2011 GAUDALUPE TU TROUTFEST

Hey everyone. I am very sorry for taking such a long break from blogging but school and travel combined gave me very little extra time. So, I thought that I would give you all, through a couple posts, an idea what I have been up to for the past couple months.

My first big trip of 2011 was down to Texas to speak at the Guadalupe Trout Unlimited Troutfest. This is an annual fly fishing show that they put on to help raise money f so that they can continue to sustain a good trout fishery, the Guadalupe River. I was very fortunate to be able to talk to youth about the adventure of fly fishing and a little bit about some basic tying and casting skills. While I was there I was able to meet one of the greats of fly fishing, Dave Whitlock. He signed a couple books for me and I purchased two pieces of his art work. It was great for me to be able to see what he does with colored pencils and learn some techniques since all my drawing is done with colored pencils.

As usual, I was there to do presentations for the youth, but I still found opportunities to go fish. The hotel that my dad and I stayed at was right on the Guadalupe, so every morning before we went to the show I got to throw some streamers for the trout. On my first day fishing I was able to land a nice rainbow on a small crayfish pattern.

Here are a few pictures to show you what our trip was like.

One of the casting demos I did at the Troutfest. This was such a fun event.

Me with Dave and Emily Whitlock at the GRTU Troutfest.

My friend Ed Engle and I spent time talking about fishing and fly tying. Ed signed a copy of his latest book "Fishing Small Flies".

Of course I had to fish the Gaudalupe River each morning before the show. I did not bring waders or much gear but caught a couple of nice chunky rainbows on streamers!