The time has finally come.

Well it took forever but the time has finally come where the family and I are headed back to WI!!!!  I got a new job with the same 9 to 5er I work for now and begin working there at the end of june and my family will be coming up shortly after.  The tying and fishing gear is getting packed up for now until we get up there but now that we'll be back where the fishing is great expect  to see a bit more posted around here.

Vedavoo TL Beast Sling

One of my favorite things about not being in the industry now is I get to support and use what ever products and manufacturers I please.

One such company is Vedavoo.

Quality, American made, durable, well designed, and comfortable. Hard to say much more about these packs.

I picked up the TL  Beast Sling about a year ago now.  This is easily one of the best on the market.  Sky is the limit with how you can organize and in my case customize it.  Personally I have two cliff bugger barns for streamers and several other boxes for all my flies and leaders in the main compartment. 

I use my own tippet spool holder and not the one provided as I have too many spools to fit on the one attached to the pack.   All my other odds and ends easily fit in the other compartments.  There are two buckling straps on the bottom of the pack perfect for a rod tube or rain jacket, some guys use the fishpond sushi roll here.  The water bottle holder is perfect.  Not much else to say about that.  Hold my Grayl so it doesn't go anywhere.

Now as to the customization... on the shoulder strap there is a nylon loop.  I glued some magnets to this and a piece of cloth over the top  so that I can easily slide my forceps here for easier  access.

I have also added a secure strap.  I carry the sling on my left shoulder.  The strap comes under my left armso when the pack is not in use and I bend over to lad a fish....more likely tie my shoe or pick up something I dropped... the pack stays on my back. 

                                    

Do yourself a favor and pick up some Vedavoo gear if you are looking for small business American made gear with exceptional quality.  Proud to call myself a Torchbearer. 

The Grayl Water filter

I thought I'd add a but more content to the blog with some honest gear reviews.  I am completely unbiased on everything that I will be doing a review as no one is paying me or giving me free stuff for doing this....just thought I would share my thoughts on all sorts of gear.

First up are my Grayl Water filter water bottles (yes bottles as in more than one).

I've been using these for a little better than a year now.  They are a french press style water filter.  You fill the container with water and just take the top and press it in to filter the water.  You have filtered water in less than 30 seconds.  I love this because you can then take that water and quickly use it however you wish; drink it, use it to cook with, pour in your dog's bowl, whatever you want.  You have three options for filters tap, trail, and tavel.  The amount of filtration and safety  goes up with each respectively.

They are a bit pricey around $70 but you can take these everywhere with you.  I no longer go fishing without it and I no longer have to worry about hydration.

New Year and New Goals

Going on a year now since I left the fly fishing industry and it has been a little strange;  I miss it a lot at times and there are other times I'm glad I'm out for the most part. 

So here we are onto a new year year and I have some new goals. 

I have decided it's time to take my fly tying a lot more seriously.  In the past my designs have come from a need I had and I wanted to make a fly to fill that need.  That's how the Meal Ticket and Protein Crunch, which are now both being produced by Rainy's Fly Company, came to be.  I needed a smaller articulated streamer for the Driftless Area and a replacement for the woolly bugger.
 
I have a few more that have been sent off to Rainy's for consideration;  The Harasser and the Food Stamp.   We'll see how these do in the new future....fingers crossed and they get picked up.

 

Now with the new goal of pushing myself t work on my fly tying more I've decided to make the transition into fishing only my patterns (there will be some exceptions)  in the future.  I've decided this will be the best way to push myself to become more creative.  Now will this lead to more flies with Rainy's?  I have no idea but it can't hurt.

 

                                            

Tying videos with aTightLoop

Here is a quick compilation of the videos of my flies that I have filmed with Kurt of aTightLoop thus far.

Hansen/Driftless Hopper
https://youtu.be/wJSG9w47nsU

A quick and easy caddis we dubbed the Super Simple Caddis
https://youtu.be/332iG-zJB8g

An old  version of the Harraser
https://youtu.be/__cI1C_t9iQ

Meal Ticket
https://youtu.be/M0cF9-_-sG8

Big Changes

Big Changes in the Rushing Waters world.   Little over a month ago I received a job offer at an office for a 9 to 5er.  Long story short I took it.  Better pay, better hours, MUCH shorter commute (14 miles) which puts 3 more hours a day back into my life.  Now I have time for my young family , to get back to tying and creating new patterns and actually get to fish.  With all this time I also plan to get back into guiding part time in Wisconsin.   Nothing serious, just a little bit to fuel the habit and satisfy the itch.   Also had an idea for a video I'm going to work on this year that I think will be really neat.  Stay tuned for more from me.

Thoughts

It has been one long, long summer.  It has been absolutely fantastic and dreadful at the same time.  

I would like to say the reason for such few post this last year has been from fishing too much but that is not the case.

On June 13th my wife and I went in to just see the specialist and get an ultrasound done since there were some concerns with the pregnancy.   Long story short my son Logan was born at 8 30 that night.  He was 2 pounds.  His due date was August 10th.  So he has been in the NICU since then.  Thankfully he seems to be perfectly healthy and just some minor and normal setbacks have kept him there....  Hopefully soon I will be able to bring my son home.

I did squeeze in a little time to WI last week with a friend and caught a great rainbow along with some awesome hopper caught fish.  And with a training day and trout school and a wedding September is looking up.

Photo Tim Adkins

Alaska Steel by Austin Trayser

http://vimeo.com/m/100264335

A Tight Loop Summer issue is live!

http://atightloop.com/Summer2014.html

Logan Paul Hansen

Friday was a little crazy.  Went to see a specialist with my pregnant wife Friday morning.  And at 8:14 pm my son was born.   Yep Logan was born on the only Friday the 13th this year and on a full honey moon to boot.  He'll be in the NICU for a while but he is doing good.

The Hopper Blog

How have I not come across this place before???!!!

Best step by step for tying foam hoppers out there.....PERIOD!

The Hopper Blog

Rushing Waters on Instagram

You can now find Rushing Waters on Instagram at

Austin Trayser

I met this guy a few years back in Missoula.  My good buddy, Hunter, worked with him on the RA Beattie film Off the the Grid.  He is now working with Montana Fly Fishing Magazine  and making his own short films which I must say are bad ass.  Check out his stuff on vimeo at https://vimeo.com/traysermedia.  Happy to call this guy a friend.

I particularly like  Solo Mission


 
Solo Mission from Austin Trayser on Vimeo.

And Blackfoot Fall


Blackfoot Fall from Austin Trayser on Vimeo.

Damn it's cold out

So I've been tying a lot.  Stocking up on some standards and coming up with some new stuff.

  I've decided to challenge myself and in the next year or two to only fish flies of my own design.  In hoping this will give the creative juices a little extra incentive.  To start off with I have always thought the good ol copper john was never buggy enough; plus I hate biots and peacock herl due to their brittleness.  So now it is all synthetic with something extra in the body.  

Going to fish it side by side with the regular CJ this season and see if there is a difference. 

To break up the monotony of tiny bugs I had to whip up a little musky fly.  Pink over white.

BTW I am working on making a little sales page for my flies.  If you are interested in purchasing a few to help with the funding of said web page please feel free to ask.

Recent happenings!

So here's a little recaps of my life recently....

First and foremost I'm going to be a father!  Yep knocked up the wife.  Due date is early august.

Hopefully before this kid pops out the wife and I plus the inlaws will head east for a long weekend where I hope to get a little time in salt water.

And you gotta love handy friends that accept flies as payment.  My buddy Dave  from Urban Assault Fly Fishing made me a hat and two visor clips for some fly storage.

Also if you wanted to learn to tie flies we are still holding free fly tying 101 classes in my Orvis store in downtown Chicago.

Blogger APP

Just found an app for blogger so now being able to have this on the go hopefully I'll be able to post more frequently!  Brought to you from my IPhone  

Fly Fish Food

One of the best blogs out there is Fly Fish Food. These guys have the goods when it come to tying bad ass flies.

http://www.flyfishfood.com/

A Tight Loop Magazine

The latest issue of A Tight Loop is out! Once again my buddy Kurt who runs the mag and happens to live just a few miles away asked if I could swing by and do a tying segment for him and of course I said yes. I tied one of my latest creations that I have submitted toRainy's Fly Company.

A Tight Loop Winter Issue

Damn it's been a while since I've done something here!

I just want to say sorry to all my faithful readers for being so quiet here. It's been a crazy couple of months. So I got married! Yep, married! I was a pretty damn good time if I do say so myself. Been fishing a bit mainly just local bass and panfish nothing to really write home about but a good time nonetheless. Hopefully found a sweet carp spot nearby so soon I should have pictures if I can manage to actually catch one and not just spook them constantly. One more pice of news is that my driftboat is up for sale $6000 and it's yours.

Meet Zeus! The Rushing Waters Mascot!

The future wife and I picked up our first dog today! A Yellow Lab named Zeus!