Greasy Beaks 2014 Video!

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Mike

Check out this edit from Captain Eliot Jenkins at Greasy Beaks Fly Fishing. If you look at 1:20 you’ll even see Aimee hooking and landing the fish of the day during our last striped bass trip, a 32″ striper on a 6 wt.

Greasy Beaks 2014 1080p from Greasy Beaks on Vimeo.

If you are interested in fishing for striped bass, bluefish or false albacore in New England you should definitely look up Capt. Eliot and Greasy Beaks. He also guides for steelhead, rainbows and browns in upstate NY. You can check out his blog here. And click here to read the false albacore trip report about our trip this fall.

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Announcement! The Big Year Begins January 1, 2015!

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Mike

Who's psyched?!

Who’s psyched?!

Tasty-Takes is hitting the road! Well Mike, Aimee and George are at least. Aimee and I decided that we wanted to take a year and drive across the US, exploring new watersheds and fishing for all the species that were fun to catch on the fly rod. I think that we have everything covered, but you can check out the proposed map of our travels with a list of locations and species that we’ll be targeting at raisinggus.com/the-big-year/. If you have any additional suggestions please pass them on!
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River Brew Review: Eddyline Brewing Pumpkin Patch Ale

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Mike

Pumpkin-Patch-Pale-16-oz-can-e1349232799978-200x200This will be the last Colorado beer that I review for a while. We spent the last couple of weeks packing, then spent last Thursday and Friday packing and cleaning, then spent Friday and Saturday driving and we are finally in Bend, OR. Here we will remain for 2 months in the land of abundant microbrews before again moving on. Before I start hitting up the growler fill stations for the delicious local brews I had to review the delightful Pumpkin Patch Ale that I bought during our packing/moving nightmare.

Moving is often a nightmare, but when you have a five-month-old it becomes a special sort of fun. Poor George could smell the stink of stress and panic on Aimee and I and he didn’t like it. We worked as hard as we could to make him comfortable and happy, but its tough when you’re putting in 16 hour days and all his toys are already packed.

Loaded (or overloaded) and ready to go!

Loaded (or overloaded) and ready to go!

He was a trooper, especially on the drive, 20 hours in the car in two days is no picnic, but he just rolled with it! Now that we’re in Bend and settledish it is time for me to sit down in front of the wood stove and crack a well deserved Pumpkin Patch.

P1050075

Appearance: Looks like liquid pumpkin pie. No, for real. No head to speak of at all, it is a very opaque cinnamon orange.

Smell: Wait for it, wait for it…. pumpkin! There is a lot of nutmeg in the aroma as well. In fact, when I cracked the first one I was a little put off by the heavy nutmeg scent.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Smooth and creamy. Tastes like fall, and Halloween and Thanksgiving all rolled into one. The heavy nutmeg scent is balanced nicely when drinking with a bit of cinnamon and the strong pumpkin flavor. As advertised on the can, almost like drinking pumpkin pie, a little sweet and syrupy. The carbonation is sharper than you would expect, but the finish is very smooth with a slight lingering pumpkin/honey flavor.

Overall: I’m not a huge fruit beer guy, I like them from time to time, but don’t really go out of my way. I’m glad I did on this one, a really nice seasonal ale from Eddyline. It’s a little sweet, but if you happen to find a six pack of tall boys of this at your local beer store, you should definitely give it a try!

4 out of a Six Pack Scale©

4 out of a Six Pack Scale©

Stats:
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: Minimal
Hops: Sterling
Brewery: Eddyline Brewing, Buena Vista, CO

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River Brew Review: Elevation Beer Co. Little Mo’ Porter

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Mike

P1050070We are packing and moving and haven’t been able to fish much. That stinks. But we are heading to Bend, OR and it’s steelhead season on the Deschutes and John Day, we’ll be within a stones throw of the Metolius, and we are hopefully heading to the Elk and Sixes right around Thanksgiving to chase some chinook, so things are looking up.

To deal with the packing and moving brutality I asked Aimee to pick me up some beer. She came home with the Little Mo’ Porter by Elevation Brewing Co. in Poncha Springs. Since we are leaving Colorado I asked her to get me something local and this fits the bill – who knew there was a brewery in Poncha Springs? I will definitely be letting all my buddies know that they don’t have to head to Salida after riding the Crest Trail, just hit up Elevation Brewing Co. on the way through Poncha!
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River Brew Review: Pug Ryan’s Brewing Company Dead Eye Dunkel

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Aimee Eaton

dunkelI was in the liquor store a few weeks ago looking for a new beer to review and noticed a can of beer with the label Pug Ryan’s Dead Eye Dunkel. Sold. It was in a can and I hadn’t ever heard of a Dunkel before so I decided to try it. The six pack lasted me a couple of weeks and it went on some dang good trips. I had a couple fishing solo on the Taylor, crushing trout on dry flies in October. I had one while George and I watched Aimee slay trout on the East.

And then I had one on the day I got skunked and fell in the river. Yup, you read that right, both an epic skunkage and a dunking on the same day. It was rough. We started out driving to Gunnison in near blizzard conditions and 34 degree weather. We got to Gunnison and the wind was blowing at 25+ mph and it was 37 degrees. We got to the parking lot and the wind stopped, the sun came out and it was 39 degrees. We put George in a several layers of fleece and a down suit and headed out. Turned out to be beautiful, but for some crazy reason I decided to only huck streamers (It could have been because Aimee did well on white streamers the day before). Regardless, the fish were not eating streamers. Bummer.

After a while Aimee and George went back to the truck to have a snack and I stubbornly moved on to the next run, even though I was hungry and ready for a Dunkel. That’s when it all went bad. I just had to take that last step out into the current to try to get a couple of strips in the soft water on the other side. I didn’t get those strips, instead I got to do a pushup off the bottom of the river, at least it was almost 45 degrees out at that point.

After that I beelined it back to the truck for some leftover pizza and a well deserved beer.

Dead Eye Dunkel

Appearance: Dark caramel brown. Small sand colored head. Good retention and lots of lacing as you drink.

Smell: A nutty start followed by sweet caramel, not really much else.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Very smooth, not a ton of carbonation. Sweet with a bit of underlying bitterness. Really well balanced for my taste, nutty and sweet, but not overpowering.

Overall: Good. I like this beer a bunch, its right up my alley. Not too sweet, but not too bitter and smooth easy drinking. If you are looking for an easy drinker that’s not your typical lager give this beer a try. Out of the beers I tried this fall this is my favorite so far. Besides the can says that it pairs well with anything containing bacon, and bacon is awesome.

5 out of a Six Pack Scale ©

5 out of a Six Pack Scale ©

Stats:
ABV: 6.0%
IBU: 15
Brewery: Pug Ryan’s Brewing Company Dillon, CO

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How to: Keep Your Dry Fly Floating

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Mike

Brown Trout and Green DrakeAimee and I were on the Taylor last weekend and were approached by a gentleman who was new to fly fishing with several questions. The first and the one that I am going to address here is “I put that powder on my dry fly and it started sinking almost immediately; how do I keep it from sinking?”

There are a few different ways to answers this question: if you’re working on being a cocky jackass, you might tell him that if he got a better drift his dry fly would float. Or, if you’re trying to be a decent human, you could explain that a combination of gel and powder can help to keep dry flies floating high all day. We tend to like helping people get into fly fishing so I went with option two.
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River Brew Review: Eddyline Brewing Crank Yanker IPA

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Mike

crank-yanker-canThe other beer that my buddy dropped off was the Crank Yanker IPA from Eddyline Brewing. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that psyched when he dropped that and the River Runner off, since neither are really in my beer wheelhouse, but how could I not try locally brewed beers that come in badass 16 ounce cans? Rad microbrew pounders = AWESOME.
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River Brew Review: Eddyline Brewing River Runners Pale Ale

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Mike

River-Runners-Pale-AleP1050056I normally try to have some sort of story to go along with a beer review, but I’ve been super busy at work and haven’t been getting out much so we’ll just go with a bland boring old beer review.

A while ago one of my buddies dropped off a couple of six packs from Eddyline Brewing. They are awesome for several reasons: first, they are cans; second, they are 16 ounces; third, they are actually six packs not four packs as you often see for craft brewed 16 ounce cans; fourth, the cans are rad; and fifth, they are brewed in Buena Vista, CO, a spot not known for breweries.
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Trip Report: False Albacore

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Mike

Aimee got me an incredible birthday gift this year. She contacted Eliot Jenkins with Greasy Beaks Fly-Fishing and set up a False Albacore fishing trip for me and my two best buddies from high school.

Nick Mike Albie

Nick, Dale and I crashed at Dale’s house in Marlborough, MA, and then made the drive down to Stonington, CT, to start the trip at the surprisingly reasonable time of 8 AM. Eliot had been out the day before and the ocean had been brutally rough, we were hoping that the waves had settled a bit and headed out.

Nick bent rodDale strippingNick Eliot fighting double

The seas were rough, but not unmanageable and we started the day with what seemed like every other boat in the ocean tossing flies and lures at schools of rising Albies. Dale hooked up first on one of the spinning rods and we were all treated to the sound of line ripping off the reel at an unprecedented rate. That reel was screaming!

Dale Albie

We continued to fight the other boats for a bit and picked up a couple more Albies before heading out for greener pastures. Eliot made the call to run from Watch Hill where we started up to Port Judith. This was not an easy ride but since it gave us a chance to target Albies without racing 30 other boats to each school we went for it. Eliot’s hunch paid off and we found ourselves in a group of 5 or 6 boats and lots of Albies.

Mike one hand albieAlbie DoubleDale Albie 2

There isn’t much better than watching your best buddy, the guy who you learned to fly fish with, hooking an Ablie, stripping in some line, thinking he has the upper hand, and then watching him freak out as the fish bolts at more than 30 mph, ripping all the fly line and 50 yards of backing from the reel in seconds. Unreal.

Albie Close up

Given the rough seas the fly casting was tough; you had to spend as much time making sure that you didn’t fall off the boat as you did targeting the fish, but boy was it worth it. I’m not sure how many we landed, but it was a fair number, especially considering the conditions.

Albie side shot

Even though we were targeting Albies, we still hooked up with a bunch of different species – scup, black bass, striped bass and bluefish all found their way into the boat at one point. We picked up fish fly-fishing, and spin fishing; we picked up fish within inches of the surface and jigging deep. Basically it was an incredible day.

Mike Little StriperNick Black Bass

If you are ever in New England in mid-September to early October you should definitely give Eliot a call and go get crushed by some little tunny!

Albie Tom Foolery

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River Brew Review: Baxter Brewing, Co. Tarnation

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Mike

Tarnation labelAimee and I recently spent 10 days on the East Coast and although we would have loved to just fish and sample the plethora of incredible craft brews, work, babies and family were the priority. I did have time for just one beer review, although thanks go out to all the folks who dropped off beers for me to try.

Chris brought me Tarnation California Style Lager, made by Baxter Brewing Co. in Lewiston, Maine. Apparently they have a Pale Ale that is to die for, but knowing that I don’t love the Pale Ales he brought me their craft lager instead.

I don’t really have any pictures for this beer, we pounded a few after biking some super fun trails, and I hit up a couple sitting on the beach, enjoying the 80 degree weather and watching the kids play in the lake. Luckily I had one left to review on my last night in New Hampshire. I sat down to tie my dad a couple of big black bass poppers and cracked a Tarnation.

Appearance: Well, since I hammered these out of the can – blue with a dude relaxing with his pickaxe? From what I could see it looks like a darker lager – almost an amber color.

Smell: Also didn’t get the big smell that you get when you pour into a glass but from what I could glean it is malty with a dash of hops.

Taste: For a lager I would say – thick and tangy. Had more of the grassy/hay hop in it than I would expect. Kind of surprising for a lager. For me it was fun to enjoy a couple while I was back on the east coast but I wouldn’t call it sessionable.

Overall: Ok. Not my favorite but super cool to try a craft lager while back on the east coast. This was my first California Style Lager and I’d like to try another to see if this is par for the course or a different take on a style that I thought I would like.

3 out of a Six Pack ©

3 out of a Six Pack ©

Stats:
ABV: 5.3%
Brewery: Baxter Brewing Co. Lewiston, ME

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