Rising from a night of rest and relaxation, we rambled down to Dan Bailey’s fly shop to get our licenses then replenished our rather reduced refrigeration unit (aka cooler). Our first day on the Yellowstone started well enough. Two fish on the first five minutes. Whitefish, but fish none the less. Do whitefish count?
Since the rainbows were reluctant to reveal themselves we thought we would try the Boulder River. On advice from Desi, the bar tender at the Yellowstone Inn who most definitely has a sense of humor and had us figured out, we traveled to the Boulder via Swingley Road. Tom Brokaw and some other marginally notable people live on Swingley Road and I can see why. This was not the easiest little jaunt. Steep roads, blind Read more »
We had to go. We had to find a way to moderate the maladjusted malevolence that was manifesting in our minds towards the modicum of Mykills milling in our many marginal streams accompanied by meteorological malaise. In other words – our attitude sucked, the fishing sucked, the weather sucked. Our mutual mentation mandated we motor to Montana. Besides, we did not have enough money to fly.
So we packed up the car, went to the pub for a few “now we are on vacation” beers and slept with dreams of sugarplums… huh? Wait, wrong dream. With dreams of 20 inch trout dancing in our heads. Read more »
Frustrating would be the operative word for this winters fly fishing endeavors. Marty and his family, hell his whole neighborhood, went on vacation. They are probably sunning themselves along a nice river in Arizona right now. Pack of cowards. They should be up here freezing their tails off with the rest of us. We had snow in March. That’s just not right. I grew up around here and this is the first winter I found myself whining about the weather. Too wet, too cold, no fish. Waa! Hackle had one good strike on a crawfish pattern a month or so back and after that – zip, zero, zilch. Marty must be laughing his fins off. Read more »
Hops & Hackle Brew Review
Brew: Bud Light
Brewery: Anheuser-Busch
Website: http://www.budlight.com (and the web site sucks)
Location: St. Louis, MO
Bottle and Label: Over advertised. Rating – 1.0
Appearance: Clear yellow. Rating -0.5
Smell: Bland -1.0
Taste: Boring Rating -1.5
Overall Rating: -1.0
Best Fly Match: Ugly bass plug 
OK, well I poured it from a 16oz. can into a pint glass, and it had a very short and quickly disappearing head. It probably would’ve been better to use a Champagne flute, so it would’ve compressed the foam.
The color was light yellow (medium Urine color) with good clarity. The taste was crisp when served at 32.5 degrees. That changes dramatically as the temp goes up. More reminiscent of “Beered Down Water”.
All in all, this beer has very little appeal except for drinking games like “beer pong” or for use in beer bongs or if you’re going to tailgate all day at a WSU game. And of course if it’s free and the the only beer available.
I don’t get NASCAR. Straightaway, left turn, straightaway, left turn, repeat a gazillion times. So why is NASCAR so popular? Wikipedia says that it’s “one of the most viewed professional sports in terms of television ratings in the United States. In fact, professional football is the only sport in the United States to hold more viewers than NASCAR. Races are broadcast in over 150 countries, NASCAR holds 17 of the top 20 attended single-day sporting events in the world, and claims 75 million fans who purchase over $3 billion in annual licensed product sales. Fortune 500 companies sponsor NASCAR more than any other motor sport”. Really?
I think it’s the announcers. They make left turns really exciting. They make changing only two tires instead of four sound like the most exciting thing that’s happened since, well, something really exciting. They must take lessons from the Mexican soccer announcers. Right behind NASCAR is bass fishing tournaments. I don’t get that either. When they hook into a bass they are reefing on the line like they have a 100 pound tarpon on the end – grunts and groans and “oh man, it’s a biggee”. Well with 20 pound test on a 2 or 3 pound fish, how is that sporting?
But there are similarities between NASCAR and bass fishing tournaments. Just look at what they wear. Can you pick out the NASCAR driver, the bass tournament pro, and the fly fisherman (hint – don’t let the hat fool you)? Read more »