Shoreline
This image is a work of a United States Coast Guard service personnel or employee, taken or made during the course of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image or file is in the public domain (17 U.S.C. § 101 and § 105, USCG main privacy policy and specific privacy policy for its imagery server). The title bar is a photo filter edit done by AirborneAngler.
Shoreline
Take just a moment. It doesn’t have to be long. But as we set out to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend, (perhaps on a shoreline swimming or fishing one), pause to reflect on the heros who paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend our cherished freedoms. Remember the soldiers on the beaches of Normanday fighting to the shoreline or the Marines at Tripoli. Remember those out there today, maybe not on the shoreline but definitely in the sand. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture- just simple reflection to pause and remember. Then enjoy the weekend because this is what they would want and why we fight today. God Bless.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Shoreline is a prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Memory- or lack thereof
Pro Tip number one: It’s a good idea to diversify your fly boxes.
Pro Tip number two: It is not a good idea to leave them all at home- minus the one called ‘the rejects’ on spur of the moment outings. Especially after the rejects that actually catch fish have been removed to surplus aforementioned fly boxes- thus leaving only the true ‘rejects’.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Memory- or lack thereof, is a modified prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Sun Safety
I’ve gone Howler green! In teaching equality in the infantry we often jest and say that there are only two kinds of soldiers- light green and dark green. The moral being we are all green. Regardless of being light green or dark green we all need to wear camouflage and sunscreen. Well, now I say y’all need to go Howler green like me. It’s good protection from the sun.
Protection from the sun is important to everyone; airborne and angler alike. Now there are some out there (prior to myself included) who are hard headed about protection from the sun. I hate wearing oily, greasy, nasty sun screen. And long sleeves never seem the option until I tried out the Howler Bros Loggerhead Longsleeve (in Tuscan green of course- closest thing to OD they had).
I think the shirt is aptly named because I was a loggerhead before not being concerned about sun protection. Here’s what I like about it: 1) it’s light weight; 2) I can wear it on or off the water; 3) but most of all- the thumb loops!
I did two separate outing trips to try this thing out. I thought I couldn’t be sold on long sleeves in the beginning stages of the impending Texas heat- I was wrong. The micro mesh adds the right amount of light weight sun barrier protection to keep you from burning your biscuits- thus keeping you cooler than sans-sleeves. Then, because it’s not water logging cotton it dries fast as an added on bonus. I just happen to like the thumb loops for the comfort factor my issued silk shirt has.
I’ll be ordering the Diamond (light khaki) colored one by payday. It’s worth the price if you can fork for it. (Brace yourself- kinda.) Don’t lie and say you can’t. You lie because you’re an angler. You fly fish already so you can probably cut it. And like I said- its worth it. Field tested and angler approved!
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Sun Safety is a modified prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Runoff
One word: runoff. Three more words: not there yet. At least not in Texas anyways. We’ve finally enjoyed some rain early this year after a scorching previous year. But one look at Lake Travis a few days back and it’s easy to see; we still need more.
I was pleased to see people unite some last summer in the dry heat. Cardboard signs in rural areas read: Pray for Rain. And we did. We all did.
I was also thankful after the early and much needed downpours to see another sign that read: Thank Him for the Rain.
Lest we forget. Thank you. But runoff? Not there yet.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Runoff is a prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Bugs
Bugs. Critters. Creepy-crawlers. We tie things to look like them- call them flies, and we fish with them. But sometimes bugs catch more than trout. They catch people too. We call them stomach bugs!
This is a completely non-fly fishing review. I don’t care your party affiliation but you need to catch an episode of HBO’s the “Veep.” If you watch the show you’ll see it’s nothing to do with left or right- just good humor. Episode two the ‘Veep’, (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), catches a stomach bug that’s floating along through DC area and the Hill. That’s my my lame tie into today’s Everyday In May topic prompt. However, if you dare attempt to take my word you won’t regret it. Having been in dire need of a laugh the award moments and dry humor did manage to crack a smile.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Bugs is a modified prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Simple Green
I worked up this bass from a photo I took a few months back. With Greenery being the topic for today’s Everyday in May challenge I thought a green photo filter would suit it nicely. 
The fly used was a white bead-headed crystal bugger.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Simple Green is a modified prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
More Fish
“The angler forgets most of the fish he catches, but he does not forget the streams and lakes in which they are caught.” – Charles K. Fox
Today’s topic of More Fish is a prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Deadman’s Cast with @TimFishmanEmery
Anglers attttttennnntion! Take your seats folks and welcome to another Deadman’s Cast interview. This week we are excited to have Fishing Pro Tim Emery, twitter handle @TimFishmanEmery, on the grill this week. Settle in as we fish filet Fishman into a fish taco- peeking into the ‘what if’ scenario if today he cast his last cast.
AirborneAngler (AA): Tim, welcome, thank you for agreeing to meet up with the troopers on AirborneAngler and surprise- you’re dead!
TimFishmanEmery (TE): O Shit’ that was fast! I was just staring at the water and now I am dead?
AA: Yup, happens that easy around here. So, we haven’t decided how to polish you off just yet. I want to get a feel for the kind of angler you are. But I will let you decide on the body of water you get waxed at. So, where are you on your final day on the water?
TE: I have known this for years! I am driving down a river looking for rising fish. Not sure which river, more then likely the Eagle River near Vail, CO. All of the sudden I see a rise and veer off the road. Bye, Bye!
AA: That’s a possibility. But maybe knowing how, when, and where you picked up fly fishing can help us determine your fate. Tell us all how you got into chunking mock-up variants of fish food.
TE: Vail, 1995- I met a guy who’s good friend was a fly fisherman. He was a fly fisherman. I spent the summer chasing them around. Didn’t catch my first fish until October that year. Man I thought these guys were great fisherman, turns out they didn’t really know what they were doing. I spent the next winter teaching my self how to fly fish. The next spring I met a guy who owned a fly guide service, I told him I could fish. (I was a ski teacher at the time) he figured I knew what I was talking about. Boy was he wrong, he took me to do a corporate event for training, once we were done he looked at me and said “I hired you to guide and you don’t know how to F@#king cast! I said, F@#king teach me” He did and the rest is history. 18 years later, all I want to do is fly fish anytime I can. Even when driving a car off a cliff!
AA: Sounds like you’ve already had one near death experience. But here, we won’t let any raging mad employer have the privilege. Nope this is your fault. We’re going with the veering car and rising fish. So on your decent into the drink your laser beam focus sees a rising fish go full gusto and leap from the water. What species is it specifically and why?
TE: Trout, doesn’t matter what kind. Why? Because the only other fish in the mountains are White Fish and they leave a shitty slime on you. Plus, trout love to eat flies!
AA: Still in a slow motion, almost parachute decent, do you:
a) continue drooling?
b) reach over into the passenger seat for your rod case and rig up?
c) snap out of it and start a Hail Mary or other prayer of choice?
d) ride it out and use the vehicle as a pontoon boat and fish the rest of the day down river?
TE: B and D. I can rig in 8 sec. and use the car as a boat. If there is one fish rising there must be more.
AA: I like your logic. How long do your people wait to call for and send out a search party? Who makes that phone call?
TE: My wife would make the call, she gets a call every morning and night from me, I have 2 small kids they are more important then anything to me. If I don’t call, they will be the first ones in the search party. Good to be loved!
AA: Yes, indeed. Glad to see your a family man. Well, the search party finally locates your final resting place. Your local flyshop commissions a memorial at the location. What is it of and how does the inscription read?
TE: It’s already been planned! (no really) I want a big boulder in the middle of the South Platte River in Denver. I have put a lot of time in to creating an urban fishery in Denver. I spent 5 years working with Denver Trout Unlimited to create and run The South Platte Pro-Am Carp Slam! This tournament has raised over $100,000 for the river. Yes, we use Carp to bring awareness to the Trout. This was hard for Trout Unlimited to understand at first but now they are on board! By the way, have you caught Carp on the fly yet?
AA: No, I haven’t but recently the Texas Hill Country Mixed Bag tourney I’m in has me putting them in the crosshairs. Carp Slam sounds like quite an accomplishment and like you deserve a momument! That’s pretty awesome. While I can’t build you your momunment I can give you an AirborneAngler award. It reads: “Attention to orders! The department of Fly Anglers hereby hypothetically postumously awards the Airmoble Vehicular Assault award, with V device for Valor, to Tim Emery for his actions during the battle of Rising Road Trout on Eagle River. During Tim’s decent he was relentless in his actions to rig up and take the fight to the fish. Never did he surrender his reel or rod. His actions bring great credit uopn himself, the flies he flung, and the fly fishing community. Awarded the 17th Day of May 2012. Signed by my hand, AirborneAngler, Fly Angler of the Texas Hill Country.”
Tim, thanks for joining us today on Deadman’s Cast.
You can follow the Fishman before the afterlife on Facebook, Twitter at @TimFishmanEmery and/or catch his podcasts at www.FishExplorer.com. He’ll friend anyone with fish in their profle. Tim would also like to give a shout out to www.hogislandboatworks.com. He says they have a new skiff coming out that will be a great boat for sight fishing carp and other fish. Until next time- I am signing off.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
GoPro Thursday
Oh yeah ya! Exciting things are in the works at AirborneAngler HQ! New to the tool kit arsenal is a GoPro HD Hero- locked and loaded ready for cam. Plus today is thursday. So now its GoPro Thursday.
That’s right. So expect crummy videos while I try to field test this thru my next few outings. I played with it some today and I got to say, AirborneDaddy likey.
The bass above unfortunately is not a still shot from the GoPro. As Murphy’s Law of Combat Angling states in rule 12: “No fish shall be captured on film day one of camera purchase.”
And additionally, rule 42: “The batteries will always die one minute before you catch the skunk breaking fish. No more, no less- one minute.”
Write those down. That is all.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of GoPro Thursday is a modified prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Leaders
For the Everyday in May blogging challenge prompt of “Leader”- I am doing a review on the leaders I use by Rio products.
I have simple criteria for my gear and what’s in my kit bag. I am an infanrtyman, not a scientist, pro angler (not yet), or vendor. I am user. So, my equipment and my things have to be grunt proof.
Grunt Proof: /grənt pro͞of/.
Adjective: Able to withstand harsh treatment in austere environments by typically intellectually inept users. Simply- lacking complexity.
Down and dirty these are simply strong leaders. Again, I are grunt. Me no scientist. So I won’t speak on the Mono and Fluorocarbon properties to rhyme and reason why they are so strong- I just know they are. I typically use a 3x or 4X as my general purpose weight on Texas Hill Country rivers. You can argue suggested leaders weights- but this works for me.
Next, let’s talk about price point. Look, I make soldier’s wages and not doctor’s, or lawyer’s salary. So, price can be a factor in this; my chosen, paycheck-eating, cash-bleeding passion. But to be honest I really don’t pay attention to the price. (Side note, RIO this does not give you full fledged liberty to jack up the MSRP. Thank you!) But, I know its reliable so wheather I’m at the big box stores or a local fly shop I look for the brand. There is no brain work invovled in the decision and I know they work and I know they are worth my nickle. So there is a brand loyalty in play.
Lastly, on the note of brand loyalty- its easy to be loyal to those loyal to you. This may have nothing to do with the quality of their product, but instead with the quality of thier character. On Twitter I saw someone ask them to mail them a sticker. Their response was “send me your address, its in the mail.” Free-stuff bells and whistles went off screaming on my radar. I have a project boat I am not at the moment working on. So I asked if they could hook a trooper up and send me one too. So they don’t lose all their hard earned profits in shipping fees and free stickers I won’t “repeat” all what they sent and say it again. Lie. But I felt appreciated as a customer and it made me apprecaite them. What do they get in return? An AirborneAngler endorsement! Yeah baby!
I’ll see you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Leaders is a prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
The AirborneAngler 