The 2008 ORSM was a great show. We managed to pack our entire booth including the Big Blue Hands into our 79 VW bug and drove from Reno / Lake Tahoe to Salt Lake City for the show.

With the help of Jay Kincaid (All Day Jay) we launched our new PADDLE SPORTS product line. The new products, gloves, pogies, mitts, hoods, domes, and mitts. We also showed our new updated SUN PRODUCTS lineup with 50+ fabric. New sunhats and sungloves all 50+upf.

We were fortunate to meet a lot of great people with wild stories on the drive and at the show and we also saw some old friends that we only run into at the show. We also got to experience alittle craziness with the girls from OIWC at the Poly-Ester Party. Nice costumes ladies!

After dropping Jay (Man Cake) off in the Peqoup Mountains for a backpacking trip we continued the drive home. The most important lesson learned from the show. If you eat out Mexican food is probably not a good choice the night before you drive home!

Coby..

With the August 1st Archery Mule Deer season in Nevada Rapidly approaching I have been scouting every chance I can get. What have the results been? Coughing and near bleeding eyes.

The smoke from the California fires has made it difficult at best to spot Mule Deer. Since late June the California fires have been pushing smoke over the Sierra's into Nevada and unfortunately right into my tag area. On some days I can barely see a 1/2 mile.

What does all this mean. Rub some dirt on it and get back in there! Recent trips regardless of the smoke have provided some good views of the hard to find Mule Deer. Hopefully with a little help from Mother Nature and the hard work provided by the Fire Fighters the smoke will go away.

Otherwise I will have to hang my hunting clothes over the campfire to absorb the smoke so the deer don't wind me.

Coby

Its Dry Fly Time!

June is my favorite time for trout fishing. Big fat happy trout snatching up dry flies in gin clear water celebrating spring and summer. This past weekend was the start of the dry fly season. Although none of the "celebrity bugs" were out, there were plenty of small mayflies, caddis and yellow sallies fluttering in the breeze. Plenty of eager trout rising in the runs, riffles and pools. My biggest fish was a 20 1/4 inch brownie that ate a cripple caddis in a small back eddy. The fish was hiding under a ledge picking off cripples in the foam. My fly cruised in the spot and got stuck under the foam and scum. I could see a big bulge suddenly appear in the foamy bubbles and set the hook...the brownie inhaled it! He jumped out of the water and shot out toward the middle of the river. After a good battle he was in the net. I had a little chat with that fish and made sure he was ready to go before I pushed him back into the river. Get a box of dry flies and look for snouts now, this will last for a couple of months and the big bugs haven't started popping yet...the best fishing is still ahead of us.

Paolo

The other day when catching up with a friend I hadn't talked to in a while I updated him that I had just lost my German Shorthair Shelby to cancer. As he expressed his condolences he explained that this was a sad loss for him also. The reason - As my hunting buddies and I got into bird hunting I was the first to get a dog. Each season we would take her out and she would work hard for us. We grew with her, as hunters and people. Each of my buddies saw her grow from a little pup pointing wings in the yard to a hard pressing pointer that could hunt with the best of 'em.

Each season we would get together every weekend and follow her around Nevada. Sometimes second guessing where her nose was leading us, she was seldom wrong. Chasing chukar, quail or sage grouse she was solid.

As I hung up the phone I thought about what this dog meant to me and what I had learned from her. Hunting isn't about bringing home birds and filling the bag although it's a good goal. She taught us that hunting is watching a great dog track down birds and lock on point. She taught us that hunting is a time to get out with friends and spend time enjoying everything the outdoors has to offer. Lastly, that as much as I miss having her around those who hunted with me will feel her loss too not because she was a great bird dog but because she was a great friend.

Coby.

The 2008 Nevada One Fly Tournament is scheduled for June 14th at Knott Creek Reservoir! Knott Creek Res. is located in Northern Nevada near Denio. Early reports have indicated large rainbows spawning near the inlet. Fishing on the resevoir does not open until June 14th this year. This is the 4th time the tournament has been held at this location. The tournament format typically requires entrants to submit a fly prior to fishing and use a duplicate fly for the entire tournament. Entrants can fish until the fly is "broken off" and scoring fish is usually determined prior to the start. Competition is fierce at this invitational tournament which boasts large prizes and swag. Prizes for the tournament are being supplies by:

Glacier Glove www.glacierglove.com

T-Lift LLC., producer of the “T-Lift” www.tliftonline.com

Western Nevada Supply www.goblueteam.com