of the pictures with my digital camera to post these on here.         

Three weeks ago my coworkers informed me that my spouse was cheating on me.  They had found some pictures of her and another guy on FB.  My kids all knew about it, and she had told the kids not to tell me. We did a little digging and realized she's been cheating on me for over a year.

Monday I confronted her about it, and told her I wanted out.  Immediately, and without remorse, she asked me what I was going to take.  I told her what I wanted, and she agreed.

This evening, I got the last of my stuff out of that house.  I am staying in a friend's basement to get back on my feet.

She ran my finances so far into the red that I need to file bankruptcy.

I was able to leave with most of the fishing gear.  I left some stuff for our kids.  "Someone" started kicking my rods around.  She says it was one of my boys, he says it was her.  I don't know which one to believe.  I haven't had a chance to inspect every rod, but I don't think any are damaged.  I did get all my tying gear, except my desk.  I don't really have space to store, and they have a use for it.  I got it at a thrift shop for $20, so no big loss.

I got a new phone a few days ago.  This is the first chance I've to get on the site.

I do not know how things are going to be.  I don't know if I'll be able to fish as much as I used to.  Probably won't be tying flies or jigs much, of at all, for awhile.  I want to stay a part of my kids' lives.

Finally get to try these tomorrow...1/32 #8 mallard flank with black squirrel underneath a float!

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Playing with different profiles tonight out of necessity. Out of my good long fiber black craft fur and wanted to make some walleye jigs to try out tomorrow (actually tonight, Thursday night) night. Watched a guy with some youtube videos talk about liking to use bright head colors with dark plastic baits. Wanted to replicate that with hair. But my only black hair was on the short side. Ended up using chenille instead of thread necks on the dark tails so I could end up with a longer overall bait. Tied a couple of my basic doll fly styles (in bright colors that I have longer fiber hair) in just to compare. Not really sure if I like the chenille bodies on these bigger jigs. 

   

   

   

   

First panfish of the year for me. Upground reservoir. Caught some on drop spoon and waxworm, others on kiptail hair jigs. Couldn't keep 2 lines in the water for a lot of the time. There was a cold cold cold shift of wind out of the North when i first got there but it layed down and ended up being really nice temp and not too bad wind. Fished after dinner till it was too dark to see..... forgot my headlamp today or might have stayed longer. Caught the bigger fish right at dusk and there was a lot of activity on the surface as i made my way back to my vehicle. Bluegill were all around 7.5", pumpkinseed went 8" and the black crappie was 11". Ended up keeping 10 fish and easily threw back twice that many. Sure wish the nice weather would stick through the weekend...........

   

   

   

Here shortly, probably at the end of this month, I will be making a drastic life change.  Once that happens, I won't have a computer for awhile.  I'll try to get on with my phone when I can.  It will probably be a few months before things settle down and I can return.

Just wanted to give warning.......... i am going to attempt to upgrade the forum software either Friday or Saturday.  There were a couple of minor software components and plugins that were no longer working, but now it looks like the main new member registration (recaptcha) is no longer working.  Need to fix that.  Hopefully it will go smoothly.  Just wanted to give a heads up! -: Russ

Hey Gang I know I haven’t been around in a long time.  Nothing with fishing just working on getting healthy again.  I’ve gone from 406 lbs. to 247.5 lbs., 158.5 lbs. gone!!  I also quit smoking back in July and just over 8 months now.  My back still isn’t 100% but it’s way better than it was!!

Its unusually cold over here, with another cold front of frost and snow predicted for the weekend. Was lucky to get a sea-run rainbow (escapee) yesterday which is a nice silvery fish if given enough time in the salt. It was jumping all over the place on light tackle, nice! Lot of tail-nibbling on the large sandeel jigs recently so I used an extra long hook loop.

Started playing with these a bit after finding them on the internet. Guy calls them Crappie Smoothie. I did not tie exactly as he did. Used silver thread instead of mono. Did use the Magic Stretch for body and tail. Used tiny glass beads instead of caddis beads. Will post follow up pic when I get good at these.  Used the push pin to give idea of size. Hardest part is getting the tail just right. Magic Stretch is available at almost all craft stores look in the beading department. I used .5 size for tail and 1.0 for body. The best tail on these 3 is on the bottom one. The top one I experiment with a single strand of 1.0 sparkle Magic Stretch.

If you want to see how he ties his just google Crappie Smoothie.