I had too much fun this summer to blog at all. Now, however, the urge to blog is coming back. Of course, I have the best excuse ever for being absent from the blogosphere this summer and fall–a new bouncing baby girl. She’s the best kind of distraction.

Highlights of the summer: the birth of my youngest daughter and buying my oldest daughter a brand new Savage MKII heavy barrel .22 for her birthday and taking it to the range to watch her cut ragged holes.

Regrets of the summer season: not enough fishing, and that’s about it. Luckily, the baby will be big enough to sit up in a forward facing seat next summer (they’re easier to strap onto boat seats). If you’ve ever seen the Princecraft commercial where the father is doing exactly that, you know what I’m talking about. Baby needs to fish.

I’ll be back to the blog again soon….one of the things I’m contemplating is analyzing news reporting and bias with regard to events such as the recent tragedy at Fort Hood. Has anyone noticed that no one wants to call it terrorism?

It’s resolution time.  For those who can’t come up with their own resolutions, or who want to peep into my sordid life, I submit the following resolutions, along with how some of them can be accomplished.  From losing weight to catching muskies, I know I probably need a game plan to bring these to fruition.

#1:  Lose 20 pounds of belly insulation.  How?  Mike Huckabee’s show on Fox gave me the solution one day.  In his “ask me anything” segment, a woman asked him how he lost so much weight.  His answer was twofold:  First, if it comes through your car window, don’t eat it.  Second, if it didn’t exist a hundred years ago, don’t eat it.  Brilliant!  Think about it.

#2:  Improve attitude.  My daughter recently returned from an ice fishing trip with me.  Her characterization of the trip, rather than “wow, we caught some nice sunnies!” was “boy did Dad swear a lot at his equipment.”  Oops.  Bad Daddy. This shouldn’t be hard to accomplish, as long as I stay away from cheap tools and poorly-built equipment and vehicles.  

#3:  Catch a good muskie.  I shouldn’t need any help with this one.  Just prayer and time on the water.  Maybe I can make a deal with God related to swearing less and being a better example to my daughters.  

#4:  Finish all projects I have begun or identified as a necessary project.  This would include building a hutch for our computer desk, putting in a sump pump, replacing our water heater before it craps out, finishing a fillet knife project begun last year, reloading several hundred rounds of ammunition for various bang-sticks, and painting our back door.

#5:  Learn more about fly-fishing, including tying some flies.   I have my father’s vise and some of his equipment, but so far my only accomplishment has been a Freakishly Bright Yellow Rubber Leg Bass Chugger on a Ridiculously Large Hook.  Since bass will bite on a beer can with treble hooks (no, really!) I think I need to expand my repertoire to trout flies.

Enjoy the new year, and make your own resolutions!  Stealing mine will probably damage your karma or something.

Click for video:

Crow Creek, MT in July

Better music than the cheesy commercial Christmas songs that have been on the radio since Halloween!

Merry Christmas everybody!

Cabelas (www.cabelas.com) Prestige #5/6/7 fly reel is on sale right now for $14.99. By appearances, these are made by Okuma (they look identical to my little Okuma 3/4/5 except for, of course, the size). These make a good beginner reel since, for the price, they’re disposable. My little Okuma is still ticking after four years.

Announcing a new section on my blog: Fishing Blogerati Reviews

The first review is of Buster Wants to Fish, a blog I have been enjoying as of late.  I decided to start out with a glowing review to make everyone think I’m really nice.  Then I’ll go into a good-critic, bad-critic routine and balance out the niceness with pummeling.  Heh heh.