Two Weeks Gone

Most corporate vacations are two weeks. Most self employed folks think two weeks vacation is a luxury they can’t afford in this economy. Plenty of folks are unemployed (who knows how many), and some folks just go fishing. If you lived in North Texas, and had two weeks to fish – no strings attached except for the fact you had to drive to where you would fish – where would you go, and what would you do?

In North Texas, we have seen monsoonal rains to start the month, and the resulting soaked ground, refilled lakes, green grass that needs mowing, and now … a heat wave that is steaming the moisture away and predicted to cause a “feels like” temperature of 110-degrees fahrenheit today.

So, the fact we need to go somewhere cooler is a given. Although I personally could use 4-dollar gas to be able to afford a new towing truck for the Airstream (aka. Silver Fly Shack), gas is affordable enough that I could go a state or maybe two away. However, this IS Texas Fly Caster, and there should be plenty of ideas without leaving Texas.

Instead of taking two weeks to hash this out, how about a “Five Lakes in Five Days” expedition? Or, how about a “Five Coastal Spots in Five Days” expedition? Are there five rivers in Texas?

CAMERA REPORT

UPS delivered my Sanyo Xacti a couple of days ago, and it is a visibly and audibly different fly fishing video camera now. They replaced the “lens assembly” at a rough cost of 130. usd, and apparently they upgraded the firmware as well. The camera now talks! The images are extremely sharp and the color more accurate than before. I don’t think a simple lens change would be the cause of that, so I am betting on the firmware upgrade they performed. If you have a Sanyo Xacti 6mp. camera, see about a firmware upgrade – you may be able to do it yourself.

The Contour HD is a fine camera with a seductive 135 degree view (super wide angle), but there are some deal killers on it including;
1) It’s splash-able but not submersible
2) The sliding on-off record switch sucks – cost me my only striper on Monday
3) The unit I am trying has already lost its rubber hinge that holds the back rubber cover over the controls and connections. The cover still snaps on, but when you take it off, it doesn’t dangle. Now where did I sit that down?

However, if you watch the video below, you immediately see what I mean by seductive (point-and-shoot, and earth bending angles).
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Lefty would say keep that elbow IN and on the same plane, but then he doesn’t see what’s in the backcast now does he?! In my defense, it is a sinking line with a huge bunny – literally a rabbit – hanging from the fluorocarbon leader.

Tags: airstream, fly fishing cameras, weather

Category: Culture on the Skids, Life Observed, On The Road, Photography